By The Associated Press KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

9:56 a.m. CST, February 27, 2013
(CONCORDIA, Kan.)—
Cloud County voters have rejected a proposed sales tax increase to pay for a new hospital in Concordia.
   
The proposed 0.75 county sales tax increase lost Tuesday by a margin of 312 votes, with 1,699 opposed and 1,387 in favor.
   
Our news partners at The Salina Journal report supporters estimated the increase from 8.3 percent to 9.05 percent would have provided about half the money needed for the nearly $30 million project.
   
Jim Wahlmeier, CEO of Cloud County Health Center, says hospital officials will continue to search for ways to build a proposed one-story, 70,000-square-foot, critical-access hospital with up to 25 inpatient beds.