By April Coble
gdhreporter@gmail.com
Memorial Hospital of Texas County Board of Trustees member Harold Tyson, Michael Carter, and a potential candidate for a hospital operations lease spoke with the Texas County commissioners and District Attorney Mike Boring on Monday morning in regards to operations and payroll. Discussions during the regular commissioners meeting indicate the hospital currently sits in limbo while awaiting decisions from bank lenders for the hospital and possible investors for the operations leasing.
The hospital awaits its critical access designation. The critical access review has been backlogged while review officials tackle issues stemming from hurricane stricken regions.
Tyson went before the commissioners to request further financial assistance in order to fulfill the hospital’s payroll obligations for October. The Board of Trustees has been in high gear in recent days, working to tackle the issues the hospital currently faces. The request comes amid board chairman Buddy Holbert’s resignation tendered last week.
Carter made the official request for $250,000 to go directly into payroll funding to ensure hospital employees are paid for their work. Some question during the meeting as to whether the hospital would be able to reimburse those funds in the next few days arose.
Carter reported updated financial numbers to the commissioners, including $81,000 cash on hand, a receipt of $3,800 and $11,800 in the next 24 hours, and total payroll expenses are at $318,000. The payroll number does not include payroll taxes. Tyson responded to the question on reimbursement to the county.
“My understanding is, on paying the money back, was going to possibly wait until the end of the month or the first of November,” Tyson said.
That repayment hinges on a lease contract, which currently is not a solid deal.
The commissioners indicated that no more funding is available through the county to further assist MHTC for expenses or payroll, with other obligations for taxpayer funding to address as well. Tyson indicated possible lines of credit may be available soon for the hospital to continue moving forward, but finalization of that credit has not yet been done.
For more details and information see Tuesday's (Oct. 3) paper