Libre Initiative's petition blocks El Paso County medical projects proposal

Editor's note: This story was updated to include more information about The Libre Initiative group, and clarify that Libre is part of the Stand Together philanthropic community, not the Stand Together Foundation.

A proposal for $346 million worth of county medical projects financed by a property-tax increase is on hold until at least Oct. 3 while county officials verify about 36,000 signatures on a petition to force a possible public vote on the matter.

The Libre Initiative, a national advocacy group, turned in several boxes of signed petitions to the El Paso County Clerk’s Office on Friday. The group is against the proposal because it would substantially increase the El Paso County Hospital District’s property tax rate without voter approval.

“This does send a clear message that there is some kind of disconnect between our local officials and their constituents if 35,000-plus people signed a petition opposing this kind of spending in our community,” Karla Sierra, the group’s El Paso director, said in an interview with the El Paso Times.

County officials need to determine if Libre has just over 25,000 valid signatures from registered county voters, or 5% of county registered voters, to stop the El Paso County Commissioners Court from allowing the hospital district to do the projects with property-tax financed certificates of obligation, which require no approval by voters.

Libre is one of the first groups in Texas to use a new state law that allows the petition process to stop the issuance of certificates of obligation, Sierra said.

The signature verification process is expected to be completed by Oct. 3, when county commissioners will again take up the issue, County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said at Monday’s Commissioners Court meeting.

Commissioners were scheduled to possibly vote Monday on whether to allow the hospital district to issue up to $400 million of certificates of obligation for the projects. The larger dollar amount would allow flexibility if more projects need to be added later, Jacob Cintron, University Medical Center of El Paso and hospital district chief executive officer, has said.

The proposed projects include a $79 million cancer treatment center, as well as expansion and upgrades of several medical units at county-operated UMC and El Paso Children’s Hospital, which are overseen by the hospital district.

More: Large El Paso cancer treatment provider investing $34.5 million in expansion, renovation

Officials at UMC and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, a UMC medical-care partner, have said the projects are badly needed to handle increasing medical needs in El Paso County. The cancer treatment center would lessen the need for El Pasoans to travel out of town for cancer treatment, UMC officials have said.

Cintron, many doctors tied to UMC and El Paso Children's Hospital, and several mothers with children treated for cancer spoke of the importance of getting the new projects during a lengthy public comment period at Monday's meeting.

Cintron said the proposed projects would add only about $8 per month to a tax bill on a $200,000 home. He took a swipe at the Libre Initiative, saying that an out-of-town group isn't needed to "tell us what kind of health care we need."

Libre has operated in El Paso since 2016, Sierra said. The El Paso native has directed the El Paso branch since its inception.

Cintron said, "We respect the process and no matter the results, we will come back to ask for what are community needs."

More: El Paso County Hospital District seeks $346 million: What you need to know

The not-for-profit Libre, aimed at Hispanic community issues, was started in 2011 with seed money provided by Kansas billionaires Charles and David Koch, who died three years ago, Sierra said. Charles Koch heads Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries, a conglomerate of diverse companies with annual revenues of about $125 billion.

The Koch brothers are known for establishing a network of organizations to support libertarian and conservative political causes, including the Cato Institute, and Americans for Prosperity.

Libre is part of the Stand Together philanthropic community, a Charles Koch-founded network of organizations, Sierra said. But Libre’s El Paso funding comes from Texas donors, she said.

El Paso County Clerk Delia Briones said her department will work with the county elections office in the verification process, which, she said, is expected to be completed by the end of September. About 20 workers will be involved in the verification process, she said.

Commissioners Court on Monday approved hiring 10 temporary workers to help with the verification, she added.

If approximately 25,164 petition signatures are deemed valid, then county commissioners would have to decide whether to put the $346 million worth of projects up for a public bond election vote. The earliest that could happen is May, said Erica Rosales Nigaglioni, an assistant county attorney. Commissioners also could decide not to hold a bond election, she said.

If the petition fails for not having the needed, verified signatures, commissioners could vote on issuing the certificates of obligation.

The proposal would increase the hospital district's annual tax bill on county properties by $51.80 per $100,000 of property valuation for 10 years, or an increase of $83 per year on a home valued at just over $146,000, a UMC official has reported. That amount would drop to $26 per $100,00 valuation for another 15 years.

Libre gathered the thousands of petition signatures through a campaign of mailed post cards with information on how to sign the petition, and door-to-door knocking, aimed at El Paso registered voters, Sierra said. Another group, the El Paso Coalition for Responsible Government, which Sierra said is not part of Libre, also mailed letters opposing the tax increase, with copies of the petition for people to sign and a postage-paid envelope to mail it back to the organization. The coalition mailing contained no information about the organization.

"We definitely want quality health care for our communities. But we just don't believe that increasing property taxes would be the only solution to get there," Libre's Sierra said.

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Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Libre Initiative petition blocks El Paso County medical projects plan