Number up from previous CEO
Cookeville – Last Thursday the Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) board of trustees approved new CRMC CEO Buffy Key’s salary at $539,000 annually.
That is up from previous CRMC CEO Paul Korth’s salary who made $472,500.
“Everything Cookeville Regional does is for the community,” according to the CRMC website. “As a city-owned hospital, there is no corporate enterprise dictating what services or specialties we can or cannot offer. CRMC is financially independent in that there are zero tax dollars issued to fund operations.”
Cookeville Regional pays the City of Cookeville $700,000 each year in lieu of taxes and every dollar made goes right back into the hospital to fund new and improved services, according to the website. As a city owned entity, CRMC’s budget is approved by the Cookeville City Council annually and the budget must be approved on second reading before it becomes official.
The salary announcement comes on the heels of the announcement of a 40 bed expansion, including a six-unit dialysis center, to the fourth and fifth floors of the hospital over the next two years bringing bed capacity to 309 by 2025. Construction began July 5.
The fifth-floor renovation is expected to be completed in year one before the fourth floor will be completed in year two.
“We are thrilled to be able to start our new 4 West and 5 West expansion to better meet the needs of patients in our community. We have not had a bed expansion in over a decade,” said Key.
The expansion will cost $16.4 million.
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