Colfax Village Board approves developer’s agreement with Colfax Senior Living
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved a developer’s agreement with Colfax Senior Living LLC as a condition of the sale of the Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center.
The Colfax Village Board met in closed session on November 13 to discuss and approve the developer’s agreement.
The developer’s agreement includes an easement for fire hydrants, for the road and for the stormwater pond, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, after the village board had reconvened into open session.
The parcel containing the stormwater pond goes to the public right-of-way and has its own parcel number and tax bill, she noted.
The village board met in closed session for nearly 20 minutes to discuss the developer’s agreement.
No further details about the developer’s agreement were available from the village board’s closed session held under state statute 19.85(1)(e) for deliberating or negotiating the purchase of public properties, the investing of public funds or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.
PILOT agreement
At the October 23 meeting, the village board approved writing off the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) that the village would have received from Colfax Health and Rehab in the amount of approximately $30,000 as a condition of the sale.
In 2012, the village entered into an agreement with CHRC in which the facility paid Colfax $15,000 annually as a payment in lieu of taxes. The first payment was made to the village in 2014.
For many years, Area Nursing Home/Colfax Health and Rehab operated as a for-profit business. Prior to building the new facility on the south side of town, the facility became a non-profit tax exempt entity.
The potential buyer of Colfax Health and Rehab owns four other for-profit assisted living facilities.
The Colfax facility is expected to become a for-profit assisted living facility as well.
One of the requirements for Colfax Health and Rehab as part of the sale was to change the facility use, and it is now only an assisted living facility.
When the new facility was built on the south side of town 10 years ago, CHRC initially had a skilled nursing unit, Community Based Residential Facility (CBRF) for assisted living and a Residential Care Apartment Complex (RCAC) as well as a rehabilitation wing for people recovering from surgery or an ailment such as a heart attack.
Earlier this year, Colfax Health and Rehab eliminated skilled nursing.
Several years earlier, many of the rooms in the rehabilitation wing had been turned into CBRF assisted living rooms.
Skilled nursing
According to the annual report on The Neighbors of Dunn County presented to the Dunn County Board on November 14, Dunn County currently has only four licensed skilled nursing facilities with a total of 174 beds.
Three of the four facilities with skilled nursing, and 137 of the 174 beds, are located at The Neighbors.
In the past seven years, 12 skilled nursing facilities have closed within 50 miles of Menomonie, according to The Neighbors annual report.
In 2010, Dunn County had 5,323 residents aged 65 years and older, or about 12 percent of the population, the annual report states.
According to the United States census, on April 1 of 2010, Dunn County had a population of 43,857, and in 2020, had a population of 45,440.
In 2020, Dunn County had 8,130 residents aged 65 years and older, or about 18 percent of the population, representing an increase of 2,807 in 10 years.
According to the America’s Health Ranking website, 16.8 percent of the population in the United States is 65 years or older.
By 2030, Dunn County is expecting to have 11,140 residents aged 65 years or older — more than double the number in 2010, according to The Neighbors annual report.
If Dunn County’s population increases at the same rate between 2020 and 2030 as it did between 2010 and 2020, the number of people aged 65 years or older will be nearly 25 percent.
By 2040, Dunn County is expecting to have 12,735 residents aged 65 years or older — or 7,412 more than in 2010.
In March of 2020, Wisconsin had 28,719 nursing home beds, and in January of 2023, Wisconsin had 25,891 nursing homes beds, representing a decrease of 2,828 nursing home beds in the state, according to The Neighbors annual report.