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Counties shouldn’t be in nursing home business

    I noted in the March 19 Gazette that Montgomery County sold its moneylosing nursing home in 2006 to a private concern.
    The “now-private River Ridge Living Center is thriving and the county is no longer in the nursing home business.” Is there a lesson here for Schenectady County for its planned Glenville Nursing Home? Perhaps the county should go forward and obtain all permits and then solicit bids from the private sector for ownership and/or operation of the facility.
    Is the nursing home business something the county should be in, or is it better done by the private sector?

    GERARD F. HAVASY
    Scotia

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00706&AppName=1

As I have posted for months both Montgomery and Fulton Counties are out of the nursing home business. The one area where the DEMS should seek "consolidation" and work for a private/public solution they balk because of lob jobs. It is not too late to pull the pull on this Landslide Savage fiasco and follow examples to the west.

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New option needed
It’s not too late for county to drop nursing home plan
BY CAROLINA M. LAZZARI

    After years of public planning, discussion and meetings, the Fulton County Board of Supervisors just voted to sell the county home to a private provider. Fulton is but the most recent New York county to exit the nursing home business, with others certain to follow.
    The reason is simple: Publicly supported nursing homes have been hemorrhaging red ink for years because of declining state reimbursement rates, increasing operational costs, and decreasing occupancy rates. As far back as 2002, counties were addressing the burden these money-losing homes placed on taxpayers.
    In 2003. then-Schenectady County Manager Kevin DeFebbo identified Glendale as the greatest challenge facing the county, and the legislature’s answer was — we’ll build a new one. Only Legislator Robert Farley questioned the need for remaining in the nursing home business, when it was losing $5 million as year with no end in sight. Glendale struggled to fi nd ways to increase revenue.
NO END IN SIGHT
    While counties around us saw the handwriting on the wall and began exploring all available options, Schenectady’s leadership stuck with its one and only plan, a new, state-of-the art Glendale. Over the years since the county manager’s 2003 observations, many ideas and plans have been put forth — at signifi cant cost to taxpayers — as to how to bring this about. Eight years later, the only change is that the drain on county taxpayers has increased.
    Glendale’s 2011 operating deficit is projected to be around $9 million, close to equaling the $9.5 million fund balance transfer required to balance the budget without a tax hike.
    Last September, in the throes of one of the worst recessions in history, Legislator Karen Johnson stated the county did not consider privatization an option. During the March 9 meeting on Glendale, Johnson said, “We realize that the least expensive alternative to that [the existing facility] is to build a new nursing home,” a statement accurate only if the sole alternative is renovating the existing structure up to modern standards.
    County nursing homes are rooted in the poorhouses and county farms of the past, which existed to provide minimal food and shelter to the destitute who would otherwise be out on the street. That was before Medicaid, a program initiated to provide for the poorest among us, but now widely accepted among the middle class, particularly when it comes to funding long term care needs, now the biggest slice of the Medicaid pie. Indeed, many consider artifi cial and deliberate self-impoverishment not only acceptable, but a mark of intelligent planning, when the goal is to get other taxpayers other than oneself to pay for one’s own nursing home care.
    If Schenectady County had been open to all options, and been willing to accept privatization, the one solution that would actually provide relief to all county taxpayers, by now we’d be seeing light at the end of the tunnel: no more fund balance transfers to cover the home’s losses, maybe serious tax reduction to remove Schenectady from the list of highesttaxed counties, and perhaps funds to pay for projects that are actually mandated, which the nursing home project is not. ..............................>>>>........................>>>>..................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03100&AppName=1

A brilliant editorial from CL. Too bad she isn't still in the County Legislature. She was replaced by TJ Hooker, the big supporter of the REMS tax. Sooner or later the DEMS that sold the people out in this County Home debacle will be held accountable at the polls. SS Savage is gone others must follow.

     While both Fulton and Montgomery are out of the nursing home business the County DEMS keep piling up the unsustainable debt. This will be the number one issue in the County this November.

