Supporters of the county keeping ownership of the money-losing nursing home say a company hired to manage it has significantly improved administration of the facility to where it's on-track to reach the "break-even point." Supporters also are concerned about the potential jobs lost and have talked about the county's responsibility to take care of its seniors.
In a perfect world where the economy is humming and government budgets and taxpayers aren't being squeezed, it may be worth the gamble to see if the new management can put the nursing home's fiscal house in order and stop the financial bleeding. Progress has been made.
But rosy financial forecasts can't erase recent history, such as the Manor costing county taxpayers $2.5 million last year alone. The county is still facing a $1.6 million shortfall in the 2011 budget, and as many as 106 workers could still be laid off, 55 of them from the Manor, if unions don't offer further financial concessions.
Given all this, we say sell the Cumberland Manor. If sold, the nursing home could bring in as much as $15 million -- not only erasing any budget deficit but also guaranteeing the facility won't be a financial drain in the future.
We don't advocate closing the facility because the Manor does provide critical services in the county. Transferring ownership over to the Cumberland County Improvement Authority would be a better option than that, even though we question whether the county should be involved in the nursing-home business at all.
For those concerned about the loss of jobs at the Manor, any sale agreement could include a provision that services provided had to at least be maintained at current levels. Besides, if the status quo is maintained and nothing is done with the facility, as many as 55 workers at the Manor could still lose their jobs to close the projected budget gap.
Which brings us back to the unions. They have consistently failed to face economic reality and have refused to make few meaningful concessions, if any, over the past few years to ease the county's financial woes. We agree with the freeholders that the offer by United Auto Workers Local 2327 to give back 1.5 percent of member salaries (saving as much as $340,000) toward the cost of their health insurance premiums isn't nearly enough.
If the UAW agrees to more concessions, perhaps county layoffs can be avoided. But this financial truth cannot be avoided: It's best to sell the Cumberland Manor now for taxpayers' sake.
Source http://www.thedailyjournal.com/
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