Candidate says Legislature has misled public about nursing home

Editor:

The Legislature has not done its “due diligence” (its homework) on “The Villages” and has routinely exaggerated its losses.

Not only did Orleans County not even ask The Center for Governmental Research to estimate the cost of a feasibility study as Genesee had done, it has failed to turn “A” and “B” wings into income producing space, leaving them largely useless for 6 years.

According to CGR’s August 2013, “The Future of County Nursing Homes in New York State,” the occupancy rate at “The Villages” is unacceptably low. Billing irregularities abound, and efforts to recover owed reimbursement have not matched Genesee’s.

Losses have been made to appear larger than they are by creative accounting. Two sets of books are maintained. Money received SOLELY because we operate a county nursing home that accepts “hard-to-place” residents is NOT counted against ”The Villages” account because the match for it comes out of the general fund.

Consequently, Mr. Callard claimed a $1.5 million dollar loss in January 2011 and changed it to $365,000 in October of that year. That is a FACT! The County then claimed “an audited loss of $2.1 million” for 2012, when its LDC Board realtor said it was $295,000 (see “The Daily News” for August 23, 2013 ).

It is time to give them a grade. Our votes should be used as a report card. We should give them a (Row) “A” for their excellent attempts to mislead the public, or a (Row) “F” for poor performance as our representatives.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent
Albion

(Kent is a candidate for Orleans County Legislature running under the Democratic and “Save Our Nursing Home” lines.)