County will be paying more for jail medical coverage in August

Taylor County will be spending more to provide for inmate healthcare needs.

At the June 13 county finance committee meeting, members approved switching jail healthcare providers from Advanced Correctional Health (ACH)to Southern Health Partners (SHP).

The county currently pays ACH $91,128 per year to provide the required health coverage for the jail. In addition, the county pays a nurse to work part-time in the jail as a county employee under the direction of ACH at a total cost with benefits of $61,000.

According to Larry Woebbeking, ACH has informed the county they would no longer allow the nurse to be employed by the county requiring the position to be staffed by an ACH employee. In addition, they told the county the fee would increase to $274,426 per year which includes the cost of a 32-hour per week nurse or $318,236 per year for a 40-hour per week nurse.

Woebbeking said he looked to other vendors for the mandated service and Southern Health Partners submitted a price of $191,016 which includes having the current jail nurse work for SHP for 30 hours per week.

He said he had attempted to work with Achieve Health based in Eau Claire which would have been far less than either of the options. However, his talks with Achieve Health fell apart because they were unable to find providers. This was due, in part, to noncompete agreements that Aspirus requires its providers to sign preventing them from working for another provider in the area at the same time.

Woebbeking recommended going with the SHP option at a savings of over $83,000 compared to renewing the contract with ACH.

“Where is the money going to come from?” asked committee member Mike Bub.

Faced with a mandated service and a contract that comes due on August 2, the county will overspend that line item in the current budget with it to be made up by other areas of the general fund where budgets were not spent. This reduces the potential carryover which is generally applied to the future budget year “I have to vote yes,” said committee member Scott Mildbrand. “It honestly does hurt to be taken advantage of,” he said.

Committee members approved making the change to SHP.

In other business, committee members:

 Approved new rules for groups receiving power line impact fee funds. Under the changes, groups receiving funds are required to show the county pictures of the projects funded when they get to about 25% of the project and then when the project is completed. This change addresses concerns that the money granted is being used for how it was approved.

 Approved giving highway commissioner Ben Stanfley the authority to sign documents accepting about $5.75 million in state grant funds for future road projects that will take place on CTH C and CTH D in coming years. He said he came seeking permission to sign the grants because in accepting the grants would commit the county to 20% of the overall projects. The county would be responsible for a total of $1.27 million between 2025 and 2029 when the projects would take place.

Stanfley explained that with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding there is more money available in state and federal programs for roads and bridges.

Committee members supported tapping into the federal grant funds for the project but disagreed on the best route to follow in paying the county’s share. Stanfley said while he typically tries to save up funds for matches in his budget each year, this amount would be difficult to do. He instead suggested the county look at borrowing in the years of the project.

Bub raised concern that this could be tying the hands of future county boards. “We are committing future county boards to fund this,” he said. “I don’t know what future county boards will want to do.”

The county could use short-term borrowing to get the additional road money in the year the projects take place. This would increase the levy for that year and pay off the cost once taxes are settled in early spring. “It is a tool Wisconsin gives us,” committee chair Chuck Zenner said.

Another option would be putting it on long-term debt which is paid off over a number of years. This generally has a lower tax levy impact, but with the payments over time, could cost the county more in interest and principal.

No decision was made on what type of financing to use. The projects include about three miles of blacktop on CTH C and replaces of the bridges on CTH D over the Rib River and Levitt Creek.

 Approved amending the equipment replacement budget for the highway department in order to include approval to purchase a used vehicle from the sheriff’s department at a cost of $15,000. The highway department has the money in its vehicle outlay accounts, but needs county board authorization to purchase the vehicle. If approved by the county board, the change would allow the sheriff’s department to get the money for it in their current year’s budget rather than waiting until next January when the new budget year begins. It is routine practice in Taylor County for vehicles to be “sold” from one department to another. Stanfley said the highway department currently has two pickups from the 1990s and six from the early 2000s. He said overall they have eight trucks that range in age from over 20 years old to more than 15 years old.

 Approved changes to the county code on the make-up of the county finance and personnel committees. The changes undo a merger of the two committees that occurred several years ago, and brings county code into alignment with what was approved at the county board reorganization meeting in April.

 Approved, with Mildbrand opposed, moving forward with the purchase of the Weather Shield hangar at the airport. Funds for the purchase will come from existing airport funding and reserves held by that state that is from the airport expansion project that took place more than a decade ago.