COOPERSTOWN _ The idea of selling Otsego Manor, Otsego County's nursing home, was discussed briefly at Wednesday's county board meeting.
The subject arose after Rep. Donald Lindberg, R-Worcester, apprised board members on the facility's complicated finances.
Lindberg, who chairs the Otsego Manor Committee, said the nursing home's balance sheet looks better than it really is. When the numbers are traced carefully, and fringe benefits for employees as well as capital costs are added, it appears the Manor costs about $2 million a year in county funds to operate, he said.
When the facility was built about five years ago, the county borrowed about $2 million more than was needed for the project.
``That money was put in a fund, and we've been using about a half million a year to keep our local share down,'' said Lindberg. ``The problem is, it's running out.''
When the fund is dry, more of the local share of Manor costs will have to come from tax revenues, he warned.
Rep. Sam Dubben, R-Middlefield, asked if the state still owes the county another $2 million to help operate the facility.
``Yes, but they've been saying that for years and who knows if we're going to get it,'' Lindberg said.
When the state allocates money for nursing homes, it sometimes rearranges finances in other ways that end up costing the county more, he noted.
At this point, Rep. Richard Murphy, D-Oneonta, asked, ``This begs the question of when do we reach a point where we seek input on privatizing the Manor.
``I'm a big supporter of Otsego Manor," Murphy continued, "but I wonder when we have to go forward and send out RFPs to see what our options are.''
``If we got out tomorrow, we'd still be paying forever,'' Lindberg said.
In other business, the board:
ä Heard from Rep. James Johnson, R-Otsego, that the county has cut the 2009 budget by about $900,000. Johnson, who chairs the county's Administration Committee, said he expects further cuts as the county contends with depressed revenues of sales tax and occupancy tax.
``Our goal is $1.5 million (in cuts),'' he said.
ä Heard from Rep. Greg Relic, R-Unadilla, chairman of the county's Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee, that the Federal Communications Commission wants the county to use a different bandwidth for its microwave communications.
Right now, the county's system uses 2.1 gigahertz, he said. Using a higher bandwidth may bring clearer communications, but will require more towers to be built because the signal will not carry as far.
Rep. Keith McCarty, R-Springfield, said fire companies and emergency services providers will not want to buy new equipment to use the new channel.
Relic said it may not be necessary.
``Our goal is to keep it from being a wholesale swap-out,'' he said, and county consultants are working on the problem.
ä A study that will allow for improving the flow of water from Canadarago Lake is proceeding well, according to Rep. Sam Dubben, chairman of the county's Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee.
``It should be pretty much complete by the end of the summer,'' he said.
Rep. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford, noted that the county's picnic for senior citizens will be held July 16 at Glimmerglass State Park.
At the end of the meeting, James Powers, board chairman, thanked department heads for their cooperation in cutting their budgets.
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