Supporters of Proposition 409 are declaring victory following Tuesday’s election. The ballot measure will boost funding for Valleywise Health — Maricopa County’s publicly-funded hospital system.
The Maricopa County Elections Department reports about 36,000 ballots had not been counted as of Friday morning. Just over 51% of votes counted in Maricopa County so far have been in favor of Prop. 409, an $898 million in bond to upgrade Valleywise facilities and expand services.
The average Maricopa County homeowner will pay about $29 more per year in property taxes to cover the costs of the bond over the next 30 years, according to the Prop. 409 campaign.
Prop. 409’s proponents say the most critical investment will be a renovation to double the capacity of the nearly 50-year-old behavioral health center on the Valleywise downtown campus. Valleywise is the only provider of court-ordered mental health evaluations in the county, but hospital leadership said these behavioral health patients have been facing wait-lists for treatment.
“We know Maricopa County voters understand the urgent need to invest in our safety-net hospital in order to meet these growing demands,” Valleywise chief clinical officer Dr. Michael White said in a statement. “We are excited to begin the next phase of providing Maricopa County residents with world-class facilities at their public county hospital.”
The Valleywise Board of Directors will now begin a public planning process for the renovations.
More than 80 Arizonans submitted letters of support for Prop. 409 in the voter pamphlet. The list included prominent Arizona Republicans like former Govs. Doug Ducey and Jan Brewer alongside Democrats like U.S. Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly. There was no organized opposition to Prop. 409.
But the campaign’s support from 51% percent of voters was a much narrower victory than the last time Valleywise sought bond approval from voters in 2014. That proposition passed with 63% of the vote. It paid for $935 million in renovations for the main Valleywise hospital building.
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