MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL Dick Spotswood ODDS & ENDS Sutter Health's lease of Marin General Hospital expires on June 29. Not wanting to leave lucrative Marin, Sutter bought East San Rafael's Marin Square Shopping Center. It plans to create a min-medical center, allowing the hospital chain, despite protests to the contrary, to compete with Marin General. It's easy to forget that Sutter is a not-for-profit corporation relieved of obligations to pay property taxes. San Rafael's finance office confirms that if Sutter follows this strategy, the city will annually lose $175,000 in property taxes, plus sales taxes now generated by Marin Square's retailers. That hit could approach the cost of funding two San Rafael firefighters unless Sutter voluntarily makes up the loss.
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley shares his views on local politics every Sunday in the IJ. Also read his musings at http://blogs.marinij.com/spotswood/ His e-mail address is spotswood@comcast.net |