Call to Action! JPS requires citizen input for proposed debt package.
The John Peter Smith public hospital district, more commonly known as JPS, proposed an $809,000,000 bond package last year without much citizen input. Overwhelmingly, the majority of the money was going to be spent only on the downtown facility in Fort Worth, with more than half being spent on a new inpatient tower. Meanwhile, there was minimal benefit for the rest of the taxpayers in other parts of the county who would also bear the cost of this nearly billion-dollar project. However, the bond never made to the November ballot this year. An active citizenry of concerned taxpayers raised questions and concerns about the direction and hidden costs of the bond, prompting the Commissioner’s Court to put it on hold. It will now face a “Blue Ribbon Commission,” in an attempt to calm those opposing the bond.
