Park Hospital Board approves 2025 Estes Park Hospital budget
On Friday, Dec. 13, the Park Hospital District Board unanimously approved the 2025 budget, and the mill levy on taxpayers of 7.505 budgeted at $4,396,016. The mill levy did not change from the previous year.
The 2025 budget includes operating revenue of $60,277,612 and operating expenses of $62,92,112.
With taxes, investment income, gifts from the EPH Foundation, etc., the net position increase is projected at $1,464,993.
CEO Vern Carda said at the initial Dec. 11th meeting that slow progress is being made as Estes Park Health climbs out of a financial hole.
“If we had not made some hard choices, we would not have seen progress in the budget or found an affiliation partner, UCHealth,” Carda emphasized. “This upcoming partnership will ensure the Estes Valley has quality health care for decades to come. I’m proud of the work the administration, the staff, and the Board has done to make this progress possible.”
In 2022, EPH faced a loss of more than $8 million. In 2023, that loss was $1.7 million. 2024 is project to show a half million-dollar loss. The 2025 budget projects a $1.4 million net increase.
“We’ve developed our budget around the objectives we want to achieve,” Carda said. “We are investing in quality, personnel, service, and safety, as well as taking care of our aging physical plant.”
A proposed capital budget of about $3 million includes a new nurse call system, a breast health center that is part of a Diagnostic Imaging renovation, the relocation of cardiac rehabilitation, as well as work on the roof and parking lots.
“Our budget is our best estimate at this point in time,” Carda stated. “There are many things that will occur that we don’t have control over, and we will be forced to react to. The hospital is not a factory. People’s medical needs can’t be predicted.”
The Board considered a list of procedural objections submitted by the Estes Valley Voice. According to law, electors can object to the budget. The Estes Valley Voice is not an individual elector. Even so, in the spirit of transparency, the Board consulted with attorneys about the procedural objections and determined EPH has been in compliance with statutes throughout the budget process.