The $600,000 question
by January 11, 1999 12:00 am 61 views
It looks like the Springdale School District will benefit considerably from the sale of Northwest Health Systems Inc. to Quorum Health Group of Brentwood, Tenn.
Quorum is paying at least $66 million for the real estate owned by Northwest Health Systems Inc. of Springdale. The deal was finalized Dec. 4.
That translates to about $600,000 in annual property taxes that the hospital wasn’t paying because Northwest was a non-profit organization. Quorum, on the other hand, is a for-profit hospital group and must pay property taxes.
About 80 percent of that $600,000 will go to the Springdale School District. Of the remaining amount, about 10 percent will go to Washington County and the other 10 percent to the city of Springdale, says Sue Phillips, Washington County assessor.
Greg Murry, assistant superintendent for business affairs at the Springdale School District, says he’s not too excited about the extra money just yet. For one thing, the funds won’t be coming in until 2000. For another, the state will recalculate the “local wealth” of the school district and provide less state funding as a result. Currently the school district receives about $28 million per year from the state and $17 million per year from local taxes.
Terms haven’t been disclosed for the entire hospital sale, but the total price could fall between $160 million and $200 million when calculated by using an industry multiple and the hospital’s annual revenue of about $87 million.