DeKalb County likely will not cut its funding to Grady Memorial Hospital, a county commissioner said Thursday.
Two commissioners met with Grady leaders Thursday to discuss whetherthe county could reduce its annual $23-million contribution to the hospital.
Commissioner Connie Stokes requested the meeting after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a 2009 audit determined the hospital had an almost $10-million surplus.
“We had an obligation to look into that,” said Stokes, chairwoman of the commission's budget committee. “But I don’t think we can cut the funding. We find it’s an accounting issue and it’s not like they had $10 million extra in cash.”
The budget committee will make a recommendation to the full commission, which must approve all expenditures.
That means DeKalb will likely have to cut expenditures elsewhere. Proposals include layoffs in libraries, the human services department and voter registration, along with closing recreation centers.
Grady CEO Michael Young told the AJC last month that the 2009 audit showed the hospital, operating on a $740-million budget, brought in about $10 million more than it spent.
Despite this, Young insisted Thursday the hospital still can’t afford to lose any money from DeKalb, Fulton or the state, all which contribute to Grady.
“Remember we picked up $75 million of additional care and $30 million of it is yours,” Young told DeKalb commissioners. “And we didn’t come and ask for $30 million.”
That additional care stemmed from about 52,000 additional patients who didn’t have health insurance.
About 27 percent -- 217,700 patients treated between April 2008 and March 2009 -- of Grady's traffic was from DeKalb. About 109,000 of those patients were indigent, according to Grady.
“We don’t have a lot of cash laying around,” Chief Financial Officer Sue McCarthy said. “There are real cash needs that this institution has. We’ve made great progress, but we have to keeping digging out of this hole.”
But DeKalb doesn’t have any cash either.
In February, the commission passed a budget including about $50 million in cuts and no tax increase. The county is now struggling to find an extra $10 million to cut because of a 2-3 percent decrease in the tax digest. The commission will make those cuts on June 22, when it sets the millage rate.
“We would like for the hospital to be independent,” Stokes told the CEO. “We don’t want to pay any more than we have to.”
Stokes also wanted Young to explain his compensation, which includes a base salary of $615,000, plus a potential bonus of $307,000. Young told commissioners that 40 percent of his salary is based on goals tied to the hospital’s performance.
Grady also gave nurses a 4 percent raise and other non-clinical employees a 2 percent raise. DeKalb has frozen salaries, taken away paid holidays and slashed staffing through early retirements.
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