South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners Adopts Lowest Millage Rate Ever Recorded

For the 12th consecutive year, the South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners, who oversees all actions for Memorial Healthcare System, has voted to reduce its millage rate to 0.1010 – the lowest millage rate ever recorded by the District. This reduction comes at a time when the healthcare system is still dealing with challenges created by the COVID pandemic, market challenges of inflation and healthcare workforce trends. Commissioners supported their decision based on Memorial’s strong financial position and having the ability to provide that reduction to residents in south Broward County.

What does the lowest millage rate represent?

The 0.1010 millage rate represents an 11.71 percent decrease from last year’s rate of 0.1144. The resulting gross tax revenues are estimated to reach $7.5 million. After accounting for early payment discounts and a certain percentage of uncollectible taxes, the anticipated tax payments this year of $7.3 million will provide the District enough revenue to cover its governmental obligations, which include paying Broward County’s Medicaid Match program and community redevelopment agencies in several municipalities in south Broward County, as well as tax collector commissions and property appraiser fees.

The newly adopted millage rate will leave no net tax revenue to fund uncompensated care. The District will use operating income to cover all uncompensated care costs for the entire Memorial Healthcare System, including its six hospitals and its eight Memorial Primary Care clinics. In fiscal year 2023 uncompensated care is expected to exceed $1.2 billion.

This historic reduction of the millage rate comes at a time when Memorial Healthcare System continues to move healthcare forward with the expansion of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood and the opening of the premier Memorial Cancer Institute in Pembroke Pines. Memorial continues to offer a comprehensive array of services, such as cardiac and stroke care, Level 1 trauma services, maternity, cardiac and kidney transplant and many others.

Memorial’s quality and safety has been recognized nationally by Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that collects and transparently reports hospital performance. Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute continues to receive outstanding ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Memorial also remains one of only a handful of public hospitals in the nation to achieve AA, Aa3 financial ratings by Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, respectively.