Wednesday, January 22, 2025
By Jalen Maki
MMC STAFF
A local group that has advocated against the sale of Pine Crest Nursing Home in Merrill, as well as the Chair of the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors, recently reacted to the termination of the facility’s sale agreement.
A lawsuit brought against Lincoln County by Donald J. Dunphy, who serves as District 7 Supervisor on the Lincoln County Board, led to the facility’s buyers, Merrill Campus LLC and Senior Management Inc., ending the Asset Purchase Agreement with the County.
A June 28, 2024, letter to Lincoln County Administrative Coordinator Renee Krueger from the buyers’ attorney, Richard J. Summerfield, said the buyers chose to terminate the agreement due to language in the agreement that states that should there be litigation brought against the County or the facility, the County would be in default of the agreement.
With the sale of the facility now off, “People for Pine Crest” and Lincoln County Board Chair and District 10 Supervisor Jesse Boyd voiced their views on the issue and are looking ahead to what’s next.
“People for Pine Crest,” a group that has advocated against the sale of the Merrill facility, lauded the news of the sale agreement’s termination.
Dunphy is a member of People for Pine Crest.
In a release from the group, Gene Babel, a Merrill resident and group member, said the termination of the sale agreement is “great news for the people of Lincoln County.”
“Selling Pine Crest to an out-of-state corporation like Senior Management Inc. was never a good idea,” Babel said. “As a County nursing home, Pine Crest has been taking care of Lincoln County residents for 70 years, and we should be investing in Pine Crest so it will continue to do so for the next 70 years.”
The group called the sale of Pine Crest “widely unpopular” and highlighted an Oct. 2023 public opinion survey for Lincoln County residents conducted by the Tomahawk Leader and the Merrill Foto News that found that more than 80% of the nearly 800 respondents would have supported an increase in property taxes for five years or more to keep the nursing home County-owned.
Over the course of more than a year, People for Pine Crest collected more than 800 signatures on a petition opposing the sale, while group members have utilized public comment periods during numerous County Board meetings to speak out against that County’s sale of the nursing home.
The group also pointed to the Board’s Aug. 2023 rejection of a potential referendum that would have put the future of Pine Crest funding in the hands of Lincoln County voters.
“As the supervisors moved forward in their efforts to sell the nursing home, Pine Crest’s finances continued to improve,” the release said.
Pine River resident Eileen Guthrie said in the release that “one of the hollow arguments that the proponents of selling Pine Crest often made was that it cost too much money.”
“However, Pine Crest’s operating budget is in very good shape,” Guthrie said. “In fact, through the end of May 2024, Pine Crest is running a net positive operating budget balance of $555,000.00, according to the latest figures from North Central Health Care.”
Renea Frederick of Merrill said in the release that the group is “ready to get to work so Pine Crest can continue to provide high quality, affordable, and local care.”
“All of the effort that went into trying to sell Pine Crest would have been better spent on saving it,” Frederick said. “That said, we see this moment as an opportunity to bring people together to make Pine Crest even better. We are ready to roll up our sleeves and invest in Pine Crest for the long haul and we expect the County Supervisors to do the same.”
On Wednesday, July 3, Lincoln County Board Chair and District 10 Supervisor Jesse Boyd said the termination of the sale agreement “came as a big surprise.”
“All parties involved knew during the process that Supervisor Dunphy filed notice of a lawsuit, but during our conversations regarding the extension, the lawsuit was never discussed,” Boyd said.
Boyd said the resolution that Dunphy’s lawsuit is based on “is not binding County Board Supervisors, only acting as a recommendation.”
“Nor do we believe the Forestry Department has any knowledge regarding a nursing home,” he said.
Looking forward, Boyd said he doesn’t know what the Board will do regarding how Pine Crest will impact the 2025 County budget. Boyd said he assumes Dunphy “has come up with a plan,” but noted that Dunphy “has not shared this information.”
“However, I’ve heard of discussion regarding another referendum,” Boyd said. “What that amount will be, I would urge any Supervisor or concerned citizens to look back at the last legislative session. When you do look back, the numbers were laid out in the resolution for the cost of maintenance, debt service, and operational cost. That came to just under $4 million per year. However, the resolution was only for $3 million, and it’s guessing to factor in inflation.”
Boyd said he feels like “we’re beating a dead horse when we talk about Lincoln County’s finances.”
“We depleted to critical levels all fund balances and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) funds,” he said. “We’ve used those monies for operational expenses, which has left us in a critical situation.”
Boyd pointed to a situation involving the County’s Solid Waste Department, saying that the only way to keep the Lincoln County Landfill open was to bond a new cell and a new compactor, which Boyd said was “no fault of the Solid Waste Department.”
For years, Boyd explained, the Department set aside $200,000 per year to use when a new cell would be needed, but those funds were ultimately allocated to operational expenses.
“We are all doing our best to stay optimistic and forward-thinking,” Boyd said. “To put it simply, we cannot afford to run or have someone else run a nursing home without increasing taxes or bonding for operational expenses. Let me remind you that the majority of our tax base is on a fixed income.”
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