VALPARAISO | The debate is over and so is the county's nearly 70-year ownership of Porter hospital and the balance of the local health care system.

The hospital board, and the county commissioners and council unanimously agreed Tuesday evening to sell its two hospitals and five other facilities to Community Health Systems of Tennessee. The sale will take effect Tuesday.

The county, in return, will receive a new 225-bed hospital within four years, $120 million in cash, local control of the hospital board and a continuation of its indigent care program. Physicians gain the opportunity to invest in the new hospital and take control of the board in the process.

The proceeds from the sale will be turned over to the county and must be held for five years to cover any liabilities. The hotly disputed proposal of placing the money in a private health care foundation was rejected in favor of leaving it up to the County Council and commissioners to decide how to use the funds.

Hospital board member Dave Butterfield, a former Valparaiso mayor, said he initially opposed the sale of the hospital where he, his child and grandchild were born. He said he later realized he was being selfish.

"I'm very confident ... that I will still be able to call this my county hospital," he said.

County Council member Bill Carmichael, who caused concern the past few weeks by digging up old tax records to challenge claims that local revenues never were used in the operation of the hospital, said he was pleased to see the proceeds being left in the hands of county officials.

While council member Jim Burge approved the sale, he had harsh words for all those he felt had failed to serve as good stewards of the hospital.

Both support and opposition for the sale were voiced during a public hearing, but the final vote was met with applause.

A nagging concern some feared would derail the sale involved the eleventh-hour discovery that Community initially had offered $65 million more for the local health care system than Triad Hospitals Inc., which originally was chosen as a buyer. Community later announced it was buying Triad and would be using Triad's offer to buy Porter.

Kenneth Hawkins, senior vice president at Community, said Community and Triad's bids are comparable when the price of the new hospital is added to the purchase price. Community had underestimated the price of building a new hospital and proposed spending less money than Triad, he said.

Community Senior Vice President Gary Newsome said his company is large enough that it will be able to slash some supply costs in half because of volume purchasing. He also said the company has a history of increasing its charity care.

When asked by Porter County Commissioner John Evans about the likelihood of another company now swooping in and buying Community, Hawkins said it is unlikely considering his company soon will be valued at $11 billion with the purchase of Triad.