Lasata project approved despite cost frustrations

The Ozaukee County Board last week voted to approve construction of a rehab facility at the Lasata Senior Living Campus in Cedarburg and allocated $1.3 million in county reserves toward it, but not until some supervisors expressed their displeasure with the ballooning cost of the project.

“I’m personally frustrated with how far over budget this is,” Supr. Marty Wolf said during a meeting of the Executive Committee prior to the County Board vote.

“This is a major oops,” he said. 

In the next breath, however, Wolf praised the county’s financial staff for absorbing the sticker shock of the project.

“But as is characteristic of our finance department, wow! They’ve absorbed this shock,” Wolf said. 

The total cost of the community-based residential facility, or CBRF, which includes the remodeling of a kitchen at the Lasata Crossings assisted living facility, stands at about $7.4 million, far more than the $4.5 million that was set aside in federal grant funds in September 2023.

Cost increases are largely attributed to HVAC and air handling “challenges” related to the facility’s existing infrastructure, according to a memo from County Administrator Jason Dzwinel.

Dzwinel said the $4.5 million budget grew almost as soon as the design phase began, when the location of the CBRF unexpectedly had to be changed and the kitchen had to be upgraded at a cost of about $1 million.

Ground is expected to be broken in October for the new facility, with completion expected to be in July.

Wolf and Supr. Eric Stelter said it was a mistake to think that cost estimates from two years ago would still be valid due to inflation over that period.

“The lesson to use is, be more realistic and not use old numbers,” Wolf said.

“The windows I ordered four years ago are costing me double that now,” Stelter said.

The motion to approve the project was approved by the board on a 23-1 vote, with Supr. Tom Richart voting no.

The motion to approve the transfer of funds was approved unanimously.

Besides those factors, Dzwinel said an additional $100,000 is projected for furnishings and finishes, an additional $150,000 is projected for kitchen equipment and a contingency fund of $500,000 is recommended.

Besides the Crossings, the campus includes the Lasata Care Center, a skilled nursing facility, and Lasata Heights for independent seniors.

The $1.3 million from the county’s capital reserves represent interest earned from federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, which the county invested when they were received.

The remaining $1.6 million will be funded from Lasata Campus operations. 

The CBRF will be the fourth component of the Lasata campus, offering rehabilitation and dementia services that do not currently exist, which causes some residents to move away from the campus, officials say.

The kitchen would serve the 18,000-square-foot, 21-bed CBRF as well as Lasata Crossings.

Officials estimate about half the beds in the CBRF will be filled with residents from the other Lasata facilities, freeing space in those buildings, while the other half would probably come from outside Lasata.

A market study in 2023 showed “significant demand” for such a facility in years to come with rooms priced between $6,000 and $6,500 a month.

Officials have said development of a CBRF is vital to maintaining a county nursing home without it being a drain on taxpayers.