By BARBARA GREEN

Bowie Memorial Hospital will ask the voters of the Bowie School District to approve the creation of a hospital taxing district in a November election.

The board of directors met Wednesday afternoon for a called meeting to discuss various aspects of a tax election. There were 15 people in the audience.

While there was much debate on what area a proposed hospital district should include, the board in the end voted to include only Bowie School district with a proposed rate of .1850 cents per $100 in property value.

Interim Chief Executive Officer Lynn Heller was directed to prepare the required petition to request an election that will be presented to the Montague County Commissioner’s Court. It must include at least 100 names of qualified voters.

If the petition is verified, the commissioners would call a hearing on the petition and then could call for election for the creation of the taxing district. Based on the schedule provided by the hospital’s legal counsel the petition should be submitted to the county judge by July 15 to facilitate meeting election deadlines.

Along with the .1850 cents proposed rate, the petition would contain the wording that would set the maximum tax rate at .40 cents per $100. Read the full story in the Saturday News. Pictured:

(Center) Bowie Memorial Hospital Interim Chief Executive Officer Lynn Heller speaks at Wednesday’s meeting of the board. Pictured around the table are board members, Tim Winn, Dwayne Enlow, Ward Wallace, Heller and Margaret Long. Director Carla Swofford also was present, while Jim Campbell did not attend due to illness. (Photo by Barbara Green)