Trending
NEW ULM -- Brown County Commissioners will consider a resolution supporting skilled nursing home funding during the 2023 legislative session Tuesday, April 4.
Funding has been an ongoing issue. A number of area nursing homes have closed and others are struggling due to lack of funding.
According to the resolution, failure to address the long-term care crisis will mean more nursing homes will close, seniors will be denied care they need and caregivers will continue to leave.
Nursing home closures in Winthrop, Fairfax and Redwood Falls put additional strain on an already extensive waiting list.
With the equivalent of 50 average-size nursing homes closing since 2020 and 11,000 Minnesota seniors turned away from receiving care in just October 2022 alone, the State is not properly funding seniors on Elderly Waiver (people 65 and over eligible for medical assistance and Minnesota is just one of two states that limit charging private pay residents any more or less than the Medicaid rate; and Medicaid reimburses only 80% of the cost of resident care.
The resolution calls for the need for $1 billion over the next four years for caregiver starting wages of $22 an hour.
Commissioners will also consider:
• Recognizing Brown County Feedlot Officer Amanda Lang who received the Tina Rosenstein Outstanding Service Award at the Annual Minnesota Association of County Feedlot Officers (MACFO) Banquet March 21. The award is considered the highest award granted by MACFO, given to a member who has shown outstanding dedication and service to the betterment of and furthering its goals.
Lang is MACFO president and served as secretary in the past. She has had an active role with MACFO, leading multiple teams with joint membership with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). She also presented at the Association of Minnesota Counties fall policy conference.
• The 2023 landfill contract with Mathiowetz Enterprises, Inc. for $480,115 with 2.75 FTE (full-time equivalent positions, due to scale operations) and a 15% cost increase for parts and equipment. The 2022 contract was $445,115 with 2.5 FTE and higher fuel costs.
• Reviewing and accepting rates for a land use attorney from Rupp, Anderson, Squires and Waldspurger, PA to represent and provide legal assistance on Brown County land use issues.
Rates are $230/hr. for shareholder attorneys and $220/hr. for associate attorneys. Hourly billing will be broken into 6-minute increments. Other costs are for printing, mileage and filing fees.
• Allowing the use of Lost dog and Fox Hunter's Park as a staging area for a pilot project to remove algae from Clear Lake for a week in August 2023. Tom Byrne plans to park a filtration unit about the size of a semi trailer to filter algae from lake water. The algae will be used as fertilizer spread on farm fields. Byre will obtain all State of Minnesota permits before the project begins.
• The board meeting begins at 9 a.m. April 4 in the courthouse commissioner's room.