Dateline: May 26, 2005

Hospital district looks for budget cuts

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Donley County Hospital District is looking for ways to cut costs as it begins work on its 2005-2006 budget and faces financial shortfall in this fiscal year.

But district officials say that the situation is not as bleak as it may first appear; and interim administrator Ron Wetzel and administrator-in-training Vicky Robertson agree that with board oversight and sound management, the overall financial status of the hospital district should improve.

“We can do it, but everybody is going to have to tighten their belts,” Robertson told a budget committee last Friday.

Medical Center Nursing Home will shed one fulltime LVN position and may cut some employee benefits, and the Associated Ambulance Authority may also cut some benefits. The hospital district operates both entities.

Three of four proposals for the nursing home call for cutting employee benefits but increase wages for all MCNH employees. One proposal calls for salary increases of three percent across the board; another calls for a $1-per-hour increase for LVNs, a 75 cents-per-hour increase for CNAs, three percent for all other employees; and a third calls for a $1-per-hour increase for LVNs, a 50 cents-per-hour increase for CNAs, three percent for all other employees, and decreases of $1,200 in the salaries for the assistant administrator and director of nurses.

That last option will put MCNH on a competitive level with other area nursing homes.

Robertson said no other nursing home positions could be cut and that eliminating the one LVN position would not affect the quality of care. Ambulance director Anita Aaron said her budget proposals would focus on cutting benefits.

“We’re being as frugal as we possibly can already; we’ve cut our budget the last three years,” Aaron told the Enterprise. “We’re going to do all that we can, and we’re all going to be okay.”

Hospital board members on the budget committee said the district has been operating at a loss for several years and has depleted its cash reserves, but they remained optimistic that the district could resolve its problems.

“I am convinced it is just a matter of working through this, and there is no reason to be negative,” said in-coming board member Bright Newhouse, who attended the committee meeting to get caught up on the situation.

Robertson this week said the district has approximately $98,000 in its cash management account, which doesn’t include the operating accounts of the nursing home and the ambulance service. Of that, some $93,000 is dedicated to a bond payment this September, which leaves the district with about $5,000.

The district’s ambulance service is reported to be operating in the black for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2005. MCNH, on the other hand, is facing a budget shortfall that Robertson said could be $80,000.

At press time, a staff meeting was scheduled for May 24 in which board members were expected to outline for MCNH employees the financial condition of the home and discuss solutions.

A called meeting of the board will be held next Tuesday to adopt one of the budget proposals to deal with the shortfall.

Hospital district tax revenue pays for bonded indebtedness for the nursing home and the ambulance barn, provides funds for indigent health care, subsidizes the ambulance service, and makes up for any deficits in the nursing home budget.