Mayors suggest county-funded VA hospital

MERCEDES — A veterans hospital in the Mid-Valley area was a topic of discussion during a meeting by the Rio Grande Mid-Valley Mayors and Commissioners Association on July 26.

The group consists of mayors and city commissioners from Weslaco, Donna, San Juan, Mercedes, Alamo and Progreso, as well as district representatives. During the meeting, Donna Mayor Rick Morales proposed that Hidalgo County build its own veterans hospital instead of waiting for the federal government to build it.

“Let’s get this hospital built for our veterans once and for all. How many veterans have to die to get a hospital here?” Morales said.

Morales further proposed that funding for the county VA hospital would come from a new, one-cent tax property tax levied only in Hidalgo County.

“One penny per $100 evaluated yearly; there’s approximately $24 billion taxable property in Hidalgo County, and if other counties want to participate, just add in,” he said. “With Hidalgo County, it’d come out to $240 million, just from one penny. I think we can build a hospital. Reimbursement from VA is very low, (and) I have no faith in VA. I want one penny, and with all the counties it’d be $30 billion and we can build our own facility, staff it and take care of our own veterans.”

Morales said various obstacles including the cost of the facility and a construction location must be considered but Morales said land donations could reduce the cost of construction.

“We want to take it farther than just offer 30 acres. We want to get it done,” he said. “I don’t know of any politician who wouldn’t want it. I have a lot of veterans in my city and in Weslaco, and San Juan.”

One possible location is 2,300 acres of land near the site of a future international bridge voluntarily annexed by Donna in September 2006.

“It’s all farmland. We bought the land from (the owner) for the bridge, and he wanted commercial and industrial development, it was voluntary. Donna doubled in land size,” Morales said.

The mayors and officials attending the event agreed and backed the idea of a county veterans hospital. Alamo Mayor Rudy Villarreal is more familiar with veterans’ needs than others, since he is a Navy veteran of the Korea and Vietnam Wars.

“I don’t need (the hospital) myself, I won’t get benefits, but a big reason they were giving (no answer) was we don’t have a medical school, that was the excuse these big men in Washington gave,” Villarreal said.

He went on to say how in the 1970s, the G.I. Bill allowed a large percentage of Vietnam veterans to earn college degrees which in turn helped them afford medical insurance that paid for their medical care.

However, times have changed, Morales said.

“I was talking to one Vietnam veteran on Saturday; (he) signed a petition in 1974 saying there would be a VA hospital. It’s been 36 years since we’ve been trying to get a hospital,” Morales said.

Villarreal remembered that petition, and recalled how it contained more than 200,000 signatures from across the Valley.

“Right now to raise taxes is perfect because people care about veterans,” Villarreal said.

The Association wants to organize their and deliver a presentation U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-California, who serves as VA Committee chairman. Filner is scheduled to attend a Rio Grande Valley Veterans Town Hall Meeting in Donna on Aug. 6.

The Association plans to meet with Filner in private to discuss their proposal and a panel of veterans will discuss an issue dealing with proposals for a veterans hospital.

For more information on the Town Hall Meeting, call (956) 682-5545, (956) 541-1242 or (956) 631-4826.