Even as Gov. David Paterson plans on cutting $222,000 in funding for the Genesee County Nursing Home, the facility is likely to reap a $490,000 surplus over its projected 2010 budget.
The swing to the positive is the result of the federal government revising Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Thus, an increase of revenue totaling $714,566 will be transfered to the nursing home, according to Administrator John F. Demske.
Meanwhile, the county may also see an increase in IGT (Inter-Governmental Transfer) funding, which was anticipated to come in at $2.185 million.
"I expect that we'll get more than what we put in the budget for our IGT," Demske said. "I believe it may get up to almost $3 million."
That could be a problem for the county, because the county must match the federal IGT, providing about 30 percent of the overall IGT funds.
County Manager Jay Gsell told the committee that "it's a careful balance" to get the right amount of IGT funding and not put the whole county budget in the red.
After hearing the report during today's Human Services Committee meeting, County Legislature Chair Mary Pat Hancock said, "Good for you. Not terrific for us."
The county relies on IGT funds to meet the nursing home's operational expenses because revenue from patients -- both Medicaid funded and private patients -- tends to fall well short of the facility's needs.
In an e-mail conversation between The Batavian and Gsell recently, Gsell said the nursing home hasn't technically been profitable for years, relying as it does on IGT funding to close revenue gaps.
"In the true sense of an enterprise fund in municipal accounting, the Genesee County Nursing Home is not 'profitable.'" Gsell said. "It does not generate enough of its own revenue to meet all its expenses in any given budget year."
Demske said today the IGT funds are essential to operating the nursing home and were designed specifically to assist county-run nursing homes, which must deal with the high costs associated with a union labor force.
Late last year, county officials put out a bid proposal to explore options for dealing with rising costs of the nursing home, including the potential loss of IGT funding after 2012 and whether to sell the home to a private company or nonprofit corporation.
The county is now reviewing eight proposals from consultants and a committee will make a ranked recommendation to the Legislature, Gsell said.
Photo: John Demske gives his report today to the Human Services Committee on the state of the nursing home.
