Shell Game

August 9, 2019 N

Letter to Editor: Iron Mountain Daily news In my opinion, the Dickinson County Hospital financial woe fiasco is nothing but an orchestrated train wreck. The evasive responses that I have received from DCH on my FOIA have only confirmed my suspicions that the financial dilemma was created and manufactured to fund the pensions. Let me explain. Ultimately, when the lawsuit, filed by the union workers at DCH winds its way through the legal system, they shall prevail because Michigan State Constitution protects their pensions. Then the entity known as DCH will have to come up with the money to fund the underfunded pension actuarial. At that point, the hospital will have come up with money or file for bankruptcy. A large portion of the equity in the hospital will be from the capital improvements that the hospital is planning on from money borrowed from USDA and backed by the taxpayers of Dickinson County. The only variable on the liability the taxpayers of Dickinson county is on the hook for is how much money an institution buying DCH is willing to pay, investment returns and what the federal bankruptcy court decides. I will quote my conversation with Bart Stupak, when he referred to the Detroit Police Department Pension underfunding. The retired police officers of Detroit, he said, “Had to take a hair cut.” Ultimately, I see in my crystal ball, me, you, and all of the taxpayers of Dickinson County, are going to get “a huge haircut.” In short, a large portion of $24.6 million will be used to fund the underfunded pension in a roundabout way. This is a shell game. Thank you Brian Smeester Source FOIA