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Island Nursing Home asks towns for help as board seeks financial details
Summary
Town representatives and INH board members repeatedly described operating shortfalls and asked local towns for support; Selectmen requested detailed financials and said any town appropriation would require a town meeting petition. No appropriation vote was recorded.
The Island Nursing Home (INH) and town leaders repeatedly raised concerns in Selectmen meetings across 2022 about the facility’s finances and its ability to continue operating skilled nursing beds.
INH board members including Skip Greenlaw and Leon Weed told the Selectmen the facility faces substantial budget shortfalls and staffing challenges and said the organization may need municipal assistance. Board members cited multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar shortfalls in different meetings (one referenced a $500,000 deficit; another discussion cited $700,000 as a figure discussed internally) and urged towns to consider housing support and direct funding to preserve local long‑term care capacity.
Selectmen and town staff said they want clearer financial documentation before committing town funds. TM Billings and board members repeatedly asked INH representatives for up‑to‑date budgets, clarified whether cited numbers included recent inflation, and noted that any direct town appropriation would require a warrant article placed by petition for a town meeting vote. No motion or vote to appropriate town funds for INH operations appears in the meeting record reviewed.
The board discussed non‑financial remedies as well as funding, including local housing initiatives to help recruitment and retention of staff and use of petitions to place funding requests before voters. At several meetings Selectmen encouraged INH leadership to provide detailed, current financial statements and a clear proposal for what town support would cover.
Next steps: INH was invited to return with formal budget detail and any petition language for a town meeting article; Selectmen said they would not commit municipal dollars without a voter decision.
