North County Hospital Bond Fails A Third Vote

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- A bond measure that would have paid for expansions, upgrades and seismic improvements at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside failed this week for the third time in two years, it was reported Wednesday.

Residents of Oceanside, Vista and Carlsbad had until Tuesday to cast mail-in ballots for Proposition A.

Unofficial results from the county Registrar of Voters Tuesday night showed the $589 million bond measure garnered 62.36 percent of the vote, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

It needed 66.67 percent to pass.

As of Tuesday night, 51,574 ballots were counted, leaving about 1,100 ballots to be counted this morning, the newspaper reported.

The bond would have paid for Tri-City's emergency department and urgent care center to be expanded, and for an updated intensive-care unit.

The number of hospital beds would have increased from 298 to 364.

The bond also would have enabled to the district to make seismic improvements required of all hospitals in California.

Arthur Gonzalez, Tri-City's chief administrative officer, told the Union-Tribune that he would be talking soon to state officials to determine how to meet the state's earthquake-safety standards by the 2013 deadline without the bond money.

Had the bond passed, annual property taxes on all privately owned land in the district would have increased by about $22 for each $100,000 of the land's assessed value for the next 40 years.