MAYVILLE – As county lawmakers begin their process of reviewing the proposed 2013 budget in committee this week, County Executive Greg Edwards is continuing to bang the drum for selling the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk to help offset a $13 million budget gap.
In his Oct. 1, 2012 Monday Morning Memo, Edwards pointed to various residents and even other local governments and thanked them for announcing their support to sell the skilled nursing facility. The county executive says that the vocal support to sell the home has been making a difference in how the debate is shaping up.
In the last two weeks, the Towns of Carroll, Ellicott, and Kiantone and the Village of Lakewood have all passed resolutions calling on local legislators to sell the County Home. The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST) have also stated that they do not support the continuation of having the county running the home.
In fact, Edwards says that over 80 percent of county residents he has talked to would vote to sell the County Home. He says that by selling the county home, not only would the county eliminate over $2.5 million in operating expenses from its annual budget, but putting it in a private owner’s hands would generate approximately $1 million in local property tax revenue. Edwards, who clearly wants to see the county home sold within the next 12 months, is also encouraging area residents to contact their local representative in the legislature and let them know how they feel about the issue.
The county home budget line was also discussed yesterday by the legislature’s Administrative Services Committee, although no decision was made to agree to include it in the final budget to be acted on by lawmakers at the end of this month.
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