This chapter discusses the financial
aspects of operating a hospital district. Specifically, it sets
out the unique rules affecting a hospital district’s ability
to obtain money to support its health care service goals. The chapter
begins by setting out the general administrative requirements which
hospital districts should follow in managing their financial affairs.
Next, it provides an extensive description of a major potential
benefit of district status: the use of property taxes as a revenue
source and the many restrictions and complications affecting this
source under Washington law. The chapter also describes some special
issues affecting the collection of patient revenues by districts
and the different ways that hospital districts may borrow funds.
Finally, while hospital districts are generally authorized to expend
funds on most anything consistent with their statutory powers, the
chapter identifies and discusses a couple of unique issues relating
to the flow of money out of a hospital district: restrictions on
gifts and the payment of taxes by the district itself.