Last-ditch try to save Valley View fails

Opponents say extra year of funding will blow county budget Goshen — The atmosphere was tense, bordering on explosive, as members of the public on Wednesday urged Orange County legislators to keep the county-owned Valley View nursing home open for one more year. They did not get their wish. The legislature failed to veto the county executive's budget, which means Valley View will close by July 1 unless a private buyer is found. The veto required a super-majority. Even at the last moment, it seemed the votes were there. But the final 13-8 tally failed to pass the resolution by 1 vote. Critics said the county's elderly were "being thrown under the bus" simply because they are an easy target. One speaker sarcastically commented, "It seems like we were here before. Oh, that's right, we were." The speaker was referring to last month's 19-2 vote to fund the facility for another year, which would be spent solving the nursing home's funding woes. The compromise was called the Depew plan, after legislator Dan Depew of Wallkill. He proposed that Valley View cut $3 million from its budget by reducing salaries and increasing employees' contribution to their health care benefits. But County Executive Ed Diana rejected the plan. One more year of funding will unbalance the budget and jeopardize the county's preferred triple AAA borrowing status, he said. He said the plan called for "unsound accounting practices." Finding the money Legislators in favor of maintaining Valley View called Diana's reasoning "hogwash." They said it was not a matter of money but of priorities, and insisted the money could easily be found elsewhere in the budget. "Line items are traded all the time," said Tom Pahucki of New Hampton. "It's what we do." Negotiations between the union and county executive were canceled last week. Union members said they had already found $3 million in cutbacks — but Diana cancelled the second negotiating session. Valley View employees warned about the "multiplier effect." If the facility closes, one speaker said, "jobs would be lost and added to unemployment lists, families will be disrupted and their employment endangered, homes could be lost, and their financial losses will impact county income in a geometrically increasing spiral." All legislators representing Chester and Goshen supported an extra year of funding, including Pahucki, Katie Bonelli of Blooming Grove, Kevin Hines of Cornwall, and Daniel Castricone of Tuxedo. Michael R. Pillmeier of Florida, the legislature's chair, and Michael Amo of Central Valley were among the lawmakers who opposed funding. Those who want to close Valley View say it loses money every year. Other counties have already either closed or privatized their facilities, they said. Amo said no one would be put out on the streets, and that no facility can refuse a Medicaid patient. "If a patient can't get into a different facility because they are on Medicaid, maybe you need to call an 800 number," he said. Power and priorities questioned Supporters of funding objected not only to the closing of the nursing home but to the county executive's power and priorities. "Welcome to the Kingdom of Ed," Pahucki said. "We have an astounding assortment in this room of talent and background to sort this out...Certainly we should consider the CGE consultant study's recommendations, which by the way we paid $18,000 for." Legislator Roxanne Donnery of Highland Falls agreed there was plenty of money, much of which comes from Woodbury Commons, in her district. "It's a big cash cow that the people suffer for, but they expect services in return for it," she said. She said she was "sick and tired of the county executive's 'my way or the highway' attitude." "I can be in BJ's or a mall," she said, and people will come up to her to talk about Valley View. They ask her, "What water is he [Diana] drinking?" she said. "Never have I seen such issues of power and control." Legislator Chris Eachus of New Windsor, choked by emotion, asked why there was such a clamor over a shortfall when the county records show a surplus of $25.9 million for 2011, and Diana is making plans for an elaborate new government center. Legislator Anagnostakes of Montgomery, a spending conservative who usually talks about numbers, supported the extra year of funding. But on Wednesday he said, "The number I'd like you to think of today is 1831," the year Valley View opened. "It has probably served 150,000 residents as well as one million of their extended family."