CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley County and United Way have reached an out-of-court settlement on how to share money that came in after the 2005 sale of Bradley Memorial Hospital.
County Mayor D. Gary Davis announced the agreement Monday to the County Commission.
“I am glad cooler heads have prevailed and that potential adversarial litigation between Bradley County and United Way has been avoided,” Davis said.
About $86,000, payable to Bradley Memorial Hospital, the former county-owned hospital, became an issue earlier this year. Some of the money was for transactions that occurred before the hospital was sold, but no financial records could be found concerning the transactions.
After the hospital sale, both Bradley County and United Way of Bradley County were ordered by Chancery Court to share the proceeds. For each, interest earned off the principal is to be spent annually for health, wellness and quality-of-life projects.
The initial court order entrusted about $16 million to the county for capital projects such as parks and water lines and about $19 million to United Way for programs such as youth and family counseling. Both funds have grown since then.
The county sought Chancery Court direction on how to distribute the newly discovered funds.
United Way filed a claim that it should receive all the new funds, plus $300,000 from a previous distribution.
Under the settlement, United Way will get more than $53,000 of the approximately $86,000. United Way dropped its claim on the $300,000, saying it had acted on bad information.
In a letter to county attorney Joe Byrd, United Way attorney Marcia McMurray said United Way “believes that it is in the best interest of our community to settle this matter once and for all.”
“Regardless of who stewards this money, it goes to health, wellness and quality of life,” Commissioner J. Adam Lowe said.