The Health District of Northern Larimer County is a special tax district created by voters in 1960 to serve community health needs. Today, the Health District provides dental care, behavioral health, and assistance with health insurance enrollment and literacy. The district also collaborates at the systems level with community partners to improve the health of our community.  

The district boundaries span the northern two-thirds of Larimer County, including Fort Collins, Laporte, Timnath, Wellington, Livermore and Red Feather Lakes. The Health District is primarily supported by local property tax dollars and is governed by its publicly elected, five-member Board of Directors.  

History

The Health District was established in 1960 as the Poudre Valley Hospital District. From 1962 to 1994, it owned and operated Poudre Valley Hospital (PVH).

In response to changing health-care needs, the district created a locally controlled private, not-for-profit organization in 1994 to take over the day-to-day management of the hospital under a 50-year lease agreement. That not-for-profit organization, Poudre Valley Health System, is now known as University of Colorado Health.

Over the years, many changes in state law took place that permitted hospital districts to offer a variety of other health services that help meet the unique needs of their community. Many of those former hospital districts are now called health service districts. As a result, in 1996 the Poudre Valley Hospital District became Poudre Health Services District. In September 2002, the Health District again changed its name to Health District of Northern Larimer County to better reflect what we do and whom we serve.

How we're funded

The Health District is supported by property taxes, lease payments from University of Colorado Health, interest income, and fees from clients. Lease payments cover a majority of the Health District's administrative and overhead costs, allowing most of the tax dollars to go toward providing services to district residents. The mill levy is 2.167 and cannot be raised without a public vote of district residents.

The Health District also seeks and accepts outside financial support for specific programs in the form of private, state and federal grants, in addition to contributions from individual donors.

For more information on Health District finances, see the Annual Report or Budget.