Committee increases nursing-home contract and payroll lines while staff examines ARPA reimbursement potential

LaSalle County finance members discussed the county nursing home's budget and staffing needs after the facility's nursing-home administrator submitted a resignation. Committee members agreed to increase the professional/consulting services line to cover an interim, licensed administrator under contract and to raise the payroll estimate for the nursing home in 2026.

Members said the interim administrator will likely be a contracted, licensed professional and that the county discussed a contracting firm that estimated roughly $100,000 for the service. "They were gonna charge us a 100,000, and they were gonna pay all the benefits and everything," one committee member said while discussing the contracting approach. The committee agreed to raise the professional/consulting line to $100,000 and to budget about $120,000 in payroll lines to accommodate transition costs; members noted the interim engagement likely would last a few months while a permanent director is recruited.

Committee members also discussed ARPA and standard-allowance reimbursements tied to payroll paid during the COVID period. Sharon Wiley said nursing-home payroll from COVID could have been reimbursed by other grants and that the nursing home must provide documentation to avoid any double reimbursement. If substantiated, staff estimated about $94,000 could be returned to the county and then budgeted in 2026; the committee directed staff to follow up with nursing-home administration and ARPA records to verify what is recoverable.