Special to the Herald

SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County Health System has a chance to get a larger piece of an extremely helpful pie.

Georgia has afforded its citizens the opportunity to pay their state income taxes – an expenditure that they are required to make -- by contributing to eligible rural hospitals to improve the financial condition and patient offerings in rural communities. This rural tax credit program is called Georgia HEART.

The Georgia General Assembly has capped Georgia HEART at $75 million in 2023. That is up $15 million from a year ago.

“The program has been so successful,” said LaMeisha Hunter Kelly, Effingham Health System’s executive director of strategic business development and governmental relations. “Last year, we thought the credits would last until around October. Then an email came out that said, ‘Push the program because we think the credits are going to be used up in September.’

“The credits were actually used up in July.”

Kelly expects this year’s allotment of credits to run out in June.

“That’s why we are really pushing it,” Kelly said.

Credits are awarded by the Georgia Department of Revenue on a first-come, first-served basis.

Effingham Health System has received $2.2 million through Georgia HEART since 2017. Participating hospitals are eligible for up to $4 million annually.

“We could do a better job (in Effingham County),” Kelly said. “Dayle Burns said it best. Understand that this isn’t us asking you to go into your pocket and pull out new money. This is money that you already have and for those that pay taxes to the state of Georgia – whether it’s individually or as a business – you are still paying that money but (Georgia HEART) lets you direct where those taxes go instead of just the general tax coffers.”

Effingham Health System has made good use of its Georgia HEART proceeds. The largest chunks came from Ameris Bank and Renasant Bank.

“The 2022 funds were used for pediatrics and all the 2023 funds will be used for pediatrics – not in terms of operations but in terms of facilities,” Kelly said. “That’s what assisted in the build-out and furnishings.”

Effingham Health System’s new Pediatric Center features 5,100 square feet of space. It has seven rooms, allowing staff to see 56 patients per day. The former pediatrics center contained only 400 square feet.

In 2021, Effingham Health System used Georgia HEART funds in support of another significant project.

“The hospital needed to update our HVAC systems,” Kelly said. “We put in individual units in each of the rooms in the long-term care center. We had to replace our air-handler units and we had to upgrade our HVAC and hood in our kitchen per regulations …

“That project cost $1.3 million with all the pieces.”

Georgia HEART tax credit applications are available at www.georgiaheart.org. Call 912-754-7567 for more information.