South Broward public hospitals prosper as Miami-Dade's struggle

While many South Florida governments are slashing expenses to try to balance budgets, the government hospitals of South Broward are doing so well that they are improving services while cutting their tax rate by 41%. The four public hospitals in the Memorial Healthcare System can reduce their tax rate because they have brought in $232 million the past two fiscal years, by attracting paying patients while keeping costs down. In contrast, Miami-Dade’s Jackson Health System has lost $337 million over that same time. The financial success in Broward led the board of the South Broward Hospital District, which oversees the Memorial healthcare facilities, to vote Monday evening to reduce its 2012 property tax from $1.27 per $1,000 of taxable property value to 75 cents per $1,000 — meaning the owners of a $275,000 home could see their hospital taxes drop from $318 to $187.