Tax referendum to support struggling DeKalb County nursing home? Voters could decide in June

DeKALB – The DeKalb County Board is considering a 2022 ballot referendum to ask voters to consider a tax levy to aid the financially struggling DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

According to county documents released ahead of Wednesday’s DeKalb County Board meeting, the county board’s executive committee is proposing a resolution which would put a tax referendum on the June 28 General Primary Election ballot. The referendum would authorize a levy – an additional tax collection not included in regular county property taxes or levies – allowing the county government to collect tax revenue at a rate up to 0.1%.

The money would go to maintaining the struggling nursing home, which over the past year has been at the center of several county board discussions as revenue stalls and the center’s resident population declines.

According to county documents, a tax levy for the rehab center was first authorized 30 years ago, but never used. Current “financial distress” as the proposed referendum states, could change that.

“In 1991, the county was authorized after referendum to levy and collect a tax for the purpose of maintaining a prior nursing home facility, but never levied such tax over the 30 years since its passage because of an expectancy that the facility would fund itself without the necessity of tax levies,” according to the documents.

In the time since, following a significant remodel and expansion, and a decline in resident census and staffing struggles, the nursing home has battled a budget shortfall. To offset 2020 and 2021 budget constraints, the county board approved additional loans of $6.4 million to cover expenses, a move county board officials said is not meant to be a long-term solution.

The average daily census for the DeKalb County Nursing and Rehab Center went from 181 in 2018, to 168 in 2019, to 141 in 2020, to 117 this year. In order to break even, the nursing home census would have to be at about 175 people, according to county officials.

In January, the county board hired a consultant to come in and assess the facility and its future. The $10,000 contract for consulting and brokerage services went to Marcus and Millichap, which has offices in Chicago and Oak Brook Terrace. Options could include a sale of the nursing home, though county government officials have emphasized that’s not the preferred plan, and no decision has yet been made. A sale of the nursing home could occur following a 2/3 majority county board vote, however. No vote has yet been set.

“The DeKalb County Board has not made any decisions regarding whether or not the county will continue to own and operate the [nursing facility],” according to the document. “Rather this resolution and referendum question is intended to ask voters whether or not they are willing to provide additional public resources.”

The county board previously absorbed the operating board for the DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center in December. The action was meant to be one of several steps the county government is looking to take to address budget constraints at the facility.

The center in recent years underwent a $13 million expansion but now faces dwindling resident numbers and cost increases, officials said.

The expansion included additional rooms, an activity center, an upgraded fire alarm system, a nursing call system, a larger chiller and a new boiler system. A 15,400-square-foot transitional care unit added 18 rooms to the 83,000-square-foot facility.

The referendum vote is expected to take place during Wednesday’s county board meeting, set for 7 p.m. in the Gathertorium of the DeKalb County Legislative Center, 200 N. Main St. in Sycamore.

Daily Chronicle reporter Katie Finlon contributed to this report.