SAVE GOLDEN HILL

Throughout my term as an Ulster County Legislator, I have been a visible and vocal advocate for keeping the county nursing home, Golden Hill Health Care Center, under county control. Of the representatives from the City of Kingston, I join the chorus of Jeanette Provenzano and Peter Loughran who have been just as vocal for over a decade. My good friend Dave Donaldson is now jumping on board and stating that he is in support of keeping Golden Hill county owned as well. Three cheers for Dave for finally coming to the correct conclusion. 

However, prior to and during his time as Chairman of the Legislature, Jeanette continually addressed the mounting repairs needed at the facility. Only to fall on deaf ears. If the repairs had been made at that time, we wouldn’t be hearing about “systems at risk of catastrophic failure” now, would we?  Anyone who follows the political landscape here in Kingston knows Dave and I are in a Primary this September so I get to point out that of course, now, during these special election circumstances, he sees an opportunity to put words before actions to gain support. Four of those years Dave was the Legislative Chair, One of them as Executive Chair. With a sizeable majority at the time, the opportunity to address Jeanette's issues were missed. How sad is that?

The Legislature and specifically, the Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Walter Frey, has spent far too long debating whether to sell, renovate, rebuild or build a new, state-of-the-art nursing home. The option of selling the facility needs to be taken off the table, once and for all. Privatization of nursing homes amounts to more money in the pockets of private investors, and results in lower wages, higher turnover rates and drastically lowers quality of care for residents. Meaning, if a shortsighted legislature votes to sell the facility, Ulster County’s seniors will ultimately pay the price. And for what? To save a subsidy that in 2010 amounted to just a 1/4 of 1% of the total tax burden? Isn’t it better for us to keep the employees making a living wage, so they can continue to own homes, shop and support our local economy? Isn’t it better to know that we have a safe, quality nursing facility available to anyone, regardless of their medical condition or ability to pay? 

 

Unlike other county departments, Golden Hill Health Care Center is set up as an enterprise fund, meaning that its $30M budget operates completely independent from the county budget. Golden Hill’s income from Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, intergovernmental transfers, and private resident payments, covers all expenses, including employee salaries and benefits without any support from the County. In some years, Golden Hill has required a subsidy from the county to cover shortfalls in their revenues, mostly due to New York State’s failure to increase the Medicaid bed rates. In 2011, the County Executive’s office estimated that Golden Hill Health Care Center would require a subsidy of $4.2M. However, due to overdue Medicaid reimbursements received from the state, the amount required from the county to support the nursing home will be closer to $1M. This means, out of a $30M budget, just $1M will come out of the county budget.

Let’s make a commitment to our community to keep Golden Hill Health Care county owned and then continue to investigate the best options in terms of rebuilding, renovating or simply fixing the existing problems, and updating as needed. Let’s look at ways to increase revenues and lower expenses without compromising the integrity of this fine facility or the welfare of its residents. Let’s look at benefits of green technology and grants available for such. There are many options that I don’t feel have been explored because too many have their own agendas at play. If we take the option of privatization off the table, it will force everyone to focus on the challenge of making the County nursing home profitable for the County, instead of some private investors.