EDITORIAL: A crucial vote in Suffolk over sale of nursing facility

It's possible to argue forever over the sale of the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank - and it feels as if that argument has been raging since, oh, the discovery of fire. But next week, the Suffolk County Legislature has a chance to decide. It should choose based on the substance, not on its sour relationship with the county executive.There are compelling fiscal reasons for the county to exit the nursing home business - so long as fair and adequate provision is made for the facility's patients and staff. But it's also clear that selling a county facility is a one-shot revenue, which is not the most desirable budgetary practice.

County Executive Steve Levy says the sale will bring a cash infusion to help fill a gap in the forthcoming 2011 county budget. He also wants to save on annual operating costs. But his estimates of both the one-time cash benefit and the annual savings have been high. Still, the legislature's budget review staff has now found that the sale would more than meet the county administrative code's requirement of at least a 10 percent annual savings in the first five years after privatization.

Lawmakers felt Levy had made the hiring of more cops conditional on the sale of Foley, and they didn't like that, or his hard-charging style. But they should put that aside and focus on the patients, the staff, the hard fiscal realities, the law, the reliability of the purchaser, and the key issue of whether the county should exit this business. hN