The only hospital in San Benito County, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, continues to fight a possible closure, KSBW reports.
The hospital is the largest employer in Hollister with 745 employees, but on Monday, the hospital sent their employees a notice warning them of the possible closure in the next 60 days.
The notice comes after San Benito County rejected the hospital’s request for a $10 million loan from the county’s rainy day fund.
San Benito County District 2 Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki has opposed the $10 million loan citing the hospital does not have a strategic financial plan to keep them running past the end of spring 2023.
“I have doubts that we would ever see that money again and so it’s the fiduciary duty of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors to make responsible financial decisions. And taking a gamble with $10 million or any amount of money is completely reckless. And so that’s why I’ve been against it. I’ve been very also willing to extend an olive branch as a supervisor as a county to see what can we do to work together on this,” Kosmicki said.
Instead, the county approved to advance the hospital’s property tax refund of $2.2 million. Read more.
