Floyd County voters approve changing the way Floyd County Medical Center is governed

CHARLES CITY — 68-percent of Floyd County voters approved changing the way the Floyd County Medical Center is operated.

The former Floyd County Memorial Hospital was originally organized as a memorial hospital via a state charter under Chapter 37 of the Iowa Code that called for the hospital to be run by an appointed board of trustees with funding decisions being made by the county board of supervisors.

Voters by a 1717-809 margin approved moving the hospital under Chapter 347, which changes the board to elected positions and gives that board the authority to levy property taxes.

Hospital officials said prior to the election that one of the main reasons they proposed the change was due to the way the state’s Medicaid system is managed, resulting in more than $700,000 a year in reduced reimbursements.