Editorial: Cost still an issue

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 17, 2006

Oconomowoc Mayor Maury Sullivan called the settlement that will allow the building of an Aurora hospital in western Waukesha County a "four-win deal." And that's true: It's a good deal for Aurora, Oconomowoc, the Town of Summit and the nearby Pabst Farms development. What remains to be seen is whether it will become a five-win deal that will include consumers of health care.

We have opposed the hospital, and we still think it's a bad idea, primarily because of concerns that overbuilding of hospitals and other medical facilities is a key factor in driving up health care costs. Aurora argues that's not the case and that building a second major hospital in that area will improve health care.

Having won its five-year fight through sheer persistence, Aurora now has a chance to prove its case. Health care consumers should hold the company accountable.

Still, as Sullivan pointed out, there were good reasons to settle the lawsuit, and Aurora isn't the only winner. Aurora had sued the city for $59 million over a zoning change that blocked building of the hospital in the Pabst Farms development just north of I-94 and east of Highway 67. A judge ruled in May that the rezoning was illegal, and city officials were worried they would lose on appeal.

The settlement calls for Oconomowoc to use its extraterritorial zoning power to allow the hospital to be built in the neighboring Town of Summit. The town has always favored the hospital, but county officials had blocked a proposal to build in the town. The city's zoning power trumps the county's authority in this case.

Coupled with a development just announced for a site near the planned hospital site, the town will see some significant economic development. At the same time, the increased development could also move the town closer to incorporation.

The city gains because it gets the hospital out of the tax incremental financing district in Pabst Farms - the reason city officials gave for rezoning the land to block a non-profit hospital - and it avoids a major hit in potential legal costs and legal liability.

Pabst Farms wins because the land the hospital initially wanted to build on is now freed up for a proposed shopping center.

Aurora wins because it gets the hospital it wanted all along on a site it now prefers to the original Pabst Farms site to serve a growing and potentially lucrative market.

And consumers could win if the result is lower costs and improved health care. Which may be a pretty big if, say critics, including some key Waukesha County businesses. Aurora officials say the cost of health care is a complex matter and not driven only by the number of hospitals in an area.

There is also legitimate concern over the sheer amount of development - from Summit to Pabst Farms to Bob Lang's "lifestyle center" proposal for nearby Delafield. It remains an open question what effect it all will have not just on the land but also on the water supply in Waukesha County, which is already under severe pressure. Hospitals are prodigious users of water.

Still, this fight is over, and it is time to move on. Western Waukesha County may in the end benefit from the new hospital but only if Aurora lives up to its promise to provide quality health care at a reasonable cost. Everyone involved in the "four-win deal" needs to make sure that happens.