CONCORDIA, Kan. (AP) -- 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.

The Salina Journal reports (http://bit.ly/WqV3w3 ) 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.