Salem Township Hospital CEO James Timpe says the hospital continues to move forward on planning for the renovation and expansion of the emergency and operating room facilities.
He explains the first steps.
“We think that the demolition is going to start in early spring, so we’re moving ahead,” Timpe said. “We have to put that up for bid and see who we get for doing that. Our vendors are working on that now. Once we do that demolition we’ll know where we stand on that project. That demolition is being done in the original portion of the building, which was built in 1947. We’ll be anxious to find out what’s in those walls, then we’ll take it from there.”
Timpe says if no major issues are found, new construction could begin in June and is expected to continue through much of 2026. The hospital will pay for the construction out of operating revenue and have capped the cost of the project at $17 million. The cost does not include all the equipment.
The board on a split vote Wednesday moved to abate collection of 25-percent of its $277,000 property tax levy, amount to a $70,000 savings to property taxpayers across Salem Township.
“Since we know that the board has made that decision, we can go ahead and budget that into our budget,” Timpe said. “Those monies are typically used for our utilities, so we’ll just budget that to have a little less money towards our utilities and we’ll use other operational money to pay for those instead.”
The board was also told steps were being taken to address small issues that needed to be corrected following the hospital’s reaccreditation for another year.
