Candidate has some unanswered questions about nursing home

Editor:

I will make this short and sweet. There are too many unanswered questions to sell the County Nursing Home in Albion, known as The Villages. The citizens of Orleans County need to know:

What might the tax impact of selling “The Villages” be? Hint: Taxes will not go down if “The Villages” is sold.

How are taxpayers going to pay what is still owed on the renovation project through 2026 without the Intergovernmental Transfer funds (IGT), Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements to significantly offset this payment?

Hint: The County treasury only qualifies for this money if the Nursing Home is county-owned.

How can bids start at $5.5 million when renovations alone cost $10 million? Hint: Would you sell your home for a fraction of what is worth?

Will the sale give back to the taxpayers the true value of the facility and the services provided?

It is premature to sell The Villages without answers to these and many other questions. Give the new candidates two years to try to save it or at least give the public accurate information so an informed decision can be made. Your current legislators have given this power to a three person LDC to make decisions and sell it behind closed doors.

If the current Legislators are correct, we will find out for sure in two years. If the Concerned Citizens are correct and it is sold, a tragic mistake will have been made. Orleans County citizens will pay for that mistake for years to come. And we still have to pay for Medicaid residents no matter where they reside!

There are ways to raise revenue by renting empty space, resubmitting Medicaid and Medicare claims for additional reimbursement, collecting back private pay accounts and forming co-ops to increase buying power to name a few.

The “Save Our Nursing Home” candidates have energy and a new perspective to serve the people of the county and save the nursing home or at least give the citizens the answers to these vital questions.

Linda Rak
Lyndonville

(Rak is a candidate for County Legislature, running as a Conservative and also under the independent “Save Our Nursing Home” party.)