North Dakota Veterans Home seeks more operating flexibility, nursing equity and one-time repairs in Senate hearing

The North Dakota Veterans Home asked the Senate Human Resources Committee to approve Senate Bill No. 2007 and several changes to its appropriation, citing persistent staffing shortages, rising pharmacy and medical costs, and deferred facility needs.

Kristen Luedenberg, chief financial officer at the North Dakota Veterans Home in Lisbon, and Dane Bridal, the facility’s administrator, testified in a public hearing held by the committee.

Lede: Luedenberg told the committee the home's current biennium budget is $30,178,230 and said federal and state funding pressures — including changes in what the Department of Veterans Affairs requires the home to pay — are straining the facility’s finances and its ability to staff care positions.

Nut graf: The testimony combined budget detail, operational problems and a list of requested one-time capital projects and policy changes. Officials asked the Legislature to (1) approve multiple one‑time purchases and repairs, (2) add special-fund authority to cover increased bids on a garage/storage project, (3) allow a $400,000 transfer from salaries to operating in the current biennium to cover contract nursing, (4) add language permitting meals for essential staff who shelter in during emergencies, and (5) provide $275,000 in special-fund authority for a nursing equity pay adjustment intended to help close local wage gaps.

The most immediate operational pressures described in testimony were workforce and cost-shifting from the VA. "We have a lot of financial pressures being put on us by the Department of Veterans Affairs," Luedenberg said, explaining that recent VA agreements require the home to pay for some mental-health services, dental…