Letter To The Editor: County Board Member Phil Chapman Provides Report To People

Report to the People # 134 by Phil Chapman County Board District Three

The purpose of this report is to provide information and to aid in government transparency.

Support for Rural Hospital Services in Highland, Breese and Greenville: I support full services for rural constituents. I recommended denial of the Metro east Endoscopic Surgery Center O’ Fallon – Shiloh. [Con Application #20-017.] I provided the following arguments in a letter I provided to the state approval authority. The project has a number of adverse consequences. First, the Metro east Endoscopic Surgery Center will compete and possibly eliminate identical services at rural hospitals by redirecting current services to Shiloh Illinois. It seems important to recognize the most effected rural hospital remains a federally designated Critical Access Hospital which provides safety net services. Secondly, the proposed center runs counter to previous collaboration by the applicant with Highland Hospital which purchased and maintained expensive robotic orthopedic equipment in good faith at the applicant’s request. Thirdly, the financial pressures caused by this project during the Covid - 19 Pandemic threatens rural hospitals’ financial well - being and their commitment to charity. The proposed surgery center offers no charity to the poor while raising costs. For example, for CPT Code 29807 (Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgical Repair Slap Legion), the applicant proposes to charge $39,897 – which is more than double the $17,535 charged for the same procedure at the affected hospital. Health care consumers will apparently suffer additional costs. I urge you to deny Con application #20-017. Maintaining viable hospitals in rural areas remains essential.

PTELL: Recently, PTELL proponents quoted Mr. Ted Dabrowski in support of their arguments for PTELL. Ted Dabrowski, Erik Randolph, and John Kligner state in; Growing Out of Control: Property Taxes Put Increased Burden on Illinois Tax Payers from the Illinois Policy Institute; 'PTELL is ineffective in reducing the property tax burden.' This doesn’t sound like ardent support for PTELL. Did proponents leave something out in an error of omission?

QUESTION: I’ve been told PTELL counties have seen their taxes go up greater percentages than non PTELL Counties. (Real question) Is this true? Let’s collectively verify if PTELL works.

QUESTION: IF PTELL County taxes rise more quickly than non PTELL counties, could PTELL be likened to a mythical vampire that continually sucks the blood out of a person but keeps them imprisoned and fed and so the vampire never run out of fresh blood? PTELL never cuts taxes, never caps taxes, but instead allows taxes to rise within special parameters. Hence, the ‘tax payer’ like the vampire’s imprisoned captive survives chained to their property to pay ever increasing amounts of revenues to government each year. Do we need a wooden stake, axe, and garlic?

Respectfully submitted,

Phil Chapman

County Board District Three

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