MAYVILLE – The issue of selling the Chautauqua County Home will go before county lawmakers this evening in Mayville. Earlier this month, Legislature Chairman Jay Gould (R-Ashville) scheduled a special meeting to take place tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the legislative chambers. The sale issue of allowing the county executive to enter into negotiations with a buyer to sell the county home will be the only item on the agenda for that meeting. It is open to the public.
A recent poll by the Jamestown Post-Journal shows the legislature was three votes shy of the 17-vote, super-majority needed to sell the skill nursing facility.
As part of tonight’s proceedings, the legislature will act on selling allowing County Executive Greg Edwards to enter into negotiation to sell the home to Altitude Health Services of Chicago. In July, lawmakers learned that Altitude Health was prepared to buy the county home for $16.5 million.
County Executive Greg Edwards had included the sale of the county home in his 2013 proposed budget, saying the revenue from the sale is the only way the county will be able to offset a $13 million dollar budget gap without resorting to a steep increase in property taxes. However, the legislature’s Audit and Control committee has since removed the sale of the county home from the budget, saying it was “fiscally irresponsible” to include the $6.3 million profit from the sale of the home in the budget, unless it was actually be approved for sale.
Meanwhile, the effort to sell the county home is moving forward. According to a report in today’s Jamestown Post-Journal, the legislature’s Human Services Committee has approved a resolution for the County Executive to begin contract negotiations with Altitude Health Services.
The only committee member to vote against the resolution was Tim Hoyer (D-Jamestown), who wanted to see several stipulations added to the contract, including a safety net for residents with financial difficulties, a provision that would require Altitude Health to take over the current contract of home employees and a staff-to-resident ratio no greater than 1 to 8.
Yesterday’s committee’s approval marks the first step required to privatize the County Home. It also was necessary to take place prior to tonight’s special voting session. The legislature’s Audit and Control committee will also take up the measure later today during it’s scheduled meeting at 5:00 p.m.
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