Wilkes-Barre City Council, Lucerne (WOLF) — The Wilkes-Barre City Council voted 5-1 to approve a $180 million tax-exempt bond for Woodbridge Health.
Woodbridge Health plans to acquire Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Regional Hospital of Scranton, and Moses Taylor Hospital of Scranton.
The nonprofit organization is a startup less than a year old, and this raised concerns among members of the public who spoke at the conference.
“This is a lot of money for a startup. They were just formed this year, according to an article in the Times Leader, but it just stinks. I feel like things aren’t going the way they want,” said an opposition national.
Others worried that nonprofits would not fulfill their promises or be run off of funding.
“How do we know that this company is not going to pay its executives a lot of money after receiving this bond?” said another protester.
“There is no guarantee that they will provide more services. Once they receive this bond, are they obligated to do what they say? Maybe they get this bond and cut even more services?” “I will,” he continued.
Although the startup is too new to require payments in lieu of taxes or pilots, the lone opposition councilor, Deputy Speaker Tony Brooks, had concerns.
“In my opinion, it didn’t pass the so-called hospital utilization test. These are the criteria that a hospital must meet in order to receive nonprofit exemption. One is that it reduces the burden on the government. PILOT takes some of the burden off,” Brooks said.
Woodbridge Health President Don Steigman said the bond will allow the company to restore previous services that were removed from the hospital and create job opportunities.
“As we continue to grow our services, we will also bring additional jobs to the market,” Steigman said.
Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown said the city of Wilkes-Barre is not responsible for these bonds and that Woodbridge plans to repay the bonds.
“We are not responsible as a city for the $180 million bond. We are a pass-through. The City of Wilkes-Barre is not obligated to pay this bond in any way,” Brown said. the mayor said.
The decision will now go to the Lackawanna County Commission for a vote on Oct. 16.
