Education leaders, community members rally for county tax measure

Education advocates and community leaders gathered on a cloudy morning outside Saint Louise Regional Hospital to urge voters to support Measure A, a Santa Clara County sales tax ballot option aimed at preserving healthcare services threatened by recent federal funding cuts.

The Sept. 30 rally brought together former elected officials, educators and residents with personal connections to the county hospital system, all emphasizing the measure’s critical importance for South County communities.

“The last thing I thought I would ever have to do is campaign for increasing taxes,” said Steve Tate, former Morgan Hill mayor. “All politicians talk about quality of life. How can you say that you support quality of life without healthcare?”

Measure A would impose a five-eighths cent sales tax throughout the county for five years, generating an estimated $330 million annually to offset federal cuts totaling more than $1 billion to the county’s health and food services programs. 

County supervisors unanimously placed the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot following passage of federal legislation H.R. 1, which significantly slashes Medicaid funding. If approved by a majority of voters, the measure would increase the county’s sales tax from 9.125 cents per dollar to 9.75 cents per dollar. 

The cuts are expected to disproportionately impact South County, where three of the four communities with the highest MediCal enrollment rates are located. Gilroy has about 23,000 residents enrolled in MediCal, representing 40% of the city’s population, while Morgan Hill also has 40% enrollment.

Sarah Foote, an emergency medical technician and member of the American Association of University Women’s San Jose chapter, highlighted Saint Louise Hospital’s role as a primary stroke center serving the region.

“One of the most important things about Saint Louise here is that it is a primary stroke center,” Foote said. “Having a stroke is extremely serious. Minutes, seconds really do count when it comes down to getting that lifesaving care.”

Foote also emphasized the hospital’s helipad as essential infrastructure for treating rural farming injuries and other traumatic emergencies that occur in the area’s agricultural communities and camping sites.

“There are a lot of rural injuries that happen out here,” she said. “We have a lot of farming communities, we even have some camping that happens in the local area. And when traumatic injuries do occur, being able to get a helicopter out there and get those medics, those nurses to the patient immediately, and getting them somewhere where they can be stabilized is essential. 

“The only other option would be to take them all the way over to either Regional Medical Center on the East Side, San Jose, or Valley Medical Center in Santa Clara.”

Swanee Edwards advocated for the county to purchase Saint Louise when it faced closure several years ago. Edwards, who received care at the hospital when her electrolytes became dangerously imbalanced, spent 10 days in the facility.

“The thought of having to depend on Highway 101 to get us to urgent medical care, using that precious golden hour in traffic, was just unbearable,” Edwards said, adding that South County has historically been underserved in healthcare access.

“We have to have a hospital in South County,” she said. “This is a retirement community. I live at Woodland Estates, 55 and older, and those people need a hospital a few minutes away, not an hour away.”

Several speakers shared personal stories illustrating the stakes for local residents.

Claudia Rossi, president of the South County Silver Democrats and event organizer, recounted how two family members suffered strokes without immediate access to care. Her father lost his speech after one stroke and his vision after a second, while her uncle became paralyzed and lost the ability to swallow.

“I’m voting in honor of those members of my family that didn’t have that care when they needed it,” Rossi said.

Azalea O’Connor, a retired special education teacher, described experiencing stroke symptoms while at school several years ago. She drove to Saint Louise, where medical staff quickly diagnosed a brain aneurysm.

“Thanks to the medical staff, I was referred to the neurology department at Kaiser, and it was taken care of,” O’Connor said. “If I hadn’t had that care that day, most likely I wouldn’t be here right now.”

In an argument against Measure A submitted to the county elections office, Rishi Kumar, Liang Fang Chao, Elisabeth V. Lawler, Lydia Kou and Rowena Turner call the sales tax proposal a “regressive sales tax” and a “bailout for failure.” Furthermore, the proposal indicates the county “can’t fix its problems.” 

“The county has known about this deficit for years, yet rushed Measure A onto the ballot with just 24 hours’ notice as an ‘emergency’ general tax,” says a portion of the ballot argument against Measure A. “Not a dime will be dedicated to healthcare, and the funds can be spent on anything. It can pass with just 50% plus one vote (instead of the two-thirds required for a dedicated tax) and has no binding oversight to ensure promises are kept.”

Nancy Altman, a Morgan Hill Unified School District trustee speaking as a former educator at the Gilroy rally, connected student health to academic success.

“So many of my students are dependent on the county health system for medical care,” Altman said. “Students don’t learn if they aren’t feeling good, if they’re sick, so it’s essential that our students still have access to all of the care that is provided by the county medical system.”

Connie Rogers, a former Gilroy City Council member who has lived in the city since 1966, recalled campaigning for the county to purchase the hospital after it cycled through four different owners in less than a decade.

“I know how hard it is to think about increasing the sales tax, but this is a lifesaving place that is really worth the sacrifice,” Rogers said. “It protects so many people, especially here in South County. We are the lowest income area of Santa Clara County, and we’re 20 miles from the nearest other hospital. I totally support Measure A and hope that we can all spread the word of how important it is.”