Catoosa Commissioner Jim CutlerCatoosa County, Ga., would get an extra seat on the board that oversees Erlanger at Hutcheson hospital and Dade County would give up a seat under legislation to be introduced in Atlanta.
The restructuring reflects the $20 million in financial support that Catoosa and Walker counties have jointly pledged to the Fort Oglethorpe hospital. The Dade County Commission declined to offer financial backing.
Catoosa and Walker counties will sell bonds to let the hospital refinance $11 million in Medicare debt on which it now pays 11 percent interest. Thanks to the counties’ support, the hospital’s interest rate will drop to 1 percent.
In exchange, Catoosa County officials sought to have four seats on the board of what’s officially known as the Hospital Authority of Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties.
Walker County would keep its four seats, and Dade County would see its board members decrease from two to one.