Cookeville City Council To Hold Special CRMC Budget Meeting

The first reading of the Cookeville Regional Medical Center budget will not be considered Thursday because of a council member absence.

Council members went ahead with a work session Tuesday afternoon on the $345 million operating budget. Board of Trustees Chair Allen Ray said Cookeville Regional’s proposed budget means more than just dollars.

“These surgeons and these doctors are doing procedures in Cookeville, Tennessee now that will keep people from having to go to Nashville or Knoxville or someplace else to have those procedures,” Ray said. “We hope it saves time and we know we’re saving lives by doing that.”

A special called meeting will be held Thursday, June 10th. CEO Paul Korth said the new budget will create 100 new jobs including ten new physicians.

Admitting there’s not time prior to this budget approval, Council Member Eric Walker said he hopes the city and CRMC will sit down and address the payment in lieu of taxes. That $700,000 amount has been set in place for 18 years. Korth said he wants to continue a working relationship between the hospital and city council.

“I pledged to you that we will have a budget work session with the board and the city council and probably also have our EMC at our strategic meeting and kind of have everybody at the plates that I’m talking about,” Korth said. “What can the hospital do to be better citizens of the community, what can the city help us with, and what does the medical staff–how they play in that role, so I think that’s very key that we continue that dialogue.”

Council Member Mark Miller asked that the appointment of a member to the CRMC Board of Trustees be also considered at the special called meeting. The current term ends July 31. Walker said the council needed to have a work session before voting on that.