Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

According to the Sundance Times, Senator Driskill and Representative Lindholm presented an idea to Crook County Medical Services District Board, (CCMSDB), to secure $45 million dollars for a new hospital building from the CARES Act. According to Representative Lindholm those funds are only to be used for coronavirus-related expenses.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity,” Representative Lindholm states. Further in the article, Senator Driskill is quoted as saying, “This is the one time you are going to get someone else to write a check for things that you need at your facility.”

I am confused; can everyone in our state apply to build new hospitals with these funds? Weren’t these funds for hospital PPE, supplies, preparing isolation rooms? And wouldn’t the someone else writing the check for all these facilities be the American taxpayer?

CCMSD deserves our support for countywide improvements and I would love to see our care workers in new buildings but is this the proper use of funds? The US staggers economically. I am always concerned when asked to act quickly without all pertinent information. The billions of dollars in aid, currently being spent, will need to be replenished. Our small business tax base erodes each day. These coronavirus funds are not free money; they are your tax dollars.

I realize there is an attitude held by many, that if we don’t take advantage of these funds, someone else will. Does that make it right to spend your hard-earned money in this way?

Before a decision is made by the Wyoming Congress how these funds will be allocated, I ask Representative Lindholm and Senator Driskill to educate those of us paying the bill, to explain in detail the breadth and scope of how these funds will be spent according to the CARES Act before CCMSDB signs on and BEFORE the Legislature acts.

Thank you.

Patricia Frolander