Mayor: Will Work with State to Avoid Closing HUMC

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer reacted quickly to a report Friday by N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's transition team saying that financially troubled Hoboken University Medical Center is in danger of closing.

In a statement issued late Friday, the mayor said she is reaching out to the governor personally to "express my administration's commitment to working with them to develop a Hudson County regional hospital plan."

The transition group's report, one of several Gov. Christie commissioned to advise him on problems facing the state, noted that the hospital has a $2.4 million deficit, and had used a $7 million one-time grant from the state's Health Care Stabilization Fund to keep its finances in order.

Hospital officials insist that the facility will not close, and say the new budget they will present Wednesday to the hospoital board will not show a deficit. They also note that the governor's report did not appear to take into account a 10 percent pay cut negotiated with most hospital employees.

Hospital administrators met with employees Friday afternooon to assure them that HUMC will not close.

In her statement, Mayor Zimmer stressed that HUMC "provides an essential service to our community, and my administration is fully committed to giving the austerity measures recently implemented, such as a 10% wage cut, an opportunity to succeed."

The mayor also said she was committed to working with the hospital's board and administration to improve financial oversight and implement an austerity budget.

In the statement, she said that she learned that the hospital's financial situation was considerably more challenging than previously disclosed. "The operation of the Hospital and the potential liability of the City remains a primary focus of my Administration," she said, "while we evaluate the financial and operational issues inherited from prior years."