Last week, Johnson County Healthcare Center Administrator Nicole Hobbs told Big Horn Mountain Radio that the hospital was planning to seek refinancing of its loan with the county.
That day arrived this morning when Hobbs met with the Johnson County Commission in a preliminary step to gauge the latter’s interest in the matter.
She asked if the Commission would consider waiving the interest on the hospital’s loan where three payments remain.
The loan currently carries an interest rate of 2.5% which corresponds to approximately $47k.
Commissioner Chairman Bill Novotny told Hobbs the Commission had anticipated the need to extend the loan but had not considered waiving the interest.
Commissioner Linda Greenough concurred…
Hobbs indicated that extending the life of the loan would benefit cash flow in the short term, it would also increase the hospital’s interest expense.
In the end, the Commission asked County Attorney Tucker Ruby to look into whether a county government can legally charge “zero interest” to another county-related entity.
