North Andover Selectman's Race
North Andover Selectman's
Race
>>Valley Patriot>> |
For three years now, Haverhill city officials and local media portrayed the Hale debt as a nearly insur-mountable annual challenge. I stayed out of that particular debate because it seemed completely self-serving to engage it. But when the debt becomes a continuing mantra for reducing essential services and demeaning the city workers and teachers who perform them, I believe the future of the city is at stake and I am compelled to speak. In this piece, I show how the debt incurred by the sale of the hospital, though considerable, is either recovered or recoverable over 20 years because we still have a hospital in the city. Because of limited space I will be general, but beginning the discussion merits the risk of being incomplete in this first article. Roughly speaking, the $6 million annual debt is premised upon paying $120 million over 20 years. Let’s look now at how the sale of the hospital makes it possible to recover from this deficit. All the recovery numbers I will give are based on 20 years. 1. The debt was there before the hospital sale. We relied on annual and unstable hospital revenues to pay it. This damaged our bond rating, costing us more to borrow and making major investors nervous about the city’s future. Over 20 years, Haverhill will save at least $5 million in borrowing costs and realize at least $5 million extra in taxes from investment in the city’s real estate because we have a full service hospital under private control. Recovery of $10 million. 2. The hospital pays taxes. It is planning capital improvements. Average of $600,000 annually over twenty years. Recovery of $12 million. 3. The hospital pumps money into the local economy. PMA doctors, other doctors, therapists rent space. The hospital hires contractors. It is the city’s largest private employer. It adds value to the city’s tax base to the tune of at least $1/2 million extra per year. Recovery of $10 million. 4. Prior to the sale, the hospital sucked $500,000 per year from the city’s revenues. This stopped with the sale. Recovery $10 million. 5. Because we have
a hospital, the city doesn’t pay to maintain an
ambulance service. Recovery $20 million. 6. The hospital
did require more city “support” employees; we’ve
trimmed the workforce because the hospital is now
privately owned. Recovery $20-30 million. 7. Because of the
challenge of the hospital debt, the city considered many
and actually took some bold actions. The sale of the
Orsteen land, $3.5 million now, $200,000 in extra taxes
per year. Recovery $7.5 million. The landfill deal (which
could have been $10 million) Recovery $2 million. 8. The city got $3.5 million from Essent; $2.2 million from the Quorum lawsuit; $2 million from federal free care reimbursements; about $4 million from the Commonwealth. We also sold the Glynn Memorial. Recovery $12.6 million. Summary: Recovery, without including revenue from investing wisely over 20 years, totals about $114 million. That reduces the problem significantly. Not a bad deal over all, especially since we still have a hospital to care for our sick from our most junior to our most senior citizens. And, I am not counting other remedies we put in place, such as the energy grant, about $5 million, or proposed, the energy aggregate, over one million dollars annually. In short, we did
the “Hale deal” because we knew that over time
we could meet the “Hale debt” and be a better,
stronger city for it. No doubt, the current financial
situation is tight, but we need to begin looking at it
from the perspective of Haverhill’s brighter future.
We need to provide high quality schooling and city
services if we want to capture the kind of investment the
city deserves. Our current teachers and city workers did
not kill the Hale, the economy did. Those who continue to
try to make them pay for the Hale debt by either berating
them or ignoring them, not only sell our future short,
they’re not telling the truth. *Send your comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com |
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