Voters have right to expect results from Hillcrest vote

If you haven't detected a trend in recent budget stories, here it is.

They're all going up.

After approving a 1.5 percent sales tax for 15 years, with part of that for economic development, local voters were rewarded with increases in the city, county and school levies in recent weeks.

Now Red Willow County voters have received ballots in the mail asking them to approve the increasing the county's restricted funds authority by 6 percent, bringing in $245,000.

Before you vote "no" or simply toss the ballots in the trash, consider a few points that make this request different.

It's a request for Hillcrest Nursing Home, which is owned by the county but has traditionally operated on funding from Medicare, Medicaid or private-pay patients.

The nursing home has fallen on hard times in recent years, thanks to failure to bill some of those government programs in the most advantageous way, or, for a short time, billing them at all. The county also co-signed a bank loan to the nursing home to meet operating expenses last year, and took over payments on a 20-year, $2.3 million construction loan about the same time.

One thing that sets the Hillcrest situation apart is that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Officials hope the funds generated through the mail-in ballot can be leveraged through a grant to do some much-needed repairs to Hillcrest's roof. That's a temporary, measurable goal.

On a more general note, the vote helps maintain Hillcrest's status as a county-owned nursing facility, rather than owned by a corporation -- even the best of which tend to place emphasis on profit at the expense or resident care, in the opinion of many.

As columnist Dick Trail notes elsewhere on this page, the "Affordable" Care Act has forced Hillcrest to pay a fine rather than provide health insurance to employees, opting instead to pay them a "bonus" to buy their own on the open marked.

Hillcrest has a fine staff, but it's at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting skilled nursing staff.

We have a moral obligation to provide the best possible care for local nursing home residents, and Hillcrest Nursing Home has traditionally been able to do that.

We hope voters will approve the question in the mail-in ballot, but they have the right expect county and nursing home officials to return Hillcrest to a sound financial footing.