County schedules joint committee meeting to consider referendum
By Brandi Makuski
County leaders on Monday will hold a joint committee meeting to consider approving a resolution allowing for a referendum vote on the embattled health care center in April.
County residents in 2022 approved a tax levy increase of $4.5 million annually for 20 years to cover the deficit of the health care center, but in 2023, county leaders said that wasn’t enough. The proposed increase is an additional $3.5 million annually through 2042.
The Health Care Center, Finance, Space and Properties, and Executive/Operations committees will meet at 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 8, in Conference Rooms 1 and 2 of the Portage Co. Annex, 1462 Strongs Ave.
The meeting is open to the public.
The proposed referendum reads as follows:
WHEREAS, the April 5, 2022, election ballot contained a referendum which passed, authorizing Portage County to exceed the state-imposed property tax levy limit by $4,500,000 annually through 2042 to pay a portion of its Health Care Center operating costs, including costs associated with construction of a new Portage County Health Care Center building; and
WHEREAS, after the passage of the referendum, County staff, officials, and contractors began planning to design a new Health Care Center and the planned community based residential facilities, which were scheduled to be incorporated into the new Health Care Center building; and
WHEREAS, the planning process revealed that significant changes to the Health Care Center’s operations situation due to increased operational costs, low resident census (recent average resident census of 25.4 as of October 2023 for its 48 bed licenses), increased construction costs, and labor market concerns such that the referendum approved amount of $4,500,000 per year was not sufficient to operate and construct a new facility; and
WHEREAS, the above factors have resulted in costs that have exceeded, and continue to exceed, the revenues generated by the facility such that the Health Care Center has an ongoing operational deficit; and
WHEREAS, as a result, in 2023 the Space and Properties Committee paused the construction of a new facility and placed the project on hold; and
WHEREAS, the Health Care Center’s 2024 budget includes $1.9 million in levy from the current referendum to operate the Health Care Center, but does not include any budgeted funds related to constructing a new facility due to the lack of funds; and
WHEREAS, Portage County engaged CliftonLarsonAnderson (CLA) to update the previous market study and to assist in updating the Health Care Center’s operational cost model to generate the financial projections to confirm the financial situation; and
WHEREAS, CLA’s financial model demonstrates that without any significant change to payor mix, census projections, funding strategies, or operating costs, the Health Care Center’s operational deficit will continue to grow with or without the construction of a new facility; and
WHEREAS, the Health Care Center Committee has discussed a viable funding option of another referendum to ask for yet another exception to further exceed the levy limit by $3,500,000 per year; and WHEREAS, if the proposed referendum passes in the April 2024 election, the $3,500,000 amount of additional funding will increase not from zero, but will increase from the funding already approved amount of $4,500,000 from the previous referendum that will end in 2042; and
WHEREAS, in order for the Health Care Center to continue operating and to provide care for elderly and disabled individuals in Portage County, additional tax levy would be needed to cover the current and future operational gap, but the County cannot exceed its levy limit prescribed by law without an approved referendum; and
WHEREAS, Wis. Stat. §66.0602(4) permits a county to exceed the levy limit if the governing body adopts a Resolution to that effect and if the voters approve the corresponding referendum.
FISCAL NOTE: A ” Yes” vote on this referendum will increase the tax levy and revenues of the Portage County Health Care Center budget by up to $3,500,000 per year in each of the following years: 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter through 2044.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Portage County Board of Supervisors endorses and approves conducting the following county-wide referendum as part of the April 2, 2024, election to further exceed the levy limit under Wis. Stat. § 66.0602(4) for the Portage County Health Care Center’s operations, and further approves and authorizes the following Notice of Referendum required by Wis. Stat. §10.01(2)(c) and the referendum question set forth within that Notice, modified as necessary to conform to any directives from the Department of Revenue, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and/or changes in the law, and directs the County Clerk to perform all necessary administrative functions to execute this resolution and to include this referendum question on the April 2, 2024, election ballot:
NOTICE OF REFERENDUM PORTAGE COUNTY
By law, the electors of Portage County shall consider the following referendum question in the election of April 2, 2024. Under state law, the increase in the levy of the County of Portage for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2025, is limited to 1.111%, which results in a levy of $35,397,162. Shall the County of Portage be allowed to exceed this limit and increase the levy for the next fiscal year, 2025, for the purpose of paying a portion of the cost to operate the Portage County Health Care Center, which may include costs associated with the construction of a new Portage County Health Care facility, by a total of 9.888% which results in a levy of $38,897,162, and include the increase of $3,500,000 for fiscal years 2025 through 2044?
