Walker County, Ga., leaders paid back $10 million with two days to spare.
The county, which took out a tax anticipation note from Rosemawr Management in March, wired the principal amount plus about $300,000 in interest to the New York investment firm on Tuesday and Wednesday. The money was due at the end of the year – unless the county wanted to watch the interest rate on the loan rise by about 55 percent.
About half of that borrowed money went toward paying off separate loans in 2013. And those original loans – from Regions Bank and Erlanger Health System – were used at the time to help Hutcheson Medical Center pay its employees. Earlier this month, ApolloMD became the manager of the bankrupt hospital.
“We are thankful we have been able to meet our financial obligations,” Commissioner Bebe Heiskell said in a news release. “We had hoped our support of Hutcheson would have allowed it to function independently. Our hopes were realized, and we are grateful a buyer has been found for the hospital.”
In the release, Heiskell said the second half of that $10 million tax anticipation note went toward building an industrial park in the Noble community. But in August, she told the Times Free Press the second half of the loan went toward day-to-day county needs, like paying employees.