COOPERSTOWN (AP) - Voters in Cooperstown decide this week whether to create a hospital taxing district and allow a 10-mill property tax levy.

The Cooperstown Medical Center is trying to become just the third in the state to create a special hospital taxing district to support its hospital and nursing home complex, administrator Greg Stomp said.

Divide and Emmons counties currently have hospital districts.

"Without this, we are going to have to make serious looks at whether we can stay open as a hospital," Stomp said. "This is a serious measure for us, and we've been trying to make sure - through public meetings - that everybody understands what this is all about."

The measure requires a 60 percent majority to pass.

Stomp said the Emmons County hospital in Linton operated at a small profit last year for the first time in several years thanks to its hospital district levy.

"We've been struggling for a while," he said. "We are trying to provide a steady source of income and hopefully open the possibility of some other funding sources."

The Cooperstown hospital, a critical-access facility, averages about four patients a day. The clinic averages about 8,000 patients annually. The center's 48-bed nursing home is about 95 percent full on average, Stomp said.

A 10-mill levy would raise about $93,000 a year and would allow the hospital to refinance its existing bond. It would cost the owner of a quarter section of land, or 160 acres, $25 a year.

"One of the things we've been trying to stress is that people will spend more than that driving to other facilities if we're not able to stay open," Stomp said.

The nearest medical facilities to Cooperstown are in Valley City, 45 miles south or in Mayville, 45 miles east; McVille, 35 miles north or Carrington, 45 miles west.

"Nobody likes to hear that their taxes are going up," Stomp said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

An emergency medical services levy is on the ballot in Benson County. It would allow the county to levy as many as five mills to help provide emergency medical services.

The proposal is being promoted by ambulance services in Leeds and Maddock.

The Minnewaukan Ambulance Service was forced to close temporarily in April because it could not find enough qualified volunteers.