Board members of the Russell County Hospital were told that last month's operational revenue was over budget, and that for the first 10 months the year they were still surpassing budget estimates.

An appraisal of the hospital's debt and income levels however did not place the facility with a high enough ratio to secure a single-A bond rating.

Louis Vetter, of Alliant, said the rating was high enough to secure financing for an anticipated building program through the US Department of Agriculture or the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The board approved seeking out companies to do an independent study to discover how much money the board could bond for addition and improvement to the existing hospital.

A facilities study presented to the hospital two months ago suggested options ranging between $10 million and $20 million.

Vetter's report put payments on such bonds at between $1.1 million and $1.7 million.

In Ken Kimsal's CFO report the board was told that the hospital's net income after 10 months was $1.36 million.

Kimsal said the most common business the hospital does now is out-patient treatment, though the hospital was constructed as an in-patient facility.

He also advised the board that federal programs may be due as much as $160,000 in refunds for overpayment to the hospital.

"We are reserved for that," Kimsal advised.

He said that hospital has cash on hand to cover 76 days of operation.

He added that they are working on next year's budget, and noted that as of July first the minimum wage will again rise but that would likely have an effect on just a few employees.

George Walz, the interim CEO, advised the board that the search for a long-term CEO continues and candidates could be before the board by next month, or July at the latest.

Board Attorney Jeff Hoover had advised the board that the new contract Alliant had requested in order to improve chances of landing the best of CEO candidates could also be available at the board's next meeting.

Dr. Richard Miles encouraged Walz in his efforts to locate a new surgeon for the hospital and stressed that the hospital needed to step up to the plate when it came to physician recruitment.

He said primary care physicians were becoming a rarity amongst the new physicians licensed yearly and several primary physicians could be looking to retire in the coming years.