PORT ANGELES – The Olympic Medical Center Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve an August measure to increase the tax levy for Clallam County Public Hospital District No. 2.

Voters will see the proposed tax levy on the ballot for August 6, asking for a total tax levy rate of .75 per thousand of assessed property value, resulting in an estimated annual amount of over $12 million. Ballots will go out in July.

Olympic Medical Center’s CEO Darryl Wolfe cites significant increases in costs of supplies, equipment, pharmaceuticals and workforce since the pandemic as the reason for the ask. Meanwhile, the hospital’s reimbursement from government payors has remained the same.

Olympic Medical Center is a public hospital district spanning from the east end of Clallam County to roughly past Lake Crescent.