STEVENS POINT – The Portage County Board of Supervisors will consider another referendum to fund the future of its county-owned nursing home on Tuesday.

Passage of the referendum would allow an additional $3.5 million tax levy increase each year until 2044. The referendum language, which would appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot, was approved Aug. 7 by a joint meeting of the Health Care Center, Space & Properties, Finance and Executive/Operations committees.

If approved, the funds would go toward “the cost to operate the Portage County Health Care Center, which may include costs associated with the construction of a new Portage County Health Care facility,” according to the resolution approving the referendum language.

Portage County voters approved a $4.5 million referendum for the same purpose in 2022, but the project was put on hold in early 2023 due to concerns about rising costs for construction and operating the current facility.

If approved, the referendum would increase the county’s allowable annual tax levy about 9.61% from $36,417,621 to $39,917,621.

The Portage County Board voted down a similar referendum in January, which, if approved, would have occurred during the April nonpartisan election. Members of the board said at the time that they preferred to have the referendum on the November ballot as they expected higher turnout in a partisan election.

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Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK – Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him at epfantz@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Portage County Board will again consider health care center referendum