Republican call to sell Salem County Nursing Home
tabled by freeholders
Published: Friday, February 18, 2011, 1:13 PM
Updated: Friday, February 18, 2011, 3:41 PM
By
Phil Dunn / Today's
Sunbeam
A call by a Republican Salem County Freeholder Dale
Cross to sell the Salem County Nursing Home was
tabled at this week's freeholder meeting.
SALEM
— An attempt by Republican Freeholder Dale Cross to
initiate the sale of the Salem County Nursing Home
was tabled here on vote split between party lines by
the freeholder board this week.
Cross cited increasing debt and what he claimed is
wasteful spending as the rationale behind his push
to sell the nursing home.
“Since the Improvement Authority took over operation
of the facility in 2008, their brief history shows
deficits of $1.1 million, $3.075 million, $2.8
million respectively,” said Cross.
Cross said Salem County also allocated $3.4 million
to help defray the cost of the nursing home during
their first year in operation.
“The total reaches nearly $10.375 in a two and half
year period,” he said at this week’s freeholder
meeting at the Old Courthouse.
Chairman of the Salem County Improvement Authority
Michael Burke disagreed with the numbers presented
by Cross. He said more realistically debt has
totaled $7 million not $10 million.
Other than monetary issues, Cross said more needs to
be done to increase efficiency at the facility in
Mannington Township.
“Despite varied efforts the nursing home continues
to operate at 80 to 85 percent capacity,” said
Cross, a Republican. “We need to choose the best
option for Salem County.”
Freeholder Bruce Bobbitt was upset by the motion
made to sell the nursing home. He said there is no
need for the freeholder board to intervene, because
SCIA has taken the necessary steps to investigate
the future of the nursing home.
“That nursing home has run in a deficit for many
years,” said Bobbitt, a Democrat. “The Improvement
Authority has been working to make changes and the
top brass out there has adopted a two-pronged
approach.”
The two consultant firms were brought in to
investigate the viability of keeping the nursing
home open or selling it.
At the meeting Cross said this was throwing away
good money, but Burke said by phone Thursday that
they have not spent any money on the consultants
yet.
“This process has been going on for about three
months, so there is no secret that we brought on two
consultants,” said Burke. “But to date we have not
paid either one a single cent for their work.”
Burke said in light of the union’s unwillingness to
take concessions, the SCIA board has decided to hold
off on any further direction from the consultant who
is looking into keeping the nursing home.
“As far as the move to privatize or sell the nursing
home, we have not paid anything,” said Burke. “The
real estate consultant will be paid off the
commission from the sale of the facility.”
Freeholder Julie Acton said the sale is needed to
stop unnecessary spending of taxpayer money.
“When we transferred over the nursing home, the plan
was to break even or increase our revenue,” said
Acton. “But because the finances at the home have
significantly worsen, I think it would be better if
we sold the nursing home.”
The freeholder board transferred the home to the
Salem County Improvement Authority which also
operates the Salem County Landfill in Alloway
Township.
Amongst the political bickering at this week’s
meeting, Freeholder Beth Timberman offered a voice
of reason between the parties. She urged the board
to concentrate not on the building itself, but the
people inside it.
“You have to be concerned with what happens to our
most vulnerable population,” said Timberman. “What
are we going to do when residents have nowhere to
go, when other nursing homes won’t take them?”
Cross showed concern about the employees who have
been left in limbo on whether their job will be
viable in the coming weeks. He urged the freeholders
to approve the sale of the nursing home at the
earliest practical opportunity.
“As you can see the Improvement Authority has been
at the helm of this out-of-control vehicle and it
needs to come to an end, sooner rather than later,”
Cross said.
Burke did not understand why all of a sudden Cross
wanted to rush the issue.
Salem County Administrator/Clerk of the Board Earl
Gage said the process to sell the nursing is a
delicate one.
“We aren’t selling a used car here,” said Gage.
“This is a multi-million dollar facility with over
100 employees and 85 residents.”
Burke said the sale must be done through a bid
package and that the county’s license from the state
to operate the home must be transferred to the new
buyer, which can take anywhere from four to 12
months.
“By the end of this week we should have the
documents together to send out the first bid
package,” said Burke. “We have already been
contacted by five or six companies just in New
Jersey alone.”
Burke said right now the consultants have put a
price mark of $7.5 million to purchase the nursing
home.
SCIA would use the money from the sale to replace
the surplus at the landfill which has been used to
subsidize the nursing home operations and then the
rest would go into the county surplus.
CROSS
