Rock Island County Board Member Drue Mielke.
By Terry James Revenue at Hope Creek, the nursing home for Rock Island County, is down compared to last year. That concerns Rock Island County Board member Drue Mielke. He says board members are always looking for ways to turn the revenue problems around.
“How long can we run in a million-dollar deficit, or plus, how long can the county do that?” asked Mielke. “The owners of the county home are the residents of the county. Ultimately we own that home. How long do the residents want to see money going into the nursing home. And maybe they are O.K. with that, I’m not calling for a sale or anything like that, of course not. There is a point of when do we turn this around – when can this be turned around.”
Mielke says it’s standard for the state to be behind, but work with state legislators has helped bring in money that has been owed to the Rock Island County Nursing Home. He notes that without those payments the nursing home may not have made payroll last week.