Albany County

It’s Now Been Four Months Since Albany County, NY Knew (or Revealed) How Much Cash it Has

May 21, 2012 Cash

Following up on last month’s post on Albany County’s cash, we renewed our FOIL request. It’s now been four months and there’s still no response. The explanation given earlier was that the County doesn’t have the data because they’re in the midst of changing banks. I’ve tried that explanation on a number of public officials […]

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Oh, Maybe You Can Have That Revenue After All … For Now

May 16, 2012 Budget

For the past couple years, Albany County Legislators have been talking about keeping a much larger share of sales tax revenue for their own purposes and reducing the share passed on to cities, towns and villages. Many of those Legislators have such a proprietary sense of it that they call it “our money,” as if […]

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Happiness is a Positive Cash Flow. What’s the Cost of Ignorance?

April 23, 2012 Cash

Unhappiness is a negative cash flow. Even worse is not knowing what your cash position is. For the past year, I’ve been submitting Freedom of Information (FOIL) requests to Albany County, getting their cash position each week. I’ve been using the data to prototype some displays of public data. It’s not cash flow, but rather […]

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RFP for Sale (or Something) of Albany County Nursing Home

April 20, 2012 Budget

Though you’ll have to register, the request for proposals is available here. The process is being handled through the County’s Purchasing Department. Summary: As Albany County government explores options for the future of its county-operated nursing home, the County is seeking proposals from interested parties that would reduce or eliminate the nursing home’s dependence upon […]

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Reality Intrudes

April 13, 2012 County Government

A colleague asked me this morning whether I’d planted this story in the Albany Times-Union describing the movements of Saratoga and Ulster Counties to unload their nursing homes. My response? “Didn’t need to. Reality intrudes.” At least in Saratoga and Ulster and many other counties in New York. Albany County? Not so much.

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Tiptoe Through the Tulips

April 10, 2012 County Government

Hat tip to the usually sober Richard Mendick, Albany County Legislator (C, R – Selkirk) for today’s quote of the day. One of the provisions in the resolution establishing Charter Review Commission for Albany County prohibits elected officials to serve. Judging by last night’s chaotic debate over the resolution, the resolution was evidently not well […]

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Depends on What You Mean by “Correctly”

April 9, 2012 Capital

Later in the the day after New York’s Public Health & Health Planning Council deferred Albany County’s certificate of need application for the second time, Shawn Morse, the Chairman of the Albany County Legislature pointed to this news story and posted the following on Twitter: …looks like one county can get it done and done […]

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“Everything Has Changed.” Albany County Gets to Try Again, but the Bar Will be Even Higher

April 6, 2012 County Government

“Everything has changed.” Well, New York’s Public Health & Health Planning Council did not reject the Albany County Nursing Home application. As predicted here yesterday, they deferred it. But the Committee still heard testimony both for and against the application and they discussed it at some length. However in the vote of the Establishment and […]

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Three, Not Two Options Tomorrow on the Albany County Nursing Home

April 4, 2012 County Government

After constant struggles, tomorrow’s schedules for the Establishment and Project Review Committee and the New York Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) include review of the certificate of need application (CON) to build a new Albany County Nursing Home. In response to howls of protest by the Albany County Legislative leadership that the Department […]

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Talk Radio Made Me Do It

March 22, 2012 Budget

Talk radio is certainly not my gig. But I was asked on to a local show, Al Roney on AM 1300, this afternoon and it really forced me to do something I don’t do often, or particularly well: really simplify. As in simplify a lot. So it was an interesting and personally challenging exercise. The […]

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