Concerned retirees expected to crowd last Jackson County supervisors meeting
PASCAGOULA -- Jackson County supervisors said they don't know what their attorney, Billy Guice, will bring them Monday on the latest Singing River Health System pension settlement, but it won't be anything they have to sign off on.
Supervisors Melton Harris and Troy Ross told the Sun Herald that Guice, who handles SRHS matters for the board, may have an update or even bring them a version of a settlement that attorneys and the hospital have agreed on, but it won't be anything they have to vote on. The county is not directly involved with the settlement, they said.
Word of one group of retiree attorneys reaching a settlement Thursday with SRHS over the failed pension plan sparked concern among retirees who are not part of mediation with the hospital and don't plan to settle for less than a guaranteed pension. They expressed concern that somehow a settlement would be rushed through at the end of the year, before the current Board of Supervisors leaves office.
Monday is the last scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting this year and the last before a new board takes over in January, with two new members.
As the SRHS pension issue was big in the last supervisor election, some retirees said they believe they might be given more consideration with a new board.
But Harris and Ross, supervisors who were re-elected and will return in January, said there's a misconception about the county's role in any settlement between the county hospital system and its retirees. To help ease its liabilities, the hospital tried last year to end the pension plan for retirees. Retirees sued, alleging breach of contract. The Board of Supervisors intervened, freezing the pension until the issue could be resolved.
Adding to the misconception, Ross and Harris said, is $13.6 million in tax dollars has been pitched as a key to the settlement, money only the Board of Supervisors would be able to approve.
The supervisors said that figure is something the county has offered SRHS over the next eight years as a way of helping it meet its obligations and freeing it to reach a settlement with retirees.
"What we're saying is the hospital needs help and we're willing to help, to put in funds if certain conditions are met," Ross said.
The county leaders are saying any money given SRHS would be for indigent care, freeing money within the hospital to deal with a settlement.
The conditions on getting the money are that the hospital lets the county hire a turnaround firm to help it dig out of its financial mess and that five of the seven members of the SRHS board of trustees, appointed by the county, be replaced with new members.
The latter requirement may be subject to a new state law governing community hospitals such as SRHS. But Harris said the Board of Supervisors wants at least "five new open-minded appointees" on the hospital board. The majority of the current trustees were in place while the financial crisis was unfolding.
Until the hospital agrees to the strings the county has attached to the $13.6 million, "we don't have a settlement with them," Harris said, speaking about an agreement between the county and SRHS.
Both supervisors agreed that indirectly the Board of Supervisors and the county are involved in the settlement between the hospital and its retirees, but the Board of Supervisors won't technically vote on that settlement.
It would, however, be required vote if it chose to take $13.6 million from the general fund or borrow the money to give to SRHS.
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Concerned retirees expected to crowd last Jackson County supervisors meeting ."