Jackson South hospital could be shuttered amid budget cuts

Jackson South hospital, the expanding Southwest 152nd Street facility widely known as a safety net for the uninsured, could be shuttered amid budget cuts, despite the $40 million in taxpayer funding already poured into its four-story, 160,000-square-foot addition. The $102 million project is approximately 40 percent complete, but with the hospital expected to lose between $20 million and $25 million in fiscal 2010, the Public Health Trust board must now decide whether to cut its losses or forge ahead with spending on the project in the hopes of making the hospital more appealing to potential buyers. Voters approved a bond issue in 2004 to expand and upgrade the hospital so that it might lure more affluent, insured customers. The hospital has said construction is on budget thus far and is scheduled for completed in 2011, if it continues. [Miami Herald]