From: Robin Vaccai Yess, CFP [mailto:ryess@hvi.net]
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 4:24 PM
To: Bob Aiello; Brian Shapiro; Carl Belfiglio; Cathy Terrizzi; Dave
Donaldson; Dean Fabiano; Don Gregorious; Frank Felicello; Fred Wadnola;
Hector Rodriguez; Jack Hayes; Jeanette M. Provenzano; Jim Maloney; Ken Ronk
Jr.; Kevin Roberts; Laura Petit; Mary Beth Maio; Mary Sheeley; Michael
Sweeney; Mike Madsen; Paul Hansut; Peter Loughran; Rich Gerentine; Rich
Parete; Rob Parete; Roy Hochberg; Susan Zimet; T J Briggs; Terry Bernardo;
Walter Frey; Wayne Harris
Cc: 'news@midhudsonnews.com'; 'Paula Sirc'; 'paula@gunkjournal.com'; Adam
Bosch; Craig McKinney; 'markreynolds@optonline.net'; 'theresa keegan'; 'Hugh
Reynolds'; 'pdoxsey@freemanonline.com'; 'Pamela O'Dell'; 'Mitchell'; Raquel
Okyay; 'kbin@co.ulster.ny.us'
Subject: Today's Freeman Story
TO: Members of the Ulster County Legislature
Good afternoon. I am contacting you as an Ulster County resident and member
of the general public. I read with interest today's Freeman article that
indicates a mix of Legislators — both Republicans and Democrats — support
keeping Golden Hill under county control. If the Freeman's informal poll
surveyed 31 out of 33 of you, and got 16 yeses and 2 can't be reached for
comments, that means the other 15 of you must be solid noes. For that I am
grateful and hopeful.
Two interesting things to note — first, attached is a comparison from
Medicare.gov which includes the seven nursing homes in Ulster County. In the
overall rating, the top three slots are held by privately owned nursing
homes with Ten Broeck Commons in first place, Mountain View Nursing Home in
second place and Woodland Pond in third place. Golden Hill is actually tied
for fourth place with the other three including Hudson Valley Rehab,
Northeast Center for Special Care and Wingate at Ulster. So if the argument
in favor of the county remaining in the health care business is that the
care provided and the staff at Golden Hill are better than at other nursing
homes, why isn't Golden Hill ranked in first place? The report, which you
can run for yourself at medicare.gov is attached here.
Next and interesting to note is the article on the front page of today's
Poughkeepsie Journal regarding the anticipated rise in pension costs that
will continue to be passed on to local governments over the next few years.
Put simply, the more local government employees we have, the more money we
must put toward pension contributions. If you're really interested in what lies ahead for local governments due to our pension problem, please read
this.
I hope all of you who want to continue with a county-run nursing home will
be prepared to show the residents of Ulster County what programs you will be
cutting so that you can keep us in the nursing home business. And I also
hope that all of you will proudly stand up to vote in favor of the bonding
that will be required to build or renovate this facility. Contrary to all
the fluff and hype about reimbursement from the State, I am doubtful NYS
will guarantee reimbursement of any dollar amount of construction or
renovation costs given the sad state of NY's finances. If you're so
confident they will cover our costs or most of them, then please show it to
me in writing. If you don't have it yet, please call our two Senators and
our four Assemblymen and ask them to get NYS's financial commitment to the
GHHC project to you in writing as soon as possible and certainly before the
vote. If you don't have it and they don't provide it and you proceed with
this plan to build new, please be ready to explain why you think bonding is
good for us, how much it's going to cost the people of Ulster County each
year for however long that may be and how borrowing impacts our future
operations and needs.
In my business, as in the legal field, disclosing conflicts of interest is
required. For you, even if the guidelines for disclosure may be vague, they
should be volunteered using good judgment. For example, if you have a
spouse, immediate family member or significant other who is employed at
Golden Hill, you should disclose this fact. If you happen to have an
immediate family member who is a resident at Golden Hill, you should
disclose this fact. These conflicts, which I know exist with several
legislators, should be disclosed to your constituents, or for obvious
reasons, your vote may deemed to be biased.
I will encourage members of the press to start work on the next survey of
the Ulster County Legislature — will you vote in favor of more debt for
Ulster County to build/renovate a county-run nursing home?
And can someone please show me where in the Ulster County Charter is the
language regarding the "moral obligation" of government? I am anxious to
read that section.
Thank you for your consideration and enjoy the rest of your day.
Robin Vaccai Yess, CFP
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