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Community Corner

Hospital citizens group reports on bond expenses

The Independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (ICBOC), a group of volunteers monitoring how the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) is spending millions of dollars in taxpayer-approved bonds for new and improved patient care facilities at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, has issued its 2013 Annual Report to the Community.

 

“We are serving as the taxpayers’ eyes, ears and voices, with an attitude of thoroughness, inclusiveness and transparency,” said Kathleen Bute, 2014 ICBOC chairwoman. “Overall, we are pleased with the expenditure process, as confirmed by the audit that indicated no deficiencies or inconsistencies in internal controls or compliance.”

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Annually, the ICBOC group requests an audit of bond fund expenditures by independent external auditors. In 2013, Bute said the auditors returned with an “unqualified” opinion, which is regarded as the best type of audit result, indicating a clean bill of financial health. “The audit results indicate meticulous management of taxpayer dollars and confidence of public trust,” she said.

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Construction activity at the hospital is being financed by bonds voters approved in June 2006. The ballot measure, Proposition G, passed by more than 77 percent, well over the two-thirds required. Since then, the ICBOC has been overseeing how GHD is spending bond proceeds. The ICBOC group is responsible for reporting annually its oversight activities during the previous year.

 

The ICBOC’s seventh annual report says that 2013 was a year of milestone events, including the groundbreaking for the state-of-the-art Heart and Vascular Center in April and construction progress on the Central Energy Plant that features a new co-generation unit capable of providing more than 90 percent of the hospital’s electricity needs through on-site generation.

 

The ICBOC 2013 annual report is available at a publicly accessible website,

http://icboc.gafcon.net/Annual%20Reports/2013%20ICBOC%20Annual%20Report.pdf,

which also houses all of the citizen group’s bylaws, annual workplans, reports, memos, agendas, minutes and presentations from previous meetings.

 

The Grossmont Healthcare District, a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in San Diego's East County region, was formed in 1952 to build and operate Grossmont Hospital. In 1991, the District leased the hospital's operation to Sharp HealthCare under a 30-year agreement that runs through the year 2021. The District is governed by a five-member board of directors, each representing more than 500,000 people residing within San Diego East County’s 750 square miles. GHD also operates the Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, a public library specializing in health research information, located at 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa. For more information about GHD, visit www.grossmonthealthcare.org.

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