Walker County Seeks Way to Deal With Hutcheson Debt

CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF-TV)- Walker county sole commissioner Bebe Heiskel is still working on a plan to pay off its part of the debt incurred by Hutcheson Hospital.

Catoosa county, which has worked with Walker to try to save the debt-ridden hospital, paid some 3 and a half million toward the debt.
The hospital has since filed for bankruptcy.
But Heiskel point-out that residents got a tax increase last year, the first since in ten years, and the county will need to find other ways to come up with the money.
She says some news reports have been misleading.

BEBE HEISKEL, WALKER CO. COMMISSIONER "A published report said I would have to raise taxes next year..and that would be two years in a row and that is not my plan. "

The north Georgia counties have borrowed money from Regions Bank to keep the hospital open and are fighting Erlanger Medical Center which is trying to foreclose on Hutcheson.