Back when the children’s hospital was being promoted to the public for the bond issue vote the chief executive officer (CEO) of the hospital, the county judge, and various county hospital board members assured us that the children’s hospital would be self-sustaining and would not require taxpayer money in order to operate once it was built.
The check is in the mail and other various lies
Now three or four years later the county hospital CEO tells us that the children’s hospital owes the county hospital 70 million dollars.
Who was watching the store?
Our county judge and the CEO are responsible for watching the operations of the county hospital. Where have they been? The 70 million dollar debt had to start a mere few millions at a time. Why didn’t these people ring the alarm bells at that time?
A CEO in the private world who allowed this to happen on his watch would be looking for employment.
Is it fair to say that both our CEO and our county judge have failed us?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
And, I am still trying to figure out how one tax payer owned/supported entity can justify collecting rent from another tax payer owned/supported entity. I mean, if I own it, why the hell would I rent from myself?
LikeLike
It looks as though UMC is charging rent to subsidize its own operations and offset its own losses. UMC really needed that rent to cover up its own financial problems. It reminds me of Enron. The county officials and the boards of both entities have shown their incompetence by allowing this game to be played.
LikeLike
That fact has never been mentioned by either Board. Surely they are both aware of the absurdity of that arrangement?
LikeLike
Truth and Accountability – the missing ingredients in El Paso governance. First, we never get the truth; we get the hype and the spin up front when they want to do a deal they have already decided to do (stadium; hospital; trolley?). Then we get a bogus business case to slap some numbers on it for respectability. Then we call opponents “crazies” and “ankle-biters” who can’t see the big picture.
When it craters, the cockroaches run from the light of exposure: “Me no Alamo!” Like Max says, the Shaplites have their names all over Children’s; it’s their baby. Let’s see if they stand up and say it was a bad idea and take responsibility for the inevitable tax bailout.
What will they be saying when the HOT doesn’t cover the stadium bond payments? When we have to cut back parks and libraries so Woody World can make money for Mountain Star? It’s the crazies fault!
We never learn.
LikeLike
“It is easy enough to see what people think they’re doing. Nor is what they really are up to hard for common sense to make out.”
LikeLike
Stop and think about all the people involved in these costly commitments who are no longer around to be accountable when the house of cards tumbles. Ortega. Byrd. Cook. Wilson. Studer. Candelaria. Shang. McGlynn. Just to name a few.
LikeLike
“A CEO in the private world who allowed this to happen on his watch would be looking for employment.”
Do you have a listing of all the banking officials terminated after the 2008 collapse? It seems we accept failure today…
LikeLike
JP Morgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon not only still has his job, but is still raking in more than $20 million in personal compensation annually despite a multi-billion dollar trading loss in 2012 due to lack of oversight on his watch.
LikeLike