QUINCY — Grant County Commissioners denied a recommendation from the Grant County Finance Committee to immediately reduce to zero the interest-bearing warrant - a type of government loan - balance available to Quincy Valley Medical Center. Commissioners had previously committed to a four-year agreement to bring the QVMC warrant balance to zero.

“We made a commitment with the December letter,” Commissioner Cindy Carter said Wednesday.

Carter referred to a letter sent out in December after the county had reached the agreement with QVMC. The arrangement sets a maximum allowable balance of $2 million for 2022, which will be reduced by $500,000 each year until it is zero.

Interest-bearing warrants are issued by junior taxing districts when they don’t have enough cash on hand to meet their obligations. The district borrows money from the county to pay its bills, then pays the money back with interest.

Quincy hospital had been using warrants since at least 2001, said Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant in an earlier interview. The hospital district paid off all its warrants in November 2021 and has not needed to use them since. Pheasant said Wednesday that no hospital district in Grant County is currently using them.

Pheasant said QVMC has submitted a construction bond request to voters to build a new hospital, which is on the Aug. 2 primary ballot. Pheasant said he thought it would be a positive for the district to show it didn’t need a safety net.

In addition, warrants are difficult to administer, he said, and there are other options.

“I just think that’s not the best solution,” Pheasant said. “We can go different ways, away from registered warrants.”

Hospital officials met with the commissioners July 11, and in that conversation, QVMC chief executive officer Glenda Bishop said the district does need some financial flexibility for emergencies.

The existing Quincy hospital is about 60 years old, and many of its systems would be expensive to replace, Bishop said. Hospital board chair Randy Zolman said that while QVMC has a positive cash balance now, a failure of one major system could use up all that money. The option to use warrants would give hospital officials time to find other avenues for financing, Bishop said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].