MONROE - The decision on whether to ask voters to pay more in taxes to help fund Pleasant View Nursing Home is now in the hands of the Green County Board of Supervisors.
The Green County Finance and Accounting Committee Friday voted unanimously to recommend the county have a referendum Oct. 6. The committee's recommendation will go before the board for final approval at a special meeting Aug. 25.
Supervisors Harvey Mandel, Art Carter, Dennis Everson, Sue Disch and Al Benzschawel serve on the committee.
In addition to deciding whether to recommend a referendum Friday, the committee needed to decide how much to ask for. The ballot question, if approved by the board, would ask voters to allow the county to collect an additional $890,000 in property taxes for each of the next five years to pay for the nursing home.
Originally, the committee considered asking voters to allow the county to levy $1 million annually for the nursing home.
Benzschawel said he didn't want the committee to ask for more money than was needed to offset the cost to operate the nursing home. Committee members also said they were concerned voters would be more likely to oppose the referendum if it was for $1 million.
Disch said she's already heard from people who oppose a referendum.
"We need to explain to the voters why we're doing this," she said.
Mandel said the nursing home is important to the county.
"We have to look at the human impact," he said. "If you're a Medicaid patient, the private nursing home isn't going to pick you up right away.
"If you're a family member who goes out to see a resident every day you might have to drive to Madison. I don't know if they're going to want to do that."
The county board would have to make deep cuts in county services if a referendum isn't passed, committee members said. Mandel said departments already are facing budget freezes for next year on everything other than wages and benefits, which are negotiated with unions.
The county's estimated tax levy for 2010 will be $12,005,340. If voters approve the referendum, the total will be $12,895,340, an increase in the tax levy of about 7.5 percent.
At Tuesday's county board meeting, Mandel said initial estimates show that a five-year referendum of $500,000 a year would cost the owner of a home valued at $150,000 $28.59 per year. A $1 million dollar referendum would cost the homeowner $57.17 a year for five years.
The 2009 rate is $4.93, compared to $4.66 in 2008. The new rate means that a person with a house valued at $150,000 will pay $739.50 in county property taxes in 2009 compared to $699 in 2008. The owner of a farm valued at $250,000 will pay $1,232.50 in 2009 compared to $1,165 in 2008.
What to do about the nursing home has been discussed by the county board and its committees for the past nine months. In 2008, the nursing home had a deficit of about $900,000. This year it's estimated the deficit will be about $1.2 million.
Mandel told the board in November, when it passed the 2009 budget, that the nursing home lost money and would lose money in 2009.
At the time it was hoped the state would be able to provide the funding it owed the nursing home. The state Legislature decided to keep some of the federal money ordinarily sent to the nursing home to help cover its Medicaid Trust Fund deficits.
The money from the state would have added about $650,000 to the Pleasant View budget.
In January and February, the Pleasant View Nursing Home Committee and the county board learned from Brian Schoeneck, financial services director for the Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, that county-operated nursing homes across Wisconsin faced financial problems due to the state budget.
Schoeneck said county nursing homes have more Medicaid residents than private nursing homes. Private nursing homes take Medicare patients or patients that are rehabilitating from surgery. That allows private homes to have higher patient turnover rates, enabling them to make more money, he said.
About 70 percent of Pleasant View's residents receive Medicaid. About 20 percent of the nursing home's residents are diagnosed with dementia, have complex medical needs and are Medicaid residents other nursing homes won't accept.
If the county decided to close the nursing home, it still would be required by the state to provide housing for some residents. The cost for the patients would be transferred to Green County Human Services. It's estimated the cost to house patients in other facilities in other counties could be as much as $3.8 million a year.
The state's 3 percent tax levy limit wouldn't cover the increased costs to Green County Human Services.
The Green County Finance and Accounting Committee Friday voted unanimously to recommend the county have a referendum Oct. 6. The committee's recommendation will go before the board for final approval at a special meeting Aug. 25.
Supervisors Harvey Mandel, Art Carter, Dennis Everson, Sue Disch and Al Benzschawel serve on the committee.
In addition to deciding whether to recommend a referendum Friday, the committee needed to decide how much to ask for. The ballot question, if approved by the board, would ask voters to allow the county to collect an additional $890,000 in property taxes for each of the next five years to pay for the nursing home.
Originally, the committee considered asking voters to allow the county to levy $1 million annually for the nursing home.
Benzschawel said he didn't want the committee to ask for more money than was needed to offset the cost to operate the nursing home. Committee members also said they were concerned voters would be more likely to oppose the referendum if it was for $1 million.
Disch said she's already heard from people who oppose a referendum.
"We need to explain to the voters why we're doing this," she said.
Mandel said the nursing home is important to the county.
"We have to look at the human impact," he said. "If you're a Medicaid patient, the private nursing home isn't going to pick you up right away.
"If you're a family member who goes out to see a resident every day you might have to drive to Madison. I don't know if they're going to want to do that."
The county board would have to make deep cuts in county services if a referendum isn't passed, committee members said. Mandel said departments already are facing budget freezes for next year on everything other than wages and benefits, which are negotiated with unions.
The county's estimated tax levy for 2010 will be $12,005,340. If voters approve the referendum, the total will be $12,895,340, an increase in the tax levy of about 7.5 percent.
At Tuesday's county board meeting, Mandel said initial estimates show that a five-year referendum of $500,000 a year would cost the owner of a home valued at $150,000 $28.59 per year. A $1 million dollar referendum would cost the homeowner $57.17 a year for five years.
The 2009 rate is $4.93, compared to $4.66 in 2008. The new rate means that a person with a house valued at $150,000 will pay $739.50 in county property taxes in 2009 compared to $699 in 2008. The owner of a farm valued at $250,000 will pay $1,232.50 in 2009 compared to $1,165 in 2008.
What to do about the nursing home has been discussed by the county board and its committees for the past nine months. In 2008, the nursing home had a deficit of about $900,000. This year it's estimated the deficit will be about $1.2 million.
Mandel told the board in November, when it passed the 2009 budget, that the nursing home lost money and would lose money in 2009.
At the time it was hoped the state would be able to provide the funding it owed the nursing home. The state Legislature decided to keep some of the federal money ordinarily sent to the nursing home to help cover its Medicaid Trust Fund deficits.
The money from the state would have added about $650,000 to the Pleasant View budget.
In January and February, the Pleasant View Nursing Home Committee and the county board learned from Brian Schoeneck, financial services director for the Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, that county-operated nursing homes across Wisconsin faced financial problems due to the state budget.
Schoeneck said county nursing homes have more Medicaid residents than private nursing homes. Private nursing homes take Medicare patients or patients that are rehabilitating from surgery. That allows private homes to have higher patient turnover rates, enabling them to make more money, he said.
About 70 percent of Pleasant View's residents receive Medicaid. About 20 percent of the nursing home's residents are diagnosed with dementia, have complex medical needs and are Medicaid residents other nursing homes won't accept.
If the county decided to close the nursing home, it still would be required by the state to provide housing for some residents. The cost for the patients would be transferred to Green County Human Services. It's estimated the cost to house patients in other facilities in other counties could be as much as $3.8 million a year.
The state's 3 percent tax levy limit wouldn't cover the increased costs to Green County Human Services.