L&D task force proposal to call for women’s pavilion, sales tax increase

Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital’s labor and delivery unit is set to effectively close its doors Friday. However, the task force charged with finding a solution to make the unit viable long term is not done yet.

It is expected that the labor and delivery task force will propose a plan to the hospital board Monday that would call for the establishment of a “women’s pavilion” as well as an increased sales tax to help fund the facility.

“The idea that the task force came up with is the creation of a women’s pavilion. I, as a citizen and as mayor, am not interested in trying to resurrect or reestablish what has gone on in terms of labor and delivery at the hospital,” Demopolis Mayor Mike Grayson, who is on the labor and delivery task force, said of the impending proposal. “This is the second time since I’ve been in office that we’ve had to come to the table and try to come up with something. I’m thinking that we’ve got to come up with something that is creative and out of the box and that will be good for things other than just labor and delivery.”

While it is not yet determined where such a facility would set up shop, Grayson said the task force has identified multiple potential locations but declined to provide insight into either until the BWWMH board has an opportunity to review the proposal.

“We’ve got two different ideas, sites for that. We actually have a short-term and a long-term plan,” Grayson said before noting that the likelihood is that such a facility would go into an already-existing structure. “Renovation. I just don’t think we’ll have the revenue stream to (construct new facilities).”

With the notion of establishing such a facility, Grayson said the task force could not only preserve labor and delivery, but could help to fortify the hospital as a whole.

“One of the things that I think is crucial on this is – it has been conveyed to me and I’m beginning to understand it – that the confidence in the hospital is at an all-time low and getting lower by the day,” Grayson said. “What we’re going to have to do to reverse this trend is to demonstrate to the community that we are going to be around and it is going to be a long-term thing, that you’ll not have to go to Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Selma or Birmingham for these particular services. We’ve got to be prepared for that.”

While the hospital board readies to review the proposal in its entirety, members of the Demopolis Area Business Council met Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a sales tax increase to fund the plan.

“We feel like if a tax is proposed, it should be given ample time to be reviewed by the businesses and citizens,” DABC President Tyler Windham said. “We would like enough time for everybody ‘s voices and opinions to be heard.”

While such a tax would have to be passed through the city council were the plan to gain approval from the BWWMH board, Grayson did indicate that such a measure is part of the task force’s proposal.

“A one-cent sales tax has been talked about. A half-cent sales tax has been talked about. Honestly, the council will have to decide whether all of it is used for labor and delivery,” Grayson said, indicating that some of the funds generated by such a tax could be directed somewhere other than . “It is not going to see the agenda until we get the green light from the hospital board. I would be stunned if the hospital board does not accept this plan.”

“We are also not in favor of the city council voting for any tax increase the first time it is put on the agenda,” DABC spokesperson Jay Reynolds said, echoing the sentiments of Windham.

If the city were to enact such a sales tax, the additional revenue would total in the neighborhood of $1.2 million according to Grayson.

“The Demopolis Area Business Council did a survey of its membership and some business owners that are not members of the business council. Over 90 percent of our membership and other owners polled are not in favor of a one-cent sales tax that is supposedly going to be proposed by the task force,” Reynolds said. “We are not speaking against saving labor and delivery, we just do not believe it is the appropriate way to go about funding it.”

“I dislike and disdain taxes as much as, if not more than any other person on the street. Unfortunately, there are times where governmental entities do have to step in to salvage a situation,” Grayson said. “I would be willing to say that if labor and delivery ever ultimately goes away, I’m all for pulling this tax off the books. My wife and I are in business as well. I’m not a career politician. I am a citizen first.”