The Montezuma County Hospital District board has stepped in to help secure financing for a low-cost health clinic in Mancos.

The board allocated $12,500 toward a five-month lease-purchase agreement between the owners of a medical building and the district. The concept has board support, and would give the district the option to purchase the $245,000 building for use as a health clinic.

Board attorney Kelly McCabe was instructed to draw up an agreement for board approval and a special meeting will be held to discuss the issue on Monday, May 21, at 7 p.m. in the hospital cafeteria.

Advocates of the clinic requested board assistance because the owners of the vacant building, located at 111 Railroad Ave. in Mancos, could not afford to take the loss on payments any longer.

"The building has historically been used for medical purposes, and the community and the owner want to see that continue," said County Administrator Tom Weaver. "But we have to move fast, because the owners need to get out from under their obligation to it."

They have graciously held on to their investment for use as a clinic while organizers obtain federal funding for the facility, Weaver said.

Valley-Wide Health Services, a consortium of health clinics known for providing community care in poorer regions, plans to begin operating the Mancos clinic once federal funding totaling $500,000 comes through for start-up costs. Once on-line, the clinic would supposedly pay for itself, based on demographic analysis of medical-care demand in the region.

The federal assistance, reportedly approved for the clinic, is a result of Montezuma County being designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area and as a Medically Under-served region. But the county was passed over in the first round of funding. The next round of funding will be announced in August.

"They have done their work — it is time for us to do our part," said board member Randy Smith before making a motion to obtain the building. "It’s time to move forward and make this happen because we do not want to lose the building." The vote was unanimous in favor of the plan.

If the district decides to exercise the option to purchase the building, a loan would need to be secured. Board member Sue McWilliams reported that, with a 40-year term, at 4-5 percent interest, the district would be obligated to pay approximately $10,000 per year, derived from $1.4 million in collected tax-revenues.

Some concerns arose during discussion of the possible purchase, including whether it would violate district spending caps established by Amendment 1, also known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

TABOR limits spending of tax dollars obtained by mill levy to a set amount derived from 1992 spending levels. Anything higher, may require a public vote, if less is spent, than the mill levy must be lowered.

Other concerns included staffing the clinic with doctors loyal to admitting patients at Southwest Memorial. South-west CEO Bob Peterson said the ideal situation would be to bring in a physician who would work part-time at the clinic and part-time at a Cortez practice.

Responding to fears that Valley-Wide would hire a doctor out of one of its Durango clinics to run the Mancos clinic, Peterson said that he has assurances from Valley-Wide that this would not happen.

"I believe we can find someone (willing to staff the clinic)," he said.

That is critical, said McWilliams, because "if they are forced to, Valley-Wide may have to take a Durango doctor."

That could be detrimental, McCabe said, because then the district may own a clinic that is sending patients to the Durango hospital.

The district could walk away from the deal at the end of five months, but would be out the $12,500. Otherwise the money would go towards the purchase price.

If it works out, the clinic, which would accept any patient, will provide a needed service, said board member Susan Keck.