Nearly $400 Million Bond for El Paso’s University Medical Center Set for November Ballot

A series of new facilities may soon see construction on the campus of the University Medical Center of El Paso and elsewhere in the metro area, depending upon the fate of a big bond proposal in November.

Three weeks ago, members of the El Paso County Commission unanimously voted to put the $396.6 million bond on the November ballot after hearing presentations for why UMC, whose roots in El Paso reach back to 1915, needs to expand its building footprint.

Animating the presentations was a need to expand healthcare access for the city’s growing senior population, while also providing enhanced services for cancer patients.

As proposed, the bond will additionally pay for the building of a burn center, geriatric center, new operating rooms, and cardiac catheterization rooms. Also on deck: facility improvements for imaging and laboratory services.

A geographic dividend will be realized by the bond with an urgent care clinic targeting the west side of El Paso and a health center in Horizon City, 22 miles to the southeast.

In a presentation made earlier this year to the commission, Jacob Cintron, UMC chief executive officer, noted that the demand for more healthcare services in El Paso has been an ongoing preoccupation for the hospital that has only increased in recent years.

“We’ve had challenges that we’ve had to address, and while we’ve taken some steps – for example, the purchase of the surgical hospital and things like that – it doesn’t come anywhere near to addressing the needs we have today and in the future,” he remarked.

Community support for the bond is uncertain. In 2022 a move to secure nearly $346 million in certificates of obligation bonds for UMC facility projects was halted when a petition signed by more than 32,000 voters blocked the commission from issuing those bonds.

​By Garry Boulard

​Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay

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