City hopes county’s nursing home can remain open

Luke Klink

The Ladysmith Common Council voted 6-0 Monday to extend an offer with the potential of preventing the closure of the Rusk County Nursing Home.

The council approved a proposed letter to Rusk County Board Chairman Randy Tatur that reads, “The city is willing to consider use of revenue accruing to its Tax Incremental District #9 to assist the county financially in exploring alternatives to save these jobs.

The Hospital Board recently recommended closing the nursing home mostly due to continued operational losses of $1 million per year for the last decade. The facility cares for about 50 residents and provides about 80 jobs. The recommendation still must be approved by the county board.

Property taxes collected on new growth within TID boundaries is used to fund road, sewer, water and other infrastructure development within the TID.

The letter also asks for specifics so it may know to what extent it can help. However, the council deleted a paragraph in the letter showing a willingness to provide the same type of help if a new hospital is to be built and to find a new use for the current facility.

City administrator Al Christianson compared it with other similar economic development projects done hand-in-hand between the county and city in an effort to bring new jobs and growth to the area..

“I’d hate to lose that many jobs without making some kind of effort to assist if possible,” city administrator Al Christianson said.

“We have an obligation to the people in this county, and sometimes you do things that don’t make money,” Alderman Marty Reynolds said.

In other matters, the council:

— Voted unanimously to borrow $803,000 from the Board of Public Land Commissioners State Trust Fund to finance an industrial expansion project including building construction and purchasing of equipment. The loan is for 10 years at 4.5 percent interest to be repaid mostly through rent and possibly some TID money. “None of this should ever be paid through the general fund,” Christianson said. The amount is the local match to $1.26 million in Economic Development Administration funds with a goal of creating 136 new jobs over the next 3-5 years, he said.

— Held a lengthy discussion on a “maintenance of effort” provision in the recently-approved state budget, banning municipalities and counties from making cuts in law enforcement and fire department budgets unless they can prove the cuts improve efficiency. Aldermen complained if these unions successfully lobbied for such a provision in the current biennium state budget, what will stop other unions like AFSCME from doing the same during the next budget cycle. They believed such efforts hamstring local budgeting efforts. “If you thought 2010 was a good time, 2011 is going to be really ugly,” Reynolds said.

— Discussed a proposal for funding the local share of a new aerial ladder fire truck expected to cost nearly a half-million dollars. The city has applied for grants to help offset the expense. Police and Fire Commission chairman John Pohlman criticized past council decisions to apply money toward reducing the city’s tax levy instead of building up a segregated account to help fund a new aerial truck.