UPDATE: I failed to point out that Legislator Robert Parete did submit a plan for Golden Hill and long term care. The Parete plan would reduce taxpayer subsidy and enhance long term programs like home health care services, meals on wheels, assisted living ect. Again not every legislator has held this up but what Hein has done has forced the entire legislature now to make a decision.
County Executive Mike Hein did something 33 other elected officials in this county have failed to do for almost a year..he made a decision on the fate of Golden Hill. I disagree with the County Executive, I strongly believe that Golden Hill needs to be kept as a county run facility but with that being said those quick to point fingers at Hein as the bad guy are mistaken.
For almost a year there has been a debate about what to do with Golden Hill. There have been talks about privatization, restoring the current facility, building a second facility, building two new facilities and nothing has been done. My mother is a resident of Golden Hill, I have been to countless meetings with her and it's always a run around from committee members and a complete waste of time.
While I think County Executive Hein has been clear from day one about his concerns as to whether or not the county can sustain the cost of the facility, he has also been clear throughout this entire process that this is a policy decision that the legislature needs to make. Executive Hein and the public have been very patient for the legislature to make that decision.
However there comes a point where enough is enough. The legislature just does not get it, they are so disconnected from the public and think they can sit on an issue until after the election or as long as they can hold out and hope no one will call them out on it. That was the way government operated for decades in Ulster County, until 2009 when our charter changed and when Mike Hein became our Executive. The days of pulling the wool over the eyes of the residents in this county is over.
Mike Hein said it best: GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO CHANGE. You can't have it both ways, you can't sit on an issue and keep delaying it and delaying it and than cry when the tough decisions need to be made. Hein gave the legislature more than enough time to make a decision on what to do with Golden Hill and when they failed to act, he made it for them. The legislature now hypocritically is attacking Hein for not allowing them to make the decision...Are you kidding me?? Maybe they would of gotten around to it in 2015.
Not every legislator has tried to stall the process, there have been legislators that have been pro Golden Hill from day on, like Jeanettee Provanzano, Carl Bafiglio, Mike Madsen, Fred Wadnola, Frank Fellicello and Dave Donaldson. There have been also been legislators that have come out in favor of privatization like Ken Ronk, Wayne Harris, and Jack Hayes. At least these legislators (and this is not a full list) have taken a position.
A lot of legislators however have come up with excuses and unrealistic road blocks that need to be moved before they can vote one way or another. These legislators care more about self preservation and fear of losing an election than they do about Golden Hill or county residents. Mike Hein is not the enemy, he is a reformer of county government.
Mike Hein has now forced the legislature to act on this matter, while Hein has stated he will veto any plan that does not include the sale of Golden Hill in the budget, the legislature can override that veto. The legislature can finally step up and show the public what they are made of, like Jeanette Provanzano tried very hard to do last month and deserves a lot of credit for her hard work.
If you want to sell Golden Hill than stand up and look into the voters eyes and tell them that by voting for the budget as proposed. My personal hope is the legislature will work together in a bipartisan manner and adopt their own budget that does not include the sale of Golden Hill, the legislature as a whole is as powerful as the executive and if enough of the legislative members are united not even the Executive's veto can stop them. Enough with the delay tactics, and misinformation; it's decision time.
27 comments:
Hey let the development corp do the needed work on the place first. Then retake the facility. The county can't afford the 18 mil.
If Hein was a Republican (still), you'd be pounding the hell out of him over this decision.
How do you fault somebody for making the hard decisions? If you don't like it, change it.
Mr. Hein should hire you as the assistant to the assistant to J.J. Hansen, you almost have me believing Hein is a reformer of county government. yuck.
Maybe you just didn't realize who works for who. When you create a game plan that's disseminated from the top down you need to follow it through to the street level. Sacrifices are being made to effect change. Certain targets are more effective at an emotional level. Don't worry, if you're reading this blog you not the intended victims. No actual seniors or drug addicts will be harmed in this exercise. Psychological war games sometimes fool more people than they were intended to. Relax and watch what happens.
Who protects the Seniors? We can not expect the Legislature or the Executives office to. Once they wash their hands of it, it is over to them.
What about the RRA? We can spend money on garbage, but not our seniors.
That ladies and gentleman, is the difference between a true Democrat and a true Republican. You decide which one Hein is.
He has to do what he has to do, and that is what he has to do. So everyone just get over it.
While I agree with much of what JB has said regarding the legislature and Hein I think a lot of the procrstination is in a large part due to the upcoming election. with the reduction of seats to 23 many legislators face already serious challenges, (a good thing), and would rather not make Golden Hill an election issue by voting on it after Nov. 8. Not a good thing when you consider that the only fiscally prudent vote to cast is for privatization. The county cannot afford another $100 million fiasco on the heels of the jail debacle, nor should the county be in the healthcare business especially with all the uncertainty surrounding Obamacare. Then there is the maintenance issue and the unsustainable union contracts, Hein for once is thinking of the big picture, legislators are thinking about their friends and relatives employed at Golden Hill and the import their vote will have on their own future.
Privatization may not be a desireable outcome for those working at Golden Hll but there are many thousands of taxpayers in the county who can ill afford any other decision.
I do agree this was a smart choice made by Hein.
However, you can't say with a straight face government must change while keeping such a large staff at the top of the administration.
