From Nick Metz

Darlington

To the Editor:

September 25th article on the Manor mentioned the idea of expanding into assisted living. County board member Pedley brought this up a few years ago when discussing plans for a new Manor by the new hospital. How come the county board and manor admin do not talk about supporting the privately operated assisted living facilities within the county? These businesses are employing people PLUS paying property taxes. The county should always try to support established private businesses first and not compete against them. Maybe a conversation could be spearheaded by the board between the cities and businesses to see if a TIF district could spur a building expansion of these existing facilities. Maybe the board could have the economic development staff assist with grant writing for expansion funding. We county tax payers are paying the price for the last county expansion of services after being promised repeatedly it would be self supporting….