Montgomery council, commission approve financial help for Jackson Hospital

The Montgomery City Council again approved financial help for Jackson Hospital and Clinic, overriding a veto from Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.

The city council approved providing the troubled hospital a $15 million loan on Oct. 21, hours after the Montgomery County Commission agreed to provide a $10 million loan.

The city council agreed to help the hospital on Oct. 7, but Reed vetoed that resolution. Reed said he wanted to ensure the Montgomery County Commission and the state also provided financial support. Reed wanted the Montgomery County Commission to take the lead in providing financial help.

Jackson Hospital and Clinic declared bankruptcy in September when it couldn’t make payments on $60 million in debt. The hospital has since been seeking loans from the city of Montgomery, the Montgomery County Commission and the state as it hopes to restructure the hospital’s operations and its crushing debt.

Although city and county officials have said the hospital’s problems are due to long-term mismanagement, they have said they want to help the hospital to save jobs and to shore up the River Region’s healthcare system.

Montgomery’s three hospitals are used by citizens throughout central Alabama, including the Black Belt.

Montgomery is served by Jackson Hospital and Clinic with 344 licensed beds, Baptist Medical Center South with 492 licensed beds and Baptist Medical Center East with 176 licensed beds.  

Also at issue has been an understanding about how economic development expenses should be split between city and county government. The understanding has been that the city of Montgomery will cover 60% and the Montgomery County Commission will pay 40% of economic development costs.

But Commission Chairman Douglas Singleton said Oct. 17 that the county pays a disproportionate amount in a 60/40 split because the city receives more sales tax revenue and has a larger budget than does the county.

“We want to continue to work with the city in the future in reference to being fair to the taxpayers of Montgomery County,” Singleton said.

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The Montgomery City Council removed reference to the 60/40 split in the resolution they approved to support Jackson Hospital.  

The vote from the Montgomery County Commission was unanimous with the exception of Singleton, who abstained because his daughter works at Jackson Hospital.

At their meeting later that day, the Montgomery City Council heard from citizens who were for and against helping Jackson Hospital before they took their vote.

“If we lose these (Jackson Hospital) beds, where are the citizens going to go?” asked Angela Exford.

Exford, who said that she is with the Seth Johnson Neighborhood Association, pointed out that cold weather will bring on the flu and COVID, which could overwhelm the city's other two acute-care hospitals. 

“We need every hospital bed that we have,” Exford said.

Speaking afterward was Ian Malloy, who agreed with Reed’s veto.

“Let’s just be honest with ourselves,” Mallory said. “Jackson Hospital did not get here overnight. This has been a problem for years of mismanagement. Uncleared roles with financial neglect has brought this pillar of our community to the edge of collapse.”

He emphasized that if the city is going to help, it needs to ensure that the same problems won’t be repeated. “It’s about demanding accountability,” Mallory said. “We need to know there’s going to be a clean slate, a clear plan and a structure that ensures this hospital is going to stand on its own two feet.”