Foley home one of Suffolk's burning issues

In today's final meeting of 2010, the Suffolk County Legislature has a lot of major unfinished business.

First, it has what could be its last real chance to keep the county nursing home open, by selling it. There's also an urgent need to ratify a plan to house homeless sex offenders. And then there's expansion of bus service to include Sundays, a service especially important to those in low-income jobs.

The debate over the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank has raged for months. County Executive Steve Levy wants to save the annual costs of running it and sell it for $36 million to a private operator. The legislature is resisting the sale and exploring other options, but Levy is poised to close Foley and sell its license and the physical plant. Closing it makes far less sense than selling it and keeping it open.

If the legislature doesn't agree to the sale by Dec. 31, either the buyer or the county can back out of it. A sale could still occur after that, but the closer we get to the scheduled March 31 closing date, the less likely it is. So today's the day.

The Foley issue affects about 500 workers and residents. The homeless sex-offenders debate usually involves fewer than 30, but it too has gone on forever.

By state law, the county's Department of Social Services has to provide emergency housing for the homeless, even sex offenders. One solution was trailers. The legislators didn't like them. They also rejected giving vouchers to offenders and letting them find their own housing, as Nassau does. So the legislature ordered Social Services to come up with a plan for locating offenders in mini-shelters in industrial areas, and a provider called Community Housing Initiatives drew one up.

Given the heated debate to now, CHI is reluctant to go forward unless the legislature votes to let the agency sign a contract with it. There's some fear that Levy might veto that legislation, because he still favors the voucher system. But the legislature should pass the bill. Then we can move toward site selection. We need some finality on this issue.

The legislature also has a chance to improve Suffolk's bus service, which doesn't run on Sunday. That leaves low-wage workers, many in the health care industry, with no other choice but to take a cab to work. So there's broad agreement on the need for Sunday service.

Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk) proposes to take a first step by increasing the fare for everyone from $1.50 to $2, to fund a pilot project of Sunday service on about a dozen of the routes that serve the most low-income riders. The Welfare to Work Commission, a watchdog for the poor, struggled with the fare increase, but supports the pilot project. Levy and Schneiderman disagree on the ultimate cost, including transport for the disabled, but agree on Sunday service.

On balance, the need is too clear to ignore. The pilot is worth a try. hN