Did hospital district lose out on $575,000?

Kingsburg District Hospital might have gotten an extra $575,000 had it accepted Adventist Health's partnership offer last summer instead of eventually choosing a lower bid from Tulare Regional Medical Center. However, dollar figures don't tell the whole story, said Kingsburg hospital board member Bruce Salazar. The hospital might make additional money by leasing or selling hospital space that it couldn't have under a deal with Adventist, Salazar said. These developments have emerged since Jan. 25, when the Kingsburg board approved financial agreements with Tulare Regional, which beat out Adventist and two other bidders in September. Tulare Regional disclosed for the first time in those agreements that it will pay the Kingsburg hospital $603,000 over five years. Adventist said it would have paid the hospital about $1.179 million over the same period. That's a $575,000 difference.

As such information becomes public, some Kingsburg board members say that people might be second- guessing their choice of Tulare Regional.

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Sales tax revenue drops again in Kingsburg

Sales tax revenue in 2009 was down in Kingsburg like in most cities in the area. City leaders are now waiting to learn how shoppers spent during the holiday season in Kingsburg. City officials haven't received figures of sales tax revenue for the last quarter of 2009 -- October to December. The city did just receive the sales tax figures for July to September 2009, the first quarter in the city's fiscal year of July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The revenue was down 6.7 percent (about $16,000) from the same period a year ago, but much better than the first two quarters of 2009. For the first quarter of 2009 sales tax receipts were 22.4 percent less ($46,731) than the same quarter in 2008. For the second quarter sales tax receipts were 18.3 percent down ($44,658) from the same quarter in 2008.

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Awards night in Kingsburg

The Kingsburg District Chamber of Commerce 88th Annual Dinner and Awards Meeting was held Jan. 28 at the Kingsburg Young Life building. Annually, the Kingsburg Chamber gathers in January to recognize those individuals who have made significant civic contributions to the betterment of the lifestyle in Kingsburg. This year more than 200 people attended the event.

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Kingsburg girls basketball wins, 7-0 in league

The Kingsburg girls basketball team pushed its winning streak in the Central Sequoia League to six straight with a close 41-40 win at Selma Jan. 27. With the win over the Bears and a 50-33 victory Jan. 29 over Immanuel, the Vikings are now 7-0 and remain in first place in the CSL. "In all of our games, whoever can stay alive until the end is going to be the lucky one to make it," said Nick Harrell, Kingsburg coach. "This is the luckiest year of my life, because I have been on the other end of it in past years but for some reason this year the basketball gods are with us." The game was close throughout all four quarters as both teams exchanged the lead several times and neither team could seem to pull away from the other. Selma led 13-10 after the first quarter before Kingsburg rallied in the second quarter to take a 26-23 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Selma used its defense to shut down the Kingsburg offense and help get the Bears back into the lead. The Vikings only managed to score one point in the third, and the Bears took advantage, building a 32-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

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Double overtime win for Kingsburg boys basketball

The Selma and Kingsburg boys varsity basketball teams faced off for the first time this season in front of a packed gym Jan. 26 at Kingsburg High. The Vikings and the Bears had met three times last season with all of the games decided by four points or less, and Selma was looking for its third win in a row against its main rival. In a rivalry known for close games, a young Selma team gave the more experienced Kingsburg squad all it could handle before the Vikings finally escaped with a 71-64 win in double overtime. "Selma has a nice young team and they scrap," said Mark Bray, Kingsburg coach. "But I was proud of our guys tonight because they handled the adversity. We got in foul trouble, but we got a lot of great minutes tonight from our guards and our bench. It was a good team effort."

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