MONROE - A decision on a referendum request was tabled at Pleasant View Nursing Home Thursday night, Oct. 10, pending more analysis that will help determine the amount taxpayers could see on the ballot next April.
The five supervisors who oversee the county-run nursing home plan to finalize a referendum request at a special meeting in two weeks. The recommendation to hold a referendum would go to the full county board for a final decision in November.
It took 42 minutes for a mention of the word "referendum" in the hour-plus meeting.
Pinching pennies was the first line of business. The committee first discussed maintenance issues and ways to shave costs over the next five years at the nursing home, with its 44-year-old roof and aging equipment. They looked over a list of potential fixes, from installing more energy-efficient lighting outdoors to maintaining a 12-year-old delivery van.
Everyone laughed at the incredible cost of replacing the facility's 23-year-old industrial dishwashing machine - $100,000 - and agreed it had to be patched up and kept alive as long as possible.
Two elevator parts as old as the roof also need replacing, director Terry Hensel told the committee. Those would be $35,000 a pop.
Hensel has already shaved expenses by switching some employees from hourly to salaried - a tactic being adopted countywide. Another such employee reclassification, planned to take effect before the end of 2013, will save $4,000 next year alone, she said.
But these small fixes are no match for the drain Medicaid-funded residents have on the nursing home. The federal government subsidizes these low-income residents in full, but the state, which is responsible for disbursing the federal funds, passes on only a portion of this money to nursing homes. The rest of the money the state keeps for other uses.
Next year Hensel expects the state to withhold even more, at an additional loss of $70,000 to Pleasant View, which already operates at a deficit.
This revenue decrease represents only 0.7 percent of Pleasant View's roughly $10 million budget, but it's a continued squeeze the facility can't take, according to Hensel. Like other county-run nursing homes in Wisconsin, Pleasant View is contractually obligated to accept any Medicaid patient it can medically serve. Currently 78 percent of Pleasant View residents are funded via Medicaid.
Herb Hanson, committee chair, finally put the referendum on the table. Turning to Hensel, he asked, "Do you see a need for a referendum?"
"I...," she said, hesitating. Then she answered simply, "Yes."
This wouldn't be the first referendum for Pleasant View funding. In 2009, voters approved $890,000 annually for five years. Hensel expects the request would be less this time but wasn't sure of an exact number.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to ask for that amount again," she said. In the coming weeks, she told the committee, "we will be diligently working to have these numbers to show you."
The committee called a special meeting for Oct. 24, to discuss the referendum further.
Committee member Sue Disch said she wants to be prepared to answer questions from the full county board about the referendum.
"We want them to have questions," member Dennis Everson said.
The committee's underlying concern is to keep Pleasant View alive. Without a county-run nursing home, Medicaid patients in the area would have a harder time finding long-term skilled nursing care.
"We have an obligation to the residents of Green County," Everson said.
The five supervisors who oversee the county-run nursing home plan to finalize a referendum request at a special meeting in two weeks. The recommendation to hold a referendum would go to the full county board for a final decision in November.
It took 42 minutes for a mention of the word "referendum" in the hour-plus meeting.
Pinching pennies was the first line of business. The committee first discussed maintenance issues and ways to shave costs over the next five years at the nursing home, with its 44-year-old roof and aging equipment. They looked over a list of potential fixes, from installing more energy-efficient lighting outdoors to maintaining a 12-year-old delivery van.
Everyone laughed at the incredible cost of replacing the facility's 23-year-old industrial dishwashing machine - $100,000 - and agreed it had to be patched up and kept alive as long as possible.
Two elevator parts as old as the roof also need replacing, director Terry Hensel told the committee. Those would be $35,000 a pop.
Hensel has already shaved expenses by switching some employees from hourly to salaried - a tactic being adopted countywide. Another such employee reclassification, planned to take effect before the end of 2013, will save $4,000 next year alone, she said.
But these small fixes are no match for the drain Medicaid-funded residents have on the nursing home. The federal government subsidizes these low-income residents in full, but the state, which is responsible for disbursing the federal funds, passes on only a portion of this money to nursing homes. The rest of the money the state keeps for other uses.
Next year Hensel expects the state to withhold even more, at an additional loss of $70,000 to Pleasant View, which already operates at a deficit.
This revenue decrease represents only 0.7 percent of Pleasant View's roughly $10 million budget, but it's a continued squeeze the facility can't take, according to Hensel. Like other county-run nursing homes in Wisconsin, Pleasant View is contractually obligated to accept any Medicaid patient it can medically serve. Currently 78 percent of Pleasant View residents are funded via Medicaid.
Herb Hanson, committee chair, finally put the referendum on the table. Turning to Hensel, he asked, "Do you see a need for a referendum?"
"I...," she said, hesitating. Then she answered simply, "Yes."
This wouldn't be the first referendum for Pleasant View funding. In 2009, voters approved $890,000 annually for five years. Hensel expects the request would be less this time but wasn't sure of an exact number.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to ask for that amount again," she said. In the coming weeks, she told the committee, "we will be diligently working to have these numbers to show you."
The committee called a special meeting for Oct. 24, to discuss the referendum further.
Committee member Sue Disch said she wants to be prepared to answer questions from the full county board about the referendum.
"We want them to have questions," member Dennis Everson said.
The committee's underlying concern is to keep Pleasant View alive. Without a county-run nursing home, Medicaid patients in the area would have a harder time finding long-term skilled nursing care.
"We have an obligation to the residents of Green County," Everson said.