Early returns in Tuesday’s election show that voters in the Washington Township Healthcare District in southern Alameda County are favoring Measure B, a parcel tax to fund hospital services.
Measure B had nearly 65% approval as of the first results released after polls closed at 8 p.m. and needs only majority approval to pass.
If approved, it would enact a tax of 5 cents per square foot for buildings on residential or commercial properties and generate an estimated $13 million annually for 12 years for the 415-bed Washington Hospital acute-care facility and related medical services.
A petition that gathered more than 32,000 signatures to qualify Measure B as an initiative for the ballot said Washington Hospital is “designated as southern Alameda County’s only primary stroke center, cardiac arrest receiving center, and trauma center” and said the district that oversees its finances “is in dire need of an additional source of revenue.”
The ballot argument sent to voters in favor of Measure B said the added revenue “is needed to keep our local hospital, owned by residents of Fremont, Union City, Newark and Sunol, financially stable and able to provide the highest level of emergency healthcare.”
No ballot argument was submitted against Measure B.
