Blaine Manor
allocated $1.36 million
Commission approves
tentative county budget
By TRAVIS
PURSER
Express Staff Writer
The Blaine
County Commission approved a tentative overall 2002 county budget of $16.3
million Monday after debating how much to give the county’s financially
struggling nursing home, Blaine Manor.
The
tentative budgets of each of the county’s other operations were not
questioned, but about 20 citizens and Blaine Manor management showed up
for the hour-long hearing to voice support for the home’s funding
request.
Blaine
Manor will tentatively get $1.36 million in 2002. The home’s management
had asked for $1.57 million. However, the home’s director, Gail Goglia,
said she was satisfied with the approved amount.
Goglia
projects that the home will collect about $1.2 million in revenues in
2002. Additional revenue needed to run the home would come from county
property taxes.
Following
its unanimous vote Monday, the commission may reduce the budget numbers,
but not increase them, until early September when it must approve a final
budget.
County
Clerk Marsha Reiman said the county budget is several million dollars
higher than she predicted it would be two weeks ago, because expenditures
for construction of a planned courthouse annex were not included then as
they are now. That increase primarily accounts for the change compared to
last year’s budget of about $13 million. The county has been increasing
its budget reserve for five years to pay for the annex.
Specific
numbers on projected county revenues in 2002 will not be available until
Sept. 10, she said.
While those
who manage Blaine Manor were generally satisfied with the amount of
funding approved Monday, they told the commission it had created a
cash-flow problem in the way it had structured the disbursement of funds.
Blaine
Manor trustee Rick Baird, Goglia and others said the home needs more cash
at the beginning of the fiscal year to cover expenses while waiting for
Medicaid and Medicare payments, which can take from 30 to 90 days after
billing to arrive. The commission agreed to add $104,000 to support Blaine
Manor in the first four months of the fiscal year.
Because it
is expected to lose about $400,000 this year, Blaine Manor’s future has
been in doubt. Several attending Monday’s meeting said they were
relieved when the commission approved the budget.
Paula King
said she has a friend in California who has been waiting for the budget
decision before deciding whether to send her mother to Blaine Manor. The
friend wanted assurance the home was not about to close.
Goglia said
public perception that the home is failing has made it difficult to keep
it full, which is important for maintaining revenues. News of the budget
approval, along with plans to increase marketing, will help, she said.
Planners
for the home have also met with St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center
representatives to explore a potential partnership with the hospital.
Goglia said the home has at least one proposal from a nursing home
management company on the costs and benefits of expanding Blaine Manor to
include assisted living.
A decision
on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant application for $750,000 is
pending as well.
The budgets
for some of the other county operations approved Monday include the road
and bridge department, which gets $1.6 million; building and grounds,
which gets $2.76 million; sheriff’s office, which gets $1.2 million;
planning department, which gets $415,988; clerk’s office, which gets
$613,998; elections, which gets $38,915; jail, which gets $900,610, and
the county fair, which gets $32,400.