Wednesday October 24, 2001

TUCSON - The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to match the city of Tucson's $250,000 contribution to help keep Tucson's two financially strapped trauma centers open after Dec. 31.

The City Council's unanimous vote came on Monday.

The county board unanimously authorized the one-time payment to be used for a short-term bailout of the trauma center services at Tucson Medical Center and University Medical Center through Dec. 31, 2002.

It also approved the county administrator's recommendation to ask Gov. Jane Hull to include short- and long-term statewide trauma center funding as part of the Legislature's upcoming special session, which starts Nov. 13.

Tucson's assistance to the TMC and UMC trauma facilities was contingent on a matching county contribution and $4.3 million from the Legislature.

"There is no guarantee, whatsoever, that the state will find the funds to pay for this," Mayor Bob Walkup, who helped work out the local agreement, said Monday.

Supervisor Ann Day sounded the same tune yesterday, noting that everyone is waiting for the Legislature to consider funding for the hospitals during its special session.

Both the city and the county had rejected funding requests from the hospitals last month, but altered their positions when it became clear both centers would be closed because of their annual deficit of around $5 million.