Raising the Grundy County Nursing Home property tax as proposed will cost property owners about the same as buying one or two pizzas a year, two to four fast-food meals or one to three automatic car washes – a year.
Representatives from the Grundy County Nursing Home District Board of Directors spoke to the Trenton Rotary Club on Thursday about the tax, which will appear on the April 7 election ballot. The board is asking voters to approve a property tax increase of five cents, from 15 to 20 cents on the $100 of assessed valuation.
If the tax passes, it will be the first property tax increase benefiting Sunnyview Nursing Home in Trenton since the nursing home district was formed 40 years ago. If approved, the owner of a home with a market value of $100,000 and an assessed value of $19,000 can expect a tax increase of $9.50 a year, Grundy County Nursing Home Board Vice President Barbara Cox said.
Mrs. Cox and two other members of the nursing home board, Don Altes and Jim Cox, joined Sunnyview Administrator Donita Youtsey to speak to the Rotary Club. Cox currently serves as secretary/treasurer of the nursing home board and Altes has been vice president.
Sunnyview has 154 beds and serves an adult population ranging in age from 40 to more than 100 years old. Some residents are there temporarily to receive rehabilitative therapy, such as after hip replacement surgery, before returning to their private homes, Mrs. Cox said. Others are residents because they have an advanced medical condition that needs monitoring 24 hours a day by nursing staff. Still others reside at the nursing home because they are unable to live in their homes for a variety of reasons.
About 170 people work at Sunnyview Nursing Home and about half of the employees provide health-care services. The remainder provide supportive, maintenance and administrative services. Sunnyview attempts to pay competitive wages, Altes said. Employees also receive incentives and bonuses for regular attendance and covering shifts for co-workers. Benefits include paid vacation, holiday and sick days; a retirement savings plan; and life and health insurance. It is likely that a wellness plan will be offered to help control the rising cost of health insurance, Mr. Altes said.
“Nursing home jobs are tough work,” Altes said.
Sunnyview has an annual budget of more than $4 million, said Cox. The proposed increase in the property tax levy would raise an additional $60,000 in revenue for the nursing home. In addition to personnel, Sunnyview’s expenses include equipment and furnishings, medications for the emergency cart, utilities, food and so forth. All of these expenses increase year after year, he said.
Medicaid pays Sunnyview $138.56 each day for providing care for Medicaid-eligible residents. About 57 percent of Sunnyview’s residents are eligible for Medicaid benefits, said Mrs. Cox. However, the daily cost for services to Medicaid recipients is $165 a day, she said. The average nursing home loses $1 million a year because Medicaid payments do not match resident expenses.
The remaining 43 percent of Sunnyview’s residents have long-term care insurance or a form of private pay.
Sunnyview also has 38 residential-living apartments. All residents of the apartments are private pay, including long-term care insurance.
Mrs. Cox’s mother is a resident of Sunnyview Nursing Home and Jim Cox’s late wife was a resident. Both speakers attested to the attentive staff and high level of care provided at Sunnyview.
Altes said, “It’s not home, but it is the next-best thing to home when you can no longer live at home.”
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
