By Bruce Barton

A lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of bond measures for El Camino Hospital and the Mountain View-Whisman School District, among others, shows no sign of being resolved soon, forcing the hospital district to cancel a planned April bond sale and postpone start of construction from September to next spring.

Hospital district voters approved Measure D, a $148 million bond issue, in November 2003, to replace the existing El Camino Hospital with a facility designed to meet state seismic safety regulations that go into effect in 2020. Saratoga resident Aaron Katz, who owns property in Mountain View, claims only property owners - including those residing outside the hospital district - should be allowed to vote. Katz said the only persons taxed in bond elections are landowners.

“Proposition 13 was enacted to prevent government from imposing new taxes against real property without first securing their owners’ supermajority consent. Why then are we asking nonlandowners to approve a new tax against real property which, if approved, taxes someone else other than themselves,”Katz said.

Hospital officials said construction delays could cost taxpayers in the South Bay and the Peninsula millions. Even if Superior Court Judge Kevin A. McKenney rules in the hospital’s favor, Katz said he plans to appeal.

“We don’t believe there is any merit to the case, but the bonds can’t be sold until we’ve received a favorable ruling from the court,” said Jon Friedenberg, El Camino Hospital vice president of resource development. “There’s a very short window in the fall in which the construction can advance to the point that work can continue throughout the rainy season. … We’ve reached the point where the risk of interest rate increases and the increasing potential for construction delays could have a major impact on the project and a substantial cost to taxpayers.”

Further complicating the issue is McKenney’s decision to review Katz’s four lawsuits, against the hospital district, the Mountain View-Whisman, Mission-West Valley Community College and Campbell Union High school districts, as one case. The next scheduled court hearing is May 25.