Who Should Pay for Lourdes Hospital’s $6.9M Flood Wall?
By Jim Willis on Dec 4, 2007 in Business, Society & Culture, Taxes & Spending | Printable Version
If you lived in the Greater Binghamton area in 2006, you no doubt vividly recall the flood of June 2006. It was referred to as a “500 year flood,” meaning it was the kind of “perfect storm” that results in flood waters rising to a catastrophic level–the kind of thing that happens once every 10 generations or so. Kind of sobering to think this area has not seen that kind of flood since before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock!
Although I live close to an area river, my house is uphill and we were spared. However, I saw the devastation first-hand while helping a co-worker clean out mud and damage from waters that filled her basement and rose three feet up into the first floor. What a nightmare!
One of the most poignant stories involved an area hospital–Lourdes–which sits next to the Susquehanna River. The flood waters filled their parking lot and crept into the first level of their main building, and they needed to evacuate all of their patients. Two other area hospitals took in the patients, a situation that lasted for 10 days. It was a touching story of competitors working together for the good of the community. In the end, Lourdes sustained $20 million in flood damage. Ouch.
Which brings me to the point of this post. Lourdes has made application for and received a grant from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) for $5.2 million to build a flood wall that will help prevent such a disaster in the future. The total cost of the flood wall will actually be $6.9 million–so a grant from New York State will likely kick in to cover the rest.
Seems to me that Lourdes is getting a pretty sweet deal–at taxpayers’ expense. Yes, Lourdes does provide a “public good” in providing their services to this community. And they are a non-profit organization. However, for all intents, they are a business operating at break-even (or even at a profit). And they’ve chosen to build next to a river. Should they not accept the risk for their actions? Why do taxpayers have to fund a flood wall to the tune of $6.9M that benefits a single business? Americans are a generous and magnanimous people, but our largess will be our undoing.
Taxpayers are not an endless pocketbook for “good causes.” In my opinion, it is in no way moral or ethical for taxpayers to be forced to protect a private organization’s interests. Will one project really make that much of a difference to the bottom line of the U.S. or New York State budgets? No. But if you tally up the funding of all these “good causes” across the entire country, it adds up to big bucks.
If it cost Lourdes $20M the last time they were flooded, wouldn’t it be a bargain for them (and their insurer) to spend $6.9M of their own profits to prevent it from happening again? Especially since they have chosen to locate next to a river?!
What do you think? Am I being a Scrooge? Agree or disagree, please leave a comment.
Technorati Tags: Binghamton, Binghamton Flood, Lourdes Hospital, FEMA
Brent | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
You rotten, no good, word that rhymes with “trick.” What a great question! Wow.
I personally don’t like the idea of one business (hospital or not) getting special dispensation, especially from the taxpayer coffers. Homeowners I can understand and agree with! This reminds me a bit of New Orleans (a big “hey-ho-DUH” to the city planners there). If you build next to a river, you cannot expect it to remain sedately within its banks. I guess I at least am a Scrooge. Lourdes is a great hospital, and provider of excellent service to me and my family…but their choice of location (and the ramifications) in the end is their responsibility not that of taxpayers throughout the state.
Jim Willis | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
Great thoughts as always Brent. Your comparison to New Orleans is spot on. Lest I leave the wrong impression, let me say that Lourdes IS a great hospital, and my family’s hospital of choice too! I’m not denigrating their organization. They just need to pay for their own flood wall!
mike | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
This might be one topic everyone here can agree on, you should submit this to the local rags for rants, I mean comments.
Kirk Smith | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
Basically, there are 4 choices: (1) build the wall at the cost noted (2) do nothing and gamble there isn’t another flood. If there is, figure it will cost $20M or more to fix. (3) Move the hospital which will cost even more. (4) Close the hospital which is probably not acceptable to the community. Seems like option 1 is the most cost-effective.
BTW, take a look at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa FL. Not only is it the main trauma center for that metro area and a significant portion of the Gulf Coast, it is located on an island(!) in Tampa Bay. If/when a hurricane hits that area, the hospital will most certainly flood (if not the roads and bridges to get there.) They apparently have done work to move a lot of equipment to higher floors to reduce the damage if it were to flood. But, in retrospect, a very dumb place to put such a key piece of infrastructure for that area!
Jim Willis | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for commenting Kirk! Always nice to have a new reader/commenter on the blog. I think you are correct with the options listed, and #1 is the obvious choice. The flood wall should be built, no question about it. My only issue is with who pays for it.
Please keep reading and commenting!
- Jim
Charlie | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
Lourdes and their insurers should be the ones paying for that. As I recall, the hospital had done studies prior to our 500 year flood, and had decided that the risk was worth taking. This was one risk they took, and got burned by, but this does not by any means give them the right to use taxpayer money. While I have no argument with Lourdes as a business, and they are an upstanding healthcare provider in greater Binghamton, I still feel that this is one improvement they should be making on their own. BUT, since we live in New York, they’ll probably get their funding because New York loves to give money to those who refuse to help themselves.
Jim Willis | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
Charlie,
Well said! I was not aware of that new piece of information you’ve provided that Lourdes had already considered the risk and decided to chance it. Thanks for that! I think we’re all agreed that Lourdes is a great local institution–they just need to take responsibility for their actions. You’re right–New York loves to give money away…my money! Thanks for commenting.
- Jim