Council Member Wheaton Ready To Approve CRMC Budget

As the Cookeville City Council prepares to vote on the Cookeville Regional Medical Center Budget this week, Council Member Laurin Wheaton said she is ready to move forward.

Wheaton serves on the hospital board and said that perspective helped with understanding the budget and operations.

“I got a lot more insight into it and saw what an amazing operation it is with a budget over 300 million,” Wheaton said. “Seeing the way the hospital is ran, the hospital works with a very tight budget, I am very happy with what they are doing.”

Wheaton said overall, she has no issues with how the budget stands. Wheaton said from the city council side, she understands how some council members would have more questions over the budget.

“As I council member, I understand wanting to essentially learn more about how the budget works, because there are some nuisances to it that if you don’t sit in on the board meeting you wouldn’t understand,” Wheaton said. “But once we got to dive a little bit deeper into it, I know I was glad to get more information just from the council side.”

The Cookeville City Council will discuss the hospital budget Tuesday during a work session and vote for approval Thursday.

“I do know there are some more conversations that are going to be had,” Wheaton said. “And so once those happen, yes, but in no way, shape or form do I not want the budget to go through. I know this has to happen for the hospital to function. I would not want the hospital to work on the budget they had last year.”