KINGSTON – Ulster County Executive Michael Hein fired the proverbial shot across the bow last week in a hastily-arranged press conference when he revealed plans to privatize the Golden Hill Heath Care Center in his proposed 2012 budget.

Hein said his $357 million budget was created in a financial environment unlike any in Ulster County's history and in "the aftermath of our worst natural disaster." He also said his budget, with a 2.49 percent property tax levy, meets the tax cap demands imposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The county exec said his detailed plan will transform county government and make it more sustainable. His response to the "new financial paradigm" is to make necessary governmental changes, chief among which is to "restructure" the ownership of Golden Hill. Though the debate over Golden Hill has focused on whether or not to privatize the nursing home, Hein said his administration is "fighting to keep Golden Hill open."

"The reality is, with growing fiscal problems, infrastructure issues and legislative inaction, we are now at the point where, if a solution is not implemented quickly, the discussion will no longer be about public or private," he said, "but about open or closed."

Outlined in his budget proposal were plans that he said included innovative ways of looking at issues like the county-run nursing home. Noting that the county-run nursing home represents only a fraction of the beds — 280 of the 1099 nursing home beds located in the county — Hein said Golden Hill is the only facility that Ulster County taxpayers pay for twice. Every nursing home in the county, including Golden Hill, receives taxpayer funding through Medicaid; however, only Golden Hill is additionally subsidized through county funds.

In order for the county to keep the 280 nursing home beds in the county, Hein suggested forming a LDC, or Local Development Corporation — a not-for-profit agency that would take ownership of the facility and lease it back to the county to operate. He also cited the need for more skilled nursing home beds in Ellenville and released a copy of his recent letter to the state Department of Health requesting an increase in county nursing home beds.

Noting that the "emotionally-charged debate" has often been misrepresented "as some sort of litmus test" on whether elected officials care about seniors, Hein dismissed the arguments as inaccurate, irresponsible and the reason "political gridlock has surrounded this issue for years."

The county legislature has been studying solutions for the nursing home for almost a decade. A 2006-2008 blue-ribbon commission, chaired by Legislator Robert Parete, D-Stone Ridge, recommended implementing an eight-point plan that included, among other ideas for coordinating home healthcare services, transforming Golden Hill into a clinical direct-care nursing facility. The commission also found that the southwestern and southern parts of the county were underserved in terms of nursing home care and recommended a satellite facility in the Ellenville-Shawangunk area.

However, the legislature failed to adopt the recommendations of the blue-ribbon commission, and, in 2010, after a legionella outbreak killed two residents in the nursing facility, the legislature formed a task force to recommend another solution for the 40-year-old facility.

Chaired by Legislator Walter Frey, R-Saugerties, the Golden Hill Task Force presented nine options to the legislature for consideration, which included renovating the facility to accommodate 280 beds at a cost of $84.1 million; building a new 280-bed facility at a projected cost of $71.3 million; selling off the bed licenses to privatize the nursing home.

Again, the legislature could not reach consensus on the matter.

Hein said costs for the county nursing home have skyrocketed and projects operating losses for the next five years.

The county exec cited what he called the "same long list of challenges" that all New York counties must meet, including: employee pension costs that have increased by "almost 3,700 percent" since 2001, annual healthcare costs of more than $25 million, DSS cost increases of $6.3 million, which raises the county's share to more than $49 million, annually, and state and federal mandates that, combined, comprise 70 percent of the county's budget.

After a contentious vote during last month's legislative session, the legislature stands poised next week to vote on a resolution that will bond $18 million in 2012 for renovations to the nursing home. On Tuesday, the Public Works and Capital Projects Committee agreed, in a 5-2 vote, to move forward with a $45 million capital project to upgrade and renovate the facility.

Hein promised to veto any resolution that would put the county's budget over the two percent tax cap.

The county executive called the issues facing the county "unprecedented" and demanded "that County leaders prepare to make profound changes."

The 2012 budget also proposes eliminating the county's Consumer Fraud Bureau and chemical dependency services, which are offered through Mental Health; in total, 14 positions will be eliminated, seven vacancies and seven filled positions.