Putting taxpayers first means cutting the dream team on Fair Street.
Isn't this place a rundown dump that probably would cost more to dispose of than it would sell for? Could anyone sell it?
$48,000,000 boondoggle? Wow that's a hell of a number for these tax and spend republicans. Whose parents are in there? That seems to be just a little too generous with other peoples' money. These republicans really need to go. We need fiscal responsibility and every republican that gets in just pisses away money like there's no tomorrow. How much more money are we going to let these people pickpocket the taxpayers for? Is there a local tax to offset all this out of control spending? A millionaires tax in Ulster County?
If the old jail couldn't be sold,what makes everyone think that Golden Hill can be sold so quick? I doubt it will,and we will see. It's in Gods' hands,and all those residents are counting on him to come through for them.AMEN
Just imaging if we had a leader that could get the county out of the garbage business and the health care business?
That way private sector jobs could be created, taxes could be collected and the county payroll and enpenses could be decreased.
Why do we need govenrment to operate what should be private sector businesses?
Let the county focus on saving money to assure we can afford to pay the bills for the seniors when they enter a facility, and leave the rent and payrolls to a private company, thats a win win situation.
Time to invest in private business, and not more failed government practices
here here 10:50 Spoken with a level of sanity not seen in the legislature or Executive since the dawn of the dinosaur, or is that Rhinosaur, The county has no business in healthcare and we could use the garbage collection to take the glass menagerie and all elected officials therein down river!
Lets get the list of legislators with relatives in Golden Hill. Come on folks I'll start with Jim Maloney and I know Wadnola had someone. Jeremy give us the whole list
I tend to agree with 10;50am.I find the private sector employs on the basis of what you know and what you can do.
Government, however, seems to hire based on who you know and what can you get away with....smitty
It is not the building that has the worth, it is the license for the beds.
All these unnecessary services bankrupting the taxpayers while I have an illegal apartment building owned by illegal aliens across the street that doesn't exist on the county tax rolls.How is that good fiscal management?
Where's the coverage of the Freeman story on Sennett? Carnright made stunning admissions of mismanagement of his office. Also a mhnn article today had an outright threat by Carnright at Auerbach.
"Just another department head" is how he sees his responsibility? Matthews just asks "gimme five grand" and Carnright forks over taxpayer money no questions asked? This has got to be one of the most outrageous aspects of this investigation. The taxpayers are supposed to let this malfeasance continue? Who's watching the cash register here?
Now the record just reported that Carnright illegally withheld information from Auerbach citing nonexistent laws.
Hey, Whatever happened to the matthews case and why is it taking so long to convict him.
The notion that Golden Hill is a money pit, responsible for raising taxes in Ulster County is preposterous! Golden Hill is the only county department that's an enterprise fund, meaning that it's budget is competely seperate from the County budget. Medicaid, Medicare and private pay cover the nearly $30 million budget which includes all expenses, salaries and benefits. The only support from the county is by way of the subsidy, which in recent years has averaged between $1 and $3 million (out of a total county budget in excess of $300 million). In fact, as recently as 2009 there was no subsidy required from the county at all! In terms of the rebuild/renovation costs, they will be reimbursed 70% - 90% by the state. If you have ever visited Golden Hill, then you know that it is not a "rundown dump." The building is clean and appears in good repair. In fact, most of the residents, staff and those connected with Golden Hill will tell you that they would be happy to keep the building just as it is. All they want is for the county to continue owning and operating the facility, so they can keep providing quality care to the elderly and disabled who are unable to care for themselves.
Privitization in healthcare is an absurdity. It is all government funded.Medicare,medicaid,subsidies to ins. co.,all tax dollars.If the exec. cannot make the return reasonable he should admit his inability and hire someone who can.Government should provide directly to the needs of the people.We should not build facilities and sell them to anyone so they can turn a profit. If we wish to privatize we should have done so with the jail before renovation.The facility generates no positive return and is a monument to further government incompetence.So as an attempt is made to reduce time of incarceration and numbers of inmates and there is a need to increase facilities such as Golden Hill we build a new jail and sell Golden Hill.
11:49 obviously no one is watching the register. Wadnola is a sleep, hansut is a sleep Hein is worried about his next press release. Party leadership has no clue except the little guy who thinks he is running the show and if thats the case he is doing a piss poor job
4:58 & 5:23pm
DO you think the Federal & State Governments are going to pick up the tab for renovation or replacement, THEY ARE NOT, and if you remember the Jail fiasco, that in itself is enough reason for the COunty to abandon such a frivilous venture at the expense of the taxpayer.
Moreover, with the advent of Obamacare, healt care costs are going to skyrocket and the burden will fall once again on the taxpayer. The union contracts are no longer sustainable and the county will be picking up the additional costs to fund their benefit pkgs which will also increase the county subsidy, not to mention the fact that the State and Federal govts will be cutting their contributions as well. I rarely agree with Robin Yess and never agree with Hein however, the 5 private long term care facilities are all run very well so is GH but no matter what the county doesn't belong in the health care business, not in this economy.
Germandered Donaldson, Loughran and Provenzano the cronies that neglected planning for maintaining Golden Hill, stuffed the Jail and UCRRA with cronies - not many changes coming, sorry.
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