Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Paul Gray, a motor equipment operator for the Orleans County Highway Department, moves a pallet of computer units and other electronic waste at the County Highway Department today at 225 West Academy St.

The county started accepting e-waste on Monday at the Highway Department and at two other sites: the Murray Town Hall at 3840 Fancher Rd (Route31), and the Shelby Town Hall, 4062 Salt Works Rd.

Already, 34 pallets of e-waste, mostly older TVs with cathode-ray technology, were collected at the three locations. Residents can drop off the materials for free.

Paul Gray and Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief adminsitrative officer, are pictured inside the Highway Department where 13 pallets of e-waste have been dropped off this week in Albion, mostly the older televisions.

The state on Jan. 1 began banning curbside disposal of older TVs with cathode-ray technology. Many residents have upgraded from those televisions, switching to popular flat screens. Many of the older TVs have been dumped in ditches along rural roads.

The County Legislature last month approved a deal with Sunnking Incorporated of Brockport to pick up and dispose of cathode ray tube televisions, monitors, computers, peripheral devices and other household electronics.

The company will be paid $14,782 annually for the service.

Nesbitt said the big influx of e-waste this week shows a pent-up demand among residents to get rid of the material.

The three locations will accept the e-waste from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Photo by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Leaders of the Orleans County YMCA are piloting a new program where youths ages 15 to 20 can receive a free Y membership for six months if they complete a 10-week life skills class.

Pictured, include, from left: Don Colquhoun, former board chairman; Y Executive Director Shauna Parkinson; and Dean Bellack, current Y board chairman.

All three will serve as instructors for the class, as well as Jeff Evoy, Medina school district superintendent, and Jim Simon, dean of the GCC campus centers in Albion and Medina.

“Part of our mission is linking into the community and finding where we can have an impact,” Bellack said.

The Y started childcare programs and exercise classes for senior citizens after assessing community needs.

Bellack believes there is a need for life skills, with topics such as money management, consequences of choices, goal setting, living on your own, and other issues.

“We are hoping they will look at their life trajectory a little bit differently and hopefully open up some possibilities for them,” Bellack said about the Life Skills program.

Orleans County Y officials believe the local Y is the first to offer such a program. Classes will be taught Tuesday evenings form 6 to 7:30 p.m. from Oct. 6 through Dec. 8. The classes will be in the classroom at the Y, located at 306 Pearl St.

Students in the program will receive a free membership during the 10 weeks of classes, plus another three months if they successfully complete the program.

The program will be open to 20 students for the first class.

Shauna Parkinson, the director of the Y in Orleans County, wants to target the program to students who aren’t engaged in sports and other school activities, although the program is open to all students.

“We’re looking to inform and educate on life skills that generally aren’t taught in school,” she said.

For more information on the program, call the Y at (585) 798-2040 or click here.

File photo by Tom Rivers – The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, which became privately owned on Jan. 1, was added to the tax rolls for the first time this year at a $6,618,900 assessment. Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC wants the assessment reduced to $2.5 million.

The two nursing homes in Orleans County have both taken legal action, seeking big drops in their assessments. If the challenges are successful, local governments could see more than $100,000 less in tax revenue with each site.

The owners of Orchard Manor in Medina are seeking the biggest reduction as a percentage. The 160-bed facility is assessed at $4.1 million. The owners, Global Health Care, say the assessment should be $410,000.

The former county-owned nursing home is now privately owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC. The company paid $7.8 million on for the 120-bed Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center on Route 31 in Albion.

The property went on the tax rolls for the first time this year with a $6,618,900 assessment. Comprehensive is challenging that assessment, filing legal papers saying it should be valued at $2.5 million.

There is a lot of tax revenue at stake if the properties are reduced in assessment. The issue will go before James Punch, acting State Supreme Court judge in Orleans County.

Global Health Care purchased Orchard Manor Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Bates Road in 2012 from Medina Memorial Hospital. The site sold for $4.1 million. That has been the assessment since going on the tax rolls for the first time in 2013. That site is located within the Village of Medina.

Global Health pays about $225,500 in property taxes with a combined tax rate of about $55 per $1,000 of assessed property. That includes $70,233 to the Village of Medina, which has a $17.13 tax rate per $1,000 of assessed property.

If Global Health is successful in reducing the assessment to $410,000, it would pay a tenth in taxes what it does now or $22,550, with the village getting about $7,000 instead of $70,233.

The local taxing entities, led by the Town of Shelby, are discussing the legal battle for the assessment, trying to pool their resources in defending the higher assessment. Shelby is organizing the joint municipal effort because the town is responsible for assessing the property.

The former county-owned nursing home sits just outside the Village of Albion and doesn’t pay village taxes.

Comprehensive pays a combined tax rate of about $33 to the school district, town, county, library and for fire protection. At a $6,618,900 assessment, the tax bill for the nursing home is about $220,000 a year. If Comprehensive can reduce the assessment to $2.5 million, it would pay about $82,500 in taxes, less than 40 percent of the current tax bill.

Both nursing home owners filed complaints with the Board of Assessment Review, and those boards backed the levels set by the local assessors. Now, the issue will go before Judge Punch in State Supreme Court.