Nursing home needs 3-month emergency funds

The John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility -- officially out of money since April 1 -- needs a $3.5 million to $4 million infusion to stay on life support for the next three months.

Aides to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and legislative budget analysts met last week to start hammering out a budget amendment to keep the 264-bed Yaphank nursing home operating until its ultimate fate is decided. But Levy aides want to fund the nursing home quarter by quarter, while some lawmakers want to fund it through year's end, which would cost $12 million.

The funding resolution is needed because Levy's budget, which called for a shutdown of the nursing home as of March 31, has been blocked by a series of court orders related to a lawsuit brought by several nursing home residents and an employee.

Since funding expired, Budget director Connie Corso said, the county has kept the nursing home open by internal budget transfers, using unexpended unemployment insurance, pay for unused vacation and sick time and funding from the lag payroll, which would be paid if nursing-home employees were laid off. However, she said those transfers will only last four to six weeks from April 1.

The new money became necessary after Levy's $36 million deal to sell the nursing home -- which finally won legislative approval March 3 after a three-year battle -- was upended earlier this month. Private operator Kenneth Rozenberg pulled out and now wants his $1.8 million deposit back.

Levy and lawmakers remain at odds over the nursing home's future after more than a century in operation. Levy wants to close the facility as soon as possible and county attorneys have pressed for a quick ruling in state Supreme Court to throw the suit out. Several lawmakers say they want the nursing home to remain in operation until new proposals can be solicited for a public-private partnership to run the complex.

Meanwhile, Paul Sabatino, an attorney for those bringing the lawsuit, said he expects the legal battle to continue at least into September and perhaps into next year.

Legis. Kate Browning (WFP-Shirley) said the county should continue funding until new proposals can be sought and evaluated. She said a public-private partnership could operate the nursing home and introduce specialized services such as dialysis, which could turn a profit.

"If we just close down we'd lose a lot of value," she said because the county would no longer be able to sell the nursing home license, which would revert to the state. "A public-private partnership would bring in new revenue, and public part could reach the people most in need, the ones private operators don't want."