Freeholders pan governor's 'sick tax'

FREEHOLD - Citing the impact Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed "sick tax" would have on Monmouth County's hospitals, the Board of Freeholders passed a resolution critical of the proposal to tax hospital beds, urging all 120 state legislators to oppose such a levy.

Freeholder Theodore J. Narozanick, who prepared the resolution, said the tax being proposed to help close what Corzine's office claims is a $4.5 billion deficit in his $31 billion budget translates into $1,424 per bed each month in Monmouth County, or nearly $50 a day.

"In Monmouth County, the impact on our hospitals would be devastating," Narozanick said. "My concern is if the sick tax is implemented, hospitals could be forced to close, layoffs of health care and other hospital workers would occur and services would be cut."

According to a press release from the county's office of public information, the tax means Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, would owe the state $6 million; Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, would owe $2.1 million; Centra-State Medical Center, Freehold Town-ship, would owe $1.3 million; and Bay-shore Community Hospital, Holmdel, would owe $2.7 million. The net gain for Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune, the region's trauma center, would be $21,476.

"Hospitals are already taxed by the state at the rate of 0.53 percent on gross receipts and $10 per admission, resulting in $55 million a year being directed to the state treasury from New Jersey hospitals," Narozanick said. "The fact is, 44 percent of the hospitals in New Jersey are already operating in the red, and they cannot absorb any additional financial burdens."

Still, the governor's proposed budget also calls for a cut in charity care payments to hospitals by about $65 million and freezing the valuation of charity care services to 2002 levels, despite the fact that charity care has substantially increased every year, Narozanick said.

"I thank the Board of Freeholders for supporting this important resolution, and I ask that it be sent to all of our state legislators in an effort to prevent this tax from being implemented," he added.