MONTICELLO – Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Robert Doherty does not hold out hope about keeping the Care Center at Sunset Lake in county hands.
The legislature was in the early stages of considering privatizing the facility, but pulled back after two public hearings brought out dozens of people imploring that it not be sold.
They are concerned that care of residents may suffer, and current county employees could lose their jobs and/or benefits.
On Friday, a contingent of Sullivan County officials met with leadership in Orange County concerning that county’s Valley View nursing home and how it brought a $15 million deficit down to $4.4 million.
Following the meeting, Doherty said his county really has no choice.
“They are fine with losing $4.4 million. They also have a $50 million fund balance and they run an $850 million budget. We have zero fund balance, we run a $233 million budget and we are in the red right now,” he said. “At some point we will have to privatize. There is surely no way around it. We cannot sustain these losses.”
Doherty said Sullivan is facing a $10 million deficit.
If they don’t sell the nursing home, they will have to raise taxes by seven percent and lay off 45 employees.
As for prospective buyers, the chairman said nine companies are interested.
