On Friday, Aug. 30, the Putnam County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the 2025 budget, as presented by County Manager Paul Van Haute.
Although generous increases from last year’s budget were expected for many county departments, Putnam General Hospital (PGH) received a zero-percent increase.
PGH had made its case to the BOC at all three public hearings on the 2025 budget. At each hearing, members of the BOC verbally expressed support for PGH – but took no action.
PGH is a small rural hospital serving Putnam County's medical needs. Rural hospitals typically operate at a loss since most patients are on Medicare/Medicaid — which reimburses at less than operating cost — or are simply unable to pay.
This combination has squeezed rural hospitals. According to an April Atlanta Journal-Constitution news article, a third of Georgia’s 54 remaining rural hospitals are at risk of closure.
Putnam General Hospital faced similar dire circumstances in 2017, having accumulated nearly $6 million in mortgaged debt, a significant portion of which was created by reduced annual support from the Putnam County Board of Commissioners, beginning in 2013.
I was the Board of Commissioners chairman until 2012 when we approved $550,000 for PGH. I did not offer for re-election, and Dr. Steve Hersey was elected as the new BOC chairman.
In Hersey’s first year as chairman, the BOC cut the county’s PGH budget to $400,000, where it stayed throughout the hospital’s financial distress. Hersey and the county manager deserve much of the “credit” for us almost losing PGH.
Interest payments and an annual $500,000 “management fee” became unsustainable burdens for PGH at the time; however, the Georgia Legislature fortunately approved the Georgia HEART (Helping Enhance Access to Rural Treatment) program, giving Georgians an opportunity to redirect their state income tax liabilities to a qualified rural hospital.
PGH seized this opportunity and eliminated not only the debt but also interest payments and the arbitrary $500,000-a-year fee over the next several years.
To accomplish this, PGH utilized not only Georgia HEART but also implemented innovative income-producing services, including a toxicology lab that ran out-patient lab tests for others in the medical field. Unfortunately, this past year, insurance providers eliminated PGH’s ability to provide this service to others, taking away more than $1.25 million in the hospital’s self-generated annual revenue.
So, PGH asked the BOC for an additional $380,000, only to be told, “We don’t have the money.” Meanwhile, Morgan County’s 2025 approved budget revenue is $27,583,536, while Putnam County’s is $26,758,894. The populations are also almost identical. However, the two BOC priorities appear pretty different.
Morgan is going to spend $1,862,316 on its fire department. Putnam BOC approved $4,219,808 for our fire department – up from $1,752,655 in 2020.
Morgan took on a $20-million-plus debt building a new hospital.
Putnam’s is paid for. It begs the question: is “We don’t have the money” really the Putnam County BOC’s issue? Worse yet, is the BOC going to repeat past mistakes and jeopardize our hospital once more?
This is unacceptable.
We need our hospital to survive and thrive.