Cleveland Clinic official tells lawmakers franchise fee would cause loss of jobs

Pink slips would go out to more than 400 employees at the Cleveland Clinic if a franchise fee costing Ohio hospitals $410 million remains in Gov. Ted Strickland's two-year budget proposal, a top Clinic official told lawmakers. "If this fee goes through without any adjustment, we really don't see any recourse but to eliminate jobs, and based on the fee, the elimination of jobs would amount to somewhere in excess of 400," said Oliver Henkel, chief government relations officer. Henkel told lawmakers that the proposed franchise fee would cost the Clinic alone more than $40 million over the next two years.