Dempsey delivers $2.4M for Hale debt

April 15--HAVERHILL -- It's becoming a broken record, but in a good way.

State Rep. Brian Dempsey, chairman of the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has again made sure the state budget proposal from House leaders includes money to help Haverhill pay its annual debt on the formerly city-owned Hale Hospital. The debt, which is paid out of the city's annual operating budget, is often referred to as Haverhill's financial albatross.

The $36.1 billion state spending plan for fiscal 2015, unveiled Wednesday by Dempsey and Speaker Robert DeLeo, includes $2.4 million in Hale aid. Next year would be the third in a row the state has sent $2.4 millionHaverhill's way. It's also marks Dempsey's third year as Ways and Means chairman.

The money, if it survives negotiations with the Senate and Gov. Deval Patrick, would bring the total the state has sent to Haverhill in Hale aid in the past decade to $16.8 million. The city yearly payment on the Hale debt over that span has ranged from $6.4 million to $9.2 million. Next year's payment is $9.5 million, the highest yet for the city.

"This money has allowed us to remain fiscally stable in the toughest and most difficult of economic times," Mayor James Fiorentini said. "Last year, the money allowed us to hire four new police officers, open the library on Sunday, and improve our parks and playgrounds. The most important thing that it has done is to allow us to stabilize our budget and our services without having to choose between massive cuts in services or an override."

The city built the hospital on Lincoln Avenue and opened it in 1984 as Hale Hospital. The city sold it in 2001 because it was losing huge sums of money running it. It is owned today by a private company and is known as Merrimack Valley Hospital.

As part of the sale in 2001, the city assumed about $85 million in debt that it agreed to pay over 20 years. The largest loan payment of $12 million is due in 2022 and the final payment of $11 million on the debt service and building is due in 2023. Health care and pension payments for retired workers continue after that, however.

The debt includes four components: pension costs for retired hospital employees, health insurance costs for retired employees, the original mortgage on the building and debt service on the old hospital's operating deficit when it closed.

"Haverhill is deeply grateful to Rep. Dempsey for his tireless advocacy for his hometown," Fiorentini said. "He has truly been our champion in the legislature."

On Going Hospital Costs

___

(c)2014 The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)

Visit The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) at www.eagletribune.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services