LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) –After being discussed for nearly two decades, Valencia County is one step closer to getting a hospital. County commissioners unanimously approved some key measures Wednesday night.
Valencia County voters approved an increase in property taxes in 2006. That money was set aside to run the hospital when it opened. The mill levy tax was enacted the following year, expiring eight years later. In that time, the county has collected $28 million. “Now we can utilize your tax dollars and bring much needed healthcare to Valencia County,” said Gerard Saiz, a Valencia County Commissioner.
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The hospital will be built southeast of the Los Lunas Fire Station 2. The commissioners voted for Bradbury Stamm to oversee construction and FBT Architects to do the design.
Right now the plans are for a 40,000-square-foot single-story building with an ER, pharmacy, and 15-bed inpatient wing. “We are looking to the future. so, this plan and its layout on the site has an 18-thousand-square-foot addition for the areas of the hospital staff surgical and some of the other wings and I believe it’s a 24,000-square-foot mob, medical office building,” said Arthur Tatum, president of FBT Architects.
The commissioners also awarded the healthcare facilities contract which lays out who will manage the hospital to Brazos, a joint venture between Lovelace Health System and Texas-based “Community Healthcare Corporation.”
The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration and the county signed an agreement in 2022 to put aside $50 million for the hospital. They are aiming to have construction completed by the spring of 2026.
