City of Wagoner approves emergency loan to cover hospital payroll

The CEO of the Wagoner Community Hospital says it can now pay its employees, thanks to a loan from the city.

Wagoner City Councilors approved the temporary loan to cover the payroll.

The mayor says it is important for the hospital to keep operating normally, so he and the city council approved a $350,000 loan to the hospital so employees could get a paycheck.

Mayor Dalton Self and some of the councilors approved the loan in an emergency meeting after the hospital asked the city for help.

Hospital CEO Jimmy Leopard says there’s a cash shortage for the pay period that ends just before the hospital is supposed to get its quarterly Medicaid supplemental payment.

Leopard says the payroll issue happened because of lower-than-expected revenue during the last quarter. 

The hospital and the city say it’s a possibility that the cash may end up not being needed at all since the hospital is expected to get those federal dollars soon.

Self says the city payment comes from its savings account, and he believes this is the right thing to do.

“We firmly believe in Wagoner Community Hospital. We want to make sure that our hospital does not shut its doors,” said Dalton.

Leopard says the hospital is now making changes to operations as needed to fix the budget issues.

The hospital agreed to pay back the $350,000 loan by next Wednesday.