BY DANIEL SCHRAGER
Daily Post Staff Writer
Santa Clara County voters are on track to approve a 5/8 percent sales tax increase, which proponents say will fund the count’s public hospital system amid federal cuts, in tonight’s special election.
Measure A leads by a 57% to 43% margin according to the initial election results released by the county. So far, 317,707 votes have been counted.
The tax was designed to combat cuts to Medicaid in H.R.1, the July federal budget reconciliation law dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill” by the Trump administration, which supervisors feared would hurt the bottom line of the county’s public hospital system.
The bill cuts Medicaid spending by 14% over the next 10 years, according to health policy news site KFF, while requiring able-bodied people between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 20 hours a week to qualify.
Medicaid is the biggest source of funding for the county’s four hospitals, and supervisors estimate the cuts will cost them $1 billion annually. County Executive James Williams said supervisors will have to make “a number of very painful choices” to balance the budget with the anticipated revenue loss.
The tax increase, which supervisors placed on the ballot in August, is expected to raise $330 million a year, according to a statement from the county.
The funds raised by the tax won’t go directly to the hospital system but to the county’s general fund. Its proponents point out that measure requires the county to report how the money is spent, and that a tax targeted at raising money for the hospital system would have required two-thirds approval.
Opponents point out that Santa Clara County already spends more than any other major county in the state, with the health system accounting for over half of its $13 billion budget.
Valley Health has added three hospitals – O’Connor Hospital, St. Louise Regional Hospital and Regional Medical Center – to its portfolio since 2019, all of which it rescued from financial trouble under private ownership. It currently operates four hospitals, along with specialty clinics and urgent cares.
The tax will take effect April 1 and expire in 2031 unless it’s renewed.
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