Community Memorial Healthcare chief financial officer Dan Fehr told Marshall County commissioners Friday during a special session that the hospital has some tough choices to make.
The special session was held to discuss the proposed half-cent sales tax that CMH has requested for the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Fehr and CMH board member Bryce Porter explained to the commissioners the financial hardships of the hospital. The commissioners expressed understanding of CMH’s situation but stressed the county’s financial situation as well.
Chairman Dave Baier said he liked the dialogue with Porter and Fehr more than past meetings with larger groups of CMH representatives.
“I felt like we had a positive and productive back and forth in the room,” Fehr said after the meeting.
Fehr also said if the hospital continues to operate in the same way it will deplete its reserves of about $6 million in fewer than ten years.
“When we run out, what then?” CMH board member Bryce Porter asked the commissioners at the meeting.
“We can’t keep doing what we are doing,” Fehr said before explaining to the commissioners that the sales tax is the hospital’s final option to avoid cutting services. “Once we cut a service it is not coming back.”
(Read more: The Marysville Advocate)