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Committee lets DHHS move lease revenue into dedicated Hampstead Hospital fund to meet $3M matching obligation
Summary
The House committee approved an amendment to SB118 allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to deposit current fiscal-year lease revenue into a new dedicated account to meet a $3 million state match for capital improvements under the Dartmouth Health lease of Hampstead Hospital.
The House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs on Wednesday approved an amendment to Senate Bill 118 that lets the Department of Health and Human Services transfer current fiscal-year lease revenue into a dedicated account for Hampstead Hospital.
The amendment, offered and explained to the committee by Nathan White, chief financial officer for DHHS, was described as a technical change intended to make cash available to meet a state matching obligation created by the recent lease with Dartmouth Health. "The amendment before you ... allows the department to transfer some of the lease revenue from the current state fiscal year into that dedicated account," White told the committee.
Why it matters: DHHS said the dedicated account will hold lease and asset-transfer revenue so the state can respond quickly to capital needs at the facility. Marissa Henn, deputy commissioner of DHHS, said Hampstead Hospital is "the state's sole psychiatric inpatient hospital for ... young people," and that the public–private lease helps ensure investments in aging infrastructure such as roofs and boilers.
Committee members asked for details about timing and amounts. White and Henn told the committee the department expects to deposit an initial asset-transfer amount of $631,000 and ongoing lease revenue of roughly $1,150,000 annually (with a stated 3% escalation). White said the dedicated account is meant to hold funds so they "do not otherwise lapse" and can be used to meet a dollar-for-dollar capital-match requirement in the lease agreement with Dartmouth Health; DHHS said the state match is capped at $3,000,000.
The committee voted 18–0 in favor of the amendment and later approved SB118 as amended, 18–0. The amendment sets an effective date for several sections at June 30, 2025, allowing the department to transfer current-year receipts into the new fund and to meet obligations as they arise.
The committee also heard that the lease followed a purchase/transfer approved by the Governor and Council and noted the unusual contractual structure requiring matching capital investments. Members asked DHHS for reporting to the fiscal committee so the Legislature can track deposits and any obligations drawn from the dedicated fund.
The measure now moves on with the committee recommendation that it pass as amended. The department asked the committee to treat the deposit authority as a bookkeeping mechanism tied to the lease rather than a new appropriation.