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Pulling Glendale plug would pull rug out from under seniors

    I found Carolina Lazzari’s comments about “pulling the plug” on Glendale Home (May 8 Viewpoint, “New option needed”) offensive and disrespectful.
    For decades, Schenectady County residents have received the highest quality care from the dedicated staff at Glendale. Let’s not forget that Glendale Home residents contributed to their communities as teacher aides, fi refi ghters, social workers, business owners, volunteers and, yes, as taxpayers. Their hard work and contributions wove the fabric of our community. In their later years, they came to rely on the services provided at the home, caring staff, social interaction and rest, and relief from the pain and indignities of aging.
    Perhaps Ms. Lazarri is unaware of the fact that not all families can afford the high cost of private care. Or maybe Ms. Lazarri would be surprised to learn that unlike private corporations in the health care business, Glendale does not “cherry pick” their residents based on the size of their bank account or the amount of care they need.
    Ms. Lazarri has it all wrong. County legislators deserve credit, not chastisement, for their decision to build a new nursing home and not “pull the plug,” and end “life support,” as she advocates. A new, modern facility with a different case mix, higher reimbursement rates and commitment to our community’s seniors is not “life support,” but rather a decision to support life. A new Glendale Home will support the lives of the residents who call Glendale “home” now, and in the years to come.

    KATHY GARRISON
    Latham
The writer is the Civil Service Employee Association’s Capital Region president.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00705&AppName=1

Quoted from benny salami

A brilliant editorial from CL. Too bad she isn't still in the County Legislature. She was replaced by TJ Hooker, the big supporter of the REMS tax. Sooner or later the DEMS that sold the people out in this County Home debacle will be held accountable at the polls. SS Savage is gone others must follow.

        Like Vince DeCarbo? lol. Another Albany County resident for the big tax drain. So much for County residency requirements. I'm for it as long as someone else is paying for it.

CL must be a hater. Arrest her and put her in a camp with the other dissidents (soon the state contolled puppets that run the mainstream media will call anyone against socialism "insurgents.")

Schenectady has become a very poor city. Most residents are on public assistance and have no personal assets of their own. This is a created society that the democons can take credit for. There are few if any folks moving into the city that can sustain themselves without relying on some form of public assistance. And the folks that can support and sustain themselves don't move into the city of schenectady.

So a county nursing home is needed just as much as the overflowing dss building is. It is a cradle to grave or womb to tomb created society by the democons. And the remaining residence/taxpayers are left to foot the bill.

Quoted from bumblethru

Schenectady has become a very poor city. Most residents are on public assistance and have no personal assets of their own. This is a created society that the democons can take credit for. There are few if any folks moving into the city that can sustain themselves without relying on some form of public assistance. And the folks that can support and sustain themselves don't move into the city of schenectady.

So a county nursing home is needed just as much as the overflowing dss building is. It is a cradle to grave or womb to tomb created society by the democons. And the remaining residence/taxpayers are left to foot the bill.

There is no credible evidence that "most residents are on public assistance" ----  that is just another of the idiotic statements coming from the Nattering Nayboobs of Negativity.    They wouldn't know the TRUTH if it bit em in the butt.

DVR, most of the city that use to be home to doctors, lawyers and GE executives are now section 8 rental property or vacant blight. Bellevue/mt pleasant was considered rural and home of hard working folks who chose to raise their family there. Hamilton Hill was also home to immigrant families that worked hard and raised their families. Linton and Mt. Pleasant was the school to die for!!! Now it's a school district that is avoided by young hard working families with children.

It really doesn't take a rocket scientist here to see that the city is nothing but a government hand out, cradle to grave welfare city. So yes....a county home is as needed just as the overflowing dss building is. This was created by the democons to dumb down the electorate! SUCCESS!

You would think this clown just fell off a turnip cart. A total stooge for the regime.

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Glendale Home is only choice for needy of Sch’dy County

    While I understand some people don’t understand why a county nursing home should exist, I question the May 27 editorial [“Fresh faces call for fresh look at Glendale Home”].
    You comment on the cost to build and run the home, but you fail to examine the people who are sort of forced to live there.
    Almost all are on Medicaid/SSI income levels. There are very few private nursing homes in this state that will accept these people (you almost have to have money in the bank to go anywhere else). Those people who have mental problems and are on drugs (such as Zoloft, etc.) are not wanted by private homes and are often “farmed out” of state at considerably higher cost. These are people who lived in this county and paid taxes to care for others. Now they need our help to live in relative quiet and peace for the remainder of their days. The way the politicians in Albany and Washington are acting does not guarantee that any significant legislation will solve the problem.
I wonder where we lost the respect for our elders, that we can condone shipping them off to faraway places, where they are out of sight and, most likely, out of mind.
This question of nursing home care needs a thorough examination of all costs — and humanitarian considerations — before we cast aside the very people who once supported this community.

