Volunteers with the group promoting the proposed Whidbey General Hospital bond are making a final push to get people to vote.

Members of the Friends of Whidbey General Hospital are getting on the phones and calling voters to encourage them to cast their ballots.

Whidbey General Hospital leaders are asking voters to approve a $50 million bond funding construction of a new wing at the hospital’s Coupeville campus.

The 31,000-square-foot wing would provide single-patient rooms for medical/surgical care, observation of patients, the birth center and intensive care unit. The construction would also include space for future use.

Joe Mosolino, head of the Friends group, said volunteers were busy last weekend calling 1,500 voters. They encouraged them to vote, pay close attention to the ballot and visit the hospital’s website, www.whidbeygen.org, for more information about the measure.

A 60-percent supermajority must vote in favor of the bond for it to pass.

If approved, property owners would pay 32.2 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, which comes to about $81 for the owner of a $250,000 home.

Hospital officials proposed the $50 million bond two years ago. At that time, 55.49 percent of the voters voted to approve the bond, but it didn’t reach the 60 percent supermajority.

This time, hospital officials are running a bond proposal with identical figures.

Hospital spokeswoman Trish Rose said in an email the estimate for the project was originally determined by commercial construction estimator Robinson and Co., and it was recently verified by Mahlum Architects.

In addition to the wing with single-patient rooms, plans call for transforming the current patient space into clinic rooms and installing a parking lot.

Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5 or placed into a dropbox located at Oak Harbor City Hall on Barrington Drive or the Island County Elections Office, located on North Main Street in Coupeville.