Southern Regional Medical Center: AT A GLANCE
(Operating Income by Fiscal Year)
2013 $20. 6 million loss
2012 $13.7 million loss
2011 $3.5 million loss
2010 $10 million loss
2009 $12 million loss
2008 $14.4 million loss
2007 $13.3 million loss
2006 $3.5 million
2006 $5.1 million
2004 $3.6 million
Source: Southern Regional Medical Center, consolidated health system operating income/loss by fiscal year
Voters will get to decide in May whether Clayton County should extend a 1-cent sales tax to pay for a package of new projects and provide $50 million to help the county’s struggling hospital stay afloat.
A 1-cent special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) beginning next year would collect nearly $218 million over six years for roads and building repairs, upgrades to public safety facilities and fleets, and technological improvements. Nearly a quarter of the money, $50 million, would go toward paying off Southern Regional Medical Center’s long-term debt: the remainder of a 25-year bond issued a few years ago.
Voters will decide May 20 if they want another round of capital projects at a time when many projects from two previous SPLOST campaigns haven’t been completed.
Before the county commission’s 3-1 vote Tuesday night to approve the SPLOST package, the head of Southern Regional talked about the hospital’s struggle to deal with the escalating costs of indigent care. About 30 percent of the 80,000 visits to its emergency room last year were people unable to pay, said James Crissey, Southern Regional’s president and chief executive. Federal budget and Medicaid cuts also have stripped the hospital of millions of dollars it used to get.
The hospital has pledged to cut its expenses by $12 million a year and asked the county to chip in $12 million. Crissey noted that a third of Georgia’s counties, including those in metro Atlanta, supplement local hospitals’ budgets to offset the burden of providing uncompensated care.
“Failure of Southern Regional would be catastrophic to Clayton County’s citizens and its economy,” he said.
If voters agree, SPLOST proceeds would be used to pay off the hospital’s bonds — around $45 million. The county’s help would be achieved through a complicated series of transactions involving real estate and bonds. For instance, Clayton would buy the property on which the hospital is located and lease the facility back to the hospital.
A couple of commissioners wanted the SPLOST vote delayed until November to give the hospital time to come up with a viable plan showing how it will fix its problems. Sonna Singleton, who cast the dissenting vote, said, “The board needs to wait until there’s a long-term plan for Southern Regional to sustain itself.”
But other commissioners insist the hospital can’t wait.
Commission Chairman Jeff Turner said, “The more we sit around and wait, the debt becomes a bigger issue.”
Waiting until November would mean proceeds from the SPLOST could not be collected until April of 2015, Turner said. He also noted that even with SPLOST aid, “it’s a possibility that taxes may go up.”
Commissioners had hoped to get more of the county’s seven municipalities to chip in to help save the medical center. Only Riverdale and Lovejoy agreed to allow some of the money they get from the county from tax distributions to go toward helping Southern Regional. Riverdale has pledged $2.9 million while Lovejoy is chipping in about $600,000.
Riverdale Mayor Evelyn Winn-Dixon said, “They have an excellent plan” to address the financial trouble. “So it was the right thing to do. We need the hospital. Our citizens need to have some health care and somewhere to go.”
With 1,850 employees, Southern Regional is one of Clayton’s largest employers, Winn-Dixon noted. Its failure would create a devastating domino-effect in the county, she said.
The hospital has already begun cutbacks. It recently cut 61 positions and laid off 43 workers. It also has closed two sleep centers in the past couple of months, Crissey said.
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