EDWARD JONES
Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....00704&AppName=1#

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Rift over nursing home
Some lawmakers express doubts about planned $50.5M project
By LAUREN STANFORTH Staff writer
Published 01:02 a.m., Monday, June 27, 2011

In the face of the lingering recession and the exit of the Schenectady County Legislature's most powerful member, some lawmakers are balking at the cost of a new county nursing home -- even though the $50.5 million project was approved more than two years ago.

Ground has yet to be broken on the facility in front of the current Glendale Home, and Democratic legislators Jeffrey McDonald and Michael Petta, in a rare move of dissension from the majority party, have expressed concerns about the $9 million a year the county must contribute to run the 200-bed nursing home. Legislator Holly Vellano, a Conservative who is allied with the Democrats, has conveyed similar worries.

"The new proposed facility is state-of-the-art, one to truly be proud of," Vellano said in an email to the Times Union. "However, the uncertainty of our financial future, namely changes in Medicaid reimbursement rates, and living within our means if a tax cap is imposed should be addressed at length."

Republican Legislators Jim Buhrmaster and Bob Farley are the only elected officials who opposed the project in the past. Buhrmaster said Democrats probably feel more comfortable now expressing their views after the resignation of Susan Savage, who as the legislature's Democratic chairwoman was known to drive the county agenda. In April, Savage got a new state job at the Office of Real Property Tax Services.

Buhrmaster said he's going to try to get discussion about building the nursing home on the agenda for the legislature's July 5 meeting.

"Everywhere you go, when you're talking to groups of people they're saying, 'You're not going to go ahead with the nursing home, are you?'" Buhrmaster said.

Albany County Executive Mike Breslin battled fellow Democrats over construction of a new $81 million nursing home. Breslin decided not to veto the lawmakers' December approval of the project in exchange for reinstating three positions in his office.

Meanwhile, the Glendale project is already under way, according to Schenectady County Attorney Chris Gardner. The county has borrowed the $50.5 million and is awaiting approval from the state Health Department for initial roadwork. The plan calls for moving Hetcheltown Road to make way for the new building, which will be constructed in front of the current home. Glendale, erected in the 1930s, was expanded in the 1960s and 1970s. At its height, it housed 500 people.

The county legislature authorized construction of the home in May 2009, but a public presentation on the design was not made until January. At that meeting, a slideshow previewed the new site's residential-feel, private rooms, accessible bathrooms and layout tailored for Alzheimer's and dementia patients.

Gardner, a former county Democratic Party chairman, brushed off suggestions that some legislators are concerned about the costs. He said the county will save between $700,000 and $800,000 on heating and upkeep wings that have been closed since the home downsized. Also, a 10 percent wage cut recently negotiated with CSEA for newly hired workers will bring down the county subsidy to run the home to between $4 million and $7 million. County spokesman Joseph McQueen said this year the county's projected operating loss at Glendale is $9 million.................>>>>.....................>>>>..............Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Rift-over-nursing-home-1441444.php#ixzz1QTQySkMY

The same old argument we must build the new nursing home because it will save money in heating and maintenance, save $700,000 and have to spend 9 million a year as their share of the cost. This is starting to sound like the health-care law, we must build the nursing home to find out how much the new nursing home will really cost. Government projects such as this one have never saved the taxpayer a dime and as a rule have always cost much more than estimated.

Every candidate running for County Leg must state whether they still support County taxes going up over $9 MILLION PER YEAR to build Savage's nursing home. Where's ANG? Where's TJ Hooker? Do they still support this? Where's Cousin Vinny D? Yeah he fled to Saratoga County where County taxes are one third Schenectady County before this rip off.

     DEMS running for re-election are bailing on this idiotic plan. About time. We cannot afford it-we never could. The working together DEMS caved to the special interest. Work together with one of the 5 private homes. "No-that would not be practical. The time is not right to seek savings. We must build-build at any cost! Blah, Blah, Blah". Bravo to Holly V for leading the opposition to this budget buster.