City agrees to foot bill for clinic

A compromise reached between the City of Custer and Custer Community Health Services, Inc.,  (CCHS) will see the city pay $347,000 annually for 10 years to pay for debt retirement for expansion of the Custer Clinic. Around $3.47 million in city sales tax money will be committed to the project.

The agreement, reached at Monday’s regular meeting of the Custer City Council, came after a couple of weeks of negotiations, and wasn’t finalized literally until late at Monday’s meeting. The agreement also calls for a joint city/CCHS committee to be formed and meet within 60 days to explore the formation of a hospital district.

The new agreement will go into effect once construction on the expansion is completed. The current agreement expires Dec. 31, 2013. Until that time CCHS and Regional Health will discuss interim financing for construction of the project. This will prevent double payment by the city, since it is already paying a subsidy of up to $400,000 annually to CCHS.

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