HOBOKEN - Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill Monday that will pave the way for the city to take ownership of St. Mary Hospital, signaling the conclusion of a six-month saga that began when the owners of the 140-year-old facility filed paperwork with the state to shut the hospital.

With legislation in place, the Hoboken City Council is expected to introduce an ordinance at a meeting tonight allowing the city to create an authority that will run the hospital, the oldest in the state, and take ownership as soon as October.

HOBOKEN - The City Council introduced an ordinance last week that will allow for the creation of a municipal hospital authority to oversee St. Mary Hospital.

July 8, 2006

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Troubled St. Mary Hospital can be purchased by a Hoboken municipal authority under legislation approved Saturday morning by the Assembly.

The Senate in June approved the bill to save the state's oldest hospital. The Assembly voted 43-32 to approve it.

St. Mary Hospital is owned by Bon Secours Health Systems. The hospital has 328 beds and 967 employees, but Bon Secours recently filed with the state close the hospital, citing $118 million in debt since the company took over the hospital in 2000.

The plan calls for Hoboken to create a municipal authority that would run the hospital and be eligible for state financial aid.