Three local residents are suing Austin, Texas-based Central Health, the local hospital-taxing district, over allegations that taxpayer contributions to Austin-based University of Texas' Dell Medical School were unlawfully utilized, according to the American Statesman.
In 2012, voters in the area approved a property tax to generate $35 million per year to create and support the local medical school. The medical school has used most of the taxpayer-contributed funds toward employee salaries.
The lawsuit claims the taxpayer funds must, by law, be used exclusively to improve healthcare access for the poor. The residents argue that using taxpayer dollars to pay for salaries is outside the bounds of the agency's mission of serving the poor.
"We have asked repeatedly for Central Health to spend its tax dollars according to the law on health care for our county's most poor," plaintiff Rebecca Birch, a local resident, said in a statement. "Neither Central Health's Board nor the Travis County Commissioners, who are its financial overseers, have listened. This lawsuit was our last option."
The three plaintiffs also seek to bar Central Health from spending taxpayer dollars on economic development, medical education, non-healthcare related activities and healthcare for people who are not poor.
Central Health and the Dell Medical School defended their stance, arguing that voters approved the tax, noting that the school will train physicians in the community and retain many of these physicians.
"We look forward to finally resolving this issue even if that means doing so in court," a Central Health statement reads, according to the American Statesman
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt will preside over the lawsuit.