Oakview Medical Care Facility millage covers 1/7th of operating budget.

Oakview Medical Care Facility millage covers 1/7th of operating budget.

#Election18

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

LUDINGTON — On Tuesday, Aug. 7 voters in Mason County will be asked to renew a millage rate of not more than .9715 of a mill for 10 years to support Oakview Medical Care Facility. Oakview is a county-owned facility that was started in 1966.

Oakview has the capacity of 96 residents, including 76 skilled nursing and 20 Alzheimer’s disease/dementia patients. It employs 127 full time and 27 part-time. The facility is Medicaid and Medicare certified, Administrator Jannice Lamm said.

Lamm said the .9715 of a mill accounts for 1/7th of the facility’s annual budget. It will generate an estimated $1,826,882 in its first year of renewal. The funds are used to cover costs for residents, including daily operations and payroll expenses. The funds will also cover costs to provide residents care that exceed reimbursement from revenue sources. Private pay costs $327 a day per patient. Medicaid will pay up to $300.61 per day while Medicare will pay from $197 to $738 a day.

The previous millages were for six years. This renewal is for 10 years. Lamm said extending the length of the millage will mean less expenses of paying for election costs every six years.

On a home valued at $150,000, which is a state equalized value of $75,000, the maximum annual tax on the millage will by $72.86 or $6.07 a month.

Lamm said without the millage, Oakview “would have to reduce its operating budget, which would affect wages, benefits, staffing, facility maintenance and resident care.”

Oakview is overseen by a three person county Health and Human Services board, which is answerable to the county commission.

The following is the language that will appear on Tuesday’s ballot:

This proposal is for the reauthorization of a millage, which expired with the 2017 tax levy.

Shall the limitation of the amount of property taxes which may be assessed each year against all taxable real and personal property in Mason County be increased by not more than 0.9715 of a mill (0.9715 cents per $1000 of taxable value) for a period of ten (10) years, December 1, 2018, to November 30, 2028, inclusive,to provide funds for the operation, maintenance and capital costs of the Oakview Medical Care Facility and shall Mason County levy the millage for this purpose thereby raising an estimated $1,826,882 in the first year of the levy?