The Montezuma County Hospital District is asking voters next week to vote yes on ballot measure 5A, a limited sales and use tax a sales and use tax that will be used to help fund a $14.2 million overhaul of the 40-year-old Southwest Memorial Hospital.

Officials have emphasized that the expansion and facilities upgrade is a crucial avenue to modernizing the county’s health-care infrastructure.

The 0.4 percent tax – 4 cents per every $10 – would be applied to money spent in Montezuma County but would exclude certain items like most food purchased in grocery stores, prescription drugs, residential utilities and non-licensed farm equipment.

Hospital officials have said that a limited sales and use tax was the most equitable way to fund the sorely-needed project, as it would apply to locals and tourists alike.

The ambitious capital project entails building a state-of-the-art inpatient wing at the 25-bed, critical access hospital on Mildred Road, as well as an ambulance garage with conference space and rooming quarters for EMS staff.

The existing inpatient wing would be remodeled to house Southwest Health System’s four clinics, which currently scattered throughout town in leased office buildings.

Officials plan to apply for a USDA loan to pay for $6.6 million of the project and, if approved, the sales tax would cover the bulk of the remaining cost.