CORDELE — Because of the state’s inability to save unexpected additional funds in 2009, state hospitals may suffer a severe financial crisis, according to Crisp Regional Hospital Administrator Wayne Martin.
Martin said the state unexpectedly received tobacco settlement payments for 2009 and 2010 in 2009. Rather than saving the 2010 settlement money for another fiscal year, the state spent all of the money and will not have the funding for 2010.
Some of the funding was used for positive things such as the Georgia One Project to keep the state’s areas united, to enhance rural communities and for cancer prevention, Martin acknowledged.
Now the state has proposed a 1.6% tax on gross revenue of all state hospitals, he further explained. He believes the proposal was made to keep voters from having to pay for the state’s budget shortfall, but it could spell disaster for hospitals.
Please read the rest of the story in Sunday's Cordele Dispatch.
