McHenry board candidates differ on massive nursing home reserves
Four candidates running for the Republican nomination for two McHenry County Board seats have differing views on what to do with a $43 million reserve that has added up at Valley Hi, a county-run nursing home.
Voters March 15 will choose two people to run for two, two-year terms in District 3.
Incumbents Nick Provenzano and Michael Walkup face Nancy Gonsiorek, who hopes to add to her public service resume, and newcomer Cherie Rickert, who is seeking her first public office.
With Valley Hi's strong reserve, the county board has voted not to collect additional taxes in the coming year and to spend some of the reserve. The candidates have contrasting views on the long-term plan for the nursing home, built after voters in 2002 approved a special tax levy to build and staff the facility.
Walkup, who has served on the board since 2012, said the surplus is in some ways a byproduct of current tax laws, which provide incentive for governments to levy the maximum amount in fear that if they don't, they will lose that taxing ability going forward. Walkup also noted Valley Hi's administration began favoring fewer Medicaid clients in favor of more private party and Medicare patients, which added revenue.
"We're between a rock and a hard place," said Walkup, adding the county needs to define Valley Hi's purpose. "We're now in a situation where we have some big decisions to make."
Provenzano, a 12-year county board veteran, said Valley Hi should not be competing with private nursing homes. He favors spending down the reserve and favors a bill in Springfield that would allow counties who levy for nursing homes to be able to have a zero levy for three years, but resume a full levy in the fourth year.
"We have to decide as a county what we want our nursing home to be," Provenzano said. "If we're competing with private nursing homes, we should get out of the business."
Gonsiorek, who served eight years on the Crystal Lake District 47 Board of Education, is in favor of spending down the reserve, but says some money could be saved for future capital maintenance at the building.
"It was really intended to be for our most vulnerable citizens," Gonsiorek said. "(The reserve) didn't accumulate in a day so let's not make a knee-jerk reaction to get rid of it in a day."
Rickert, a registered nurse, said she believes any decision on Valley Hi's future should be given to voters in the form of a ballot question.
"(The reserves) are way too large. It needs to be spent down," Rickert said. "How that's done remains to be seen, but voters should have a voice as to how that's done."
Early voting begins Monday and runs through March 14. The election winners advance to the November general election.