By Charlie Seraphin
Hope you have enjoyed Barbie and Ken Fuzzy Math quizzes over the past few weeks. Time for your final exam. Correct answers don’t require you to like or dislike anyone. The answers are independent of your faith, your age, working or retired, new to Payson or born and raised. See if you can score a perfect 100. Good luck!
Question 1: (10 points) Why did the Mogollon Health Alliance, Inc., a community non-profit formed in 1954 to bring doctors to Payson, become the privately controlled MHA Foundation (initials)?
Question 2: (25 points) When Banner Health purchased the hospital for $40 million, what happened to the community assets built up by the Mogollon Health Alliance? (Hint: The Mogollon Health Alliance was merged into Banner Health and then Banner made a charitable “contribution” of $40 million to the MHA Foundation.)
Question 3: (20 points) According to former Mayor Evans, the MHA Foundation has invested tens of millions in Payson. Can you name those investments? (Hint–The Roundup reports values, not costs. For example, the Aspire program saves graduating Payson High seniors thousands, but the cost to administer the program is a different number. How much is spent to administer Aspire and other programs sponsored by the MHA?) In addition to $15,000 recently donated to the food bank, how much was actually spent on projects around town? Please consider the fact that the most recent annual revenues reported by the MHA on a 2017 IRS Form 990 was $1,898,432. Can you say $1.9 million? $15,000 is .0079%.
Question 4: (20 points) Arizona SLE (Separate Legal Entity) law was introduced to allow rural communities the power to create joint fire districts serving both communities. Payson and Star Valley have an SLE without a fire district. Under the original legislation, SLE’s were governed by elected officials of each of the sponsoring communities or their appointed representatives. There’s nothing in the legislation suggesting a private foundation. There’s no mention of private investors. The RCEA-SLE (created during Mayor Evans tenure) was said to protect Payson in case the university project failed. There is no university. There is no apparent threat. The SLE bought 253 acres of U.S. Forest Service property below market value. Would surrendering the property, along with the remainder of the proceeds from the sale of the hospital to Payson demonstrate that the project was undertaken in the public interest, and not by private interests seeking tax shelters?
Question 5: (20 points) Do you believe that a private Foundation, controlled by a select group of individuals is better suited to control community assets than elected officials? Does the current MHA, RCEA-SLE arrangement offer more or less transparency and value to the community?
Let’s ask each of the candidates in the upcoming election to answer these questions. Score your own exam. Hint–That’s why they call it Fuzzy Math!
Charlie Seraphin is the Payson author of–One Stupid Mistake–Smart Decision-Making in a Crazy World. (available on Amazon and Audible). ★
