Lincoln County was set to sell the county-owned Pine Crest Nursing Home, but that’s no longer happening after one of their supervisors sued them, arguing the sale didn’t follow best practices.
At last week’s meeting, supervisors voted to pass a resolution for a referendum to the full county board.
Pine Crest has dominated local headlines for months now, as Lincoln County Supervisors moved to sell the county-owned nursing home, against the protests of some in the community.
However, that sale fell through in July when Supervisor Donald Dunphy sued the county, saying that they failed to recognize a change in circumstances to push the sale through, which is against best practices for high-value properties.
At their Friday morning meeting, the Administrative and Legislative Committee needed to decide their next steps.
Julie DePasse is the County Board Vice Chair.
“This issue has been a problem for 20 years, and obviously no one fixed it, but we have to fix it now, because there are no options left. There is no pots of money left,” said Depasse.
Some were still interested in a sale but acknowledged that they’d probably need to sell for less because of the lawsuit.
Committee members discussed the possibility of a referendum to raise taxes for funds for operating and maintenance expenses at Pine Crest Nursing Home.
“Referendum is the only way to keep it, and if it fails, I don't see a way to do so, because we've ignored too many problems for too long,” said DePasse.
Ken Wickham of District 18 pointed out the lack of budgeting for maintenance of Pine Crest in the past.
“Whatever number- if a referendum goes forward, it's got to be honest, and it's got to include enough to make sure that if things go south on the revenues versus expenses side, that you don't take away from maintenance,” said Wickham.
At the meeting, some committee members, like Angela Cummings, were reluctant to ask voters for more money for Pine Crest, especially when there are other county projects in dire need of funds.
“I just wanted to say that Lincoln County has one of the highest tax rates in the area,” said Cummings.
With a vote of 7-2, the committee voted to send a resolution to the county board for a referendum to raise the tax levy by $5 million each year for five years starting in 2025 to fund Pine Crest Nursing Home.
They added an amendment that stipulated that the county would provide Lincoln County residents with financial information, as well as updates on operations and needs of the nursing home.
If the Lincoln County board decides to put the referendum on the ballot, voters will have a chance to decide on Pine Crest’s future in November.
The next county board meeting is on August 20th.
