Albany County

Reader’s Digest Version on Albany County Nursing Home and Interactions of State Policies

February 13, 2012 County Government

Short version of previous posts, particularly here, on State Health Department practices and Albany County’s application to build a new nursing home that the County itself acknowledges is a money loser. The County’s own consultants projected a 52 percent operating loss in the third year of operation of a new facility. That’s $26 million per […]

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Albany County Nursing Home, Why New York Needs to Change How it Reviews Subsidized CON Applications

February 13, 2012 County Government

It’s time to end the practice by New York’s Department of Health of allowing county “commitments” to using local property tax increases to subsidize nursing home losses as a means to meet the financial feasibility criterion in the certificate-of-need process. This practice contradicts and undermines the State’s policy of slowing growth in property taxes. Such […]

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Remember “Stages of a Project”?

February 8, 2012 County Government

It appears that Schenectady County is moving ahead with building a new nursing home. Too bad. If it gets done, it will be just under the wire. The closer Schenectady has gotten to re-building, the more County leaders have made their discomfort explicit. Many will now say in private that it’s a mistake, but having […]

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The Albany County Nursing Home Soap Opera Continues: Episodes 4,564, 4,565, 4,566

December 16, 2011 County Government

Episode 4,564: When we last tuned in, the New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council had politely suggested that Albany County might want to re-evaluate its plans to build a new, ridiculously expensive Nursing Home. The rationale was that the State was about to issue new nursing home rates based on an entirely […]

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Albany County Budget Stands … as a Document … Stay Tuned for Reality

December 15, 2011 Budget

As we noted earlier, Mike Breslin, the retiring Albany County Executive vetoed a number of legislative changes to his proposed budget. They would have had the unusual effect of increasing property taxes because he vetoed increased revenue estimates and new forms of “savings.” This past evening, by a very close vote (two-thirds of the members […]

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Albany County Budget Vetoes Would Increase (Not Decrease) Property Taxes

December 13, 2011 Budget

Albany County Executive Michael Breslin, with just a couple weeks to go before his 16 year tenure ends, has issued a series of unusual budget vetoes. These may be his most significant budget vetoes ever and they certainly are within the past half-dozen years, but there’s a twist. They would lead to increased property taxes […]

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“We’re on a Roll”

December 2, 2011 Budget

How could, “we’re on a roll,” not be the quote of the day for budget geeks, especially in New York? Last night, New York Citizen One (formerly Albany Citizen One, but now renamed in honor of her expanding empire) attended the Audit & Finance Committee of the Albany County Legislature as they finalized their budget […]

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Down is Up; Up is Down

November 29, 2011 Budget

A year ago, the Albany County Legislature’s Chairman of the Audit & Finance Committee, charged the Commissioner of Management & Budget (me) of artificially suppressing revenue estimates in order to create an argument supporting drastic cuts – that is the revenue numbers were too low. And so with that as backdrop, he and his co-conspirators […]

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Patient Patronage

November 23, 2011 Budget

Not generally recognized in the county nursing home business is a second form of political patronage, namely “patient patronage.” Sure County Legislators and other politicians call when they want a job for a friend, family, or constituent. No surprise there. This practice was pretty much suppressed in Albany County government for the first dozen years […]

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Don’t You Really Want to Reconsider? Big Mistake Averted at Least for the Time Being

November 17, 2011 County Government

Today, the Committee charged with reviewing applications for health facility construction projects for New York’s Public Health and Health Planning Committee took up Albany County’s certificate of need application to build a new nursing home. After considerable discussion and an emotional appeal by a patient’s family member and one County Legislator, the Committee voted to […]

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