The Power County Hospital District in American Falls is seeking voter approval for a $2.95 million 20-year general obligation bond to finish renovations needed to upgrade hospital facilities, according to Jacklyn Taylor, marketing director and administrative assistant for the hospital.

“It’s kind of a project we’re so close to finishing. It would be nice to get it done and provide everything we can for our community,” Taylor said.

The proposal for a $2.95 million 20-year bond would fund the completion of a major renovation project that started in 2016 at the hospital. If approved by Power County voters, the bond would allow the hospital to finish the project in 2021.

A bond also passed in 2017 for $14.95 million that allowed the hospital — which is at 510 Roosevelt St. in American Falls — to pay for renovations.

But the hospital is currently short of the funds it needs to finish the project and that’s why another bond has been proposed.

“This (second) bond would help us finish everything in the original project,” Taylor said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the vote on the second hospital bond is being done now by absentee mail ballots only.

Registered voters must complete an absentee ballot application by May 19 to get a ballot. Ballots must then be returned to the Power County clerk’s office at the courthouse by June 2 to be counted.

After the voting ends, the hospital won’t know if the bond has been approved by voters until June 3, Taylor said.

The reason that the second bond is needed to finish the hospital renovations is because construction costs have continued to rise.

“They’ve renovated a vast amount of the building at this point already,” Taylor said. “It’s not just a cosmetic thing we’re doing.”

She said the hospital building’s nearly 60 years old and the work needs to be done. The improvements include electrical, mechanical and safety system upgrades, expanded space for patient care, and the addition of private bathrooms to patient rooms.

The funding from the second bond would allow the hospital to finish a new 3,000-square-foot physical, occupational and speech therapy building. Currently it’s located in a 30-year-old trailer that has limited space.

Also, the second bond’s funding would update the hospital’s north entrance and lobby for nursing home services. The money would update the south entrance and canopy for hospital and emergency services as well and would be used to complete the upper east hospital wing and community board room.

The funds would also pay for the completion of landscaping around the hospital and would update aging hospital equipment including the elevator, the kitchen fridge/freezer, and patient beds and technologies.

Taylor said that approval of the $2.95 million bond would also keep the construction personnel onsite and working, which would save money compared to having them leave and then come back at a future date.

Several cuts have already been made to the project to keep it within the current budget, according to hospital officials.

Taylor said the cost for the $2.95 million bond would amount to an average of $20.24 annually per $100,000 of assessed value for Power County property owners for the next 20 years.

For more information contact the hospital at 208-226-3200 or visit www.pchd.net.