LACONIA – The $ 13.4 million budget for the Belknap County Nursing Home, which includes funds for significant employee salary increases, has been reviewed by the county delegation executive committee. But a review of salaries, which represent 39% of the spending plan, continued after the time allotted for the committee meeting on Wednesday expired.
The committee expects to resume consideration of the budget early next month, committee chair Ray Howard said after the meeting adjourned.
The nursing home budget recommended by the county commission is 14% higher than this year. Most of the increase is attributed to higher pay amounts that nursing home commissioners and administrators deem necessary to prevent employees from leaving elsewhere for higher paying nursing jobs, and also to improve the capacity to recruit people to fill dozens of vacancies.
Higher salaries and rising costs for most other operating expenses, coupled with the continuing shortage of staff, prompted Howard on two occasions to question the nursing home’s long-term viability as a that service managed by the county.
“When to consider privatizing the retirement home? Howard asked. “The way it works now is not a plus. “
“It’s a political decision,” County Administrator Debra Shackett said, adding that the same issue had been raised several years ago and the decision then was not to prosecute it.
None of the other three committee members commented on Howard’s remarks. But State Representative Mike Sylvia, who chairs the delegation, said it was doubtful the nursing home would be able to fill the vacancies, given the overall shortage of nurses.
“Nurses are getting expensive, but we are struggling to find nurses,” he said. “What reality are we looking at? He asked shortly before the committee adjourned before he had a chance to look at the salary positions.
Nursing home administrator Shelley Richardson told the committee that 32 nursing home staff positions were vacant – 25 full-time and seven part-time.
“We’re not going (able to) fill all of these,” Howard observed.
At the end of November, county commissioners approved a change in the county’s salary scale with the aim of stopping staff departures. Shackett said the pay increases were mostly in the range of $ 3 to $ 5 an hour.
As proposed, the nursing home budget includes the largest share of the county budget of $ 31.4 million – 40%.
At a previous meeting, Richardson told representatives that this year there has been 70% turnover among LPNs in the long-term care facility and 52% turnover among registered nurses and LPNs. .
The nursing home’s resident count stands at 52, well below its licensed capacity of 96 residents, Richardson said Wednesday. Richardson said the home was operating well below capacity in order to maintain required staff-to-resident ratios.