Rockland health unit's closing will cut 96 jobs

• Rockland tells 96 in-patient mental health care workers they've lost their jobs
• Notices come on same day Summit Park sale was to be announced
• CSEA union, Monsey-based Northern Services Group file lawsuits to nullify actions and prevent sale
• County officials say they're reviewing lawsuits and their implications, confident in LDC's actions

NEW CITY – Rockland County notified 96 employees Friday that their jobs will be terminated as of April 19 as it shuts down its mental health in-patient unit, a spokesman for the County Executive's Office said.

Three meetings were held with three groups of workers who were given final notification, spokesman Scott Salotto said. They received information about their civil service rights, retirement options, health insurance impacts and other details.

The cuts affect 135 workers because some employees with seniority can bump other workers. The 39 employees who will continue to work for the county will be placed in other mental health department jobs or, in most cases, in open jobs in other departments, Salotto said.

He said the county worked to keep as many employees on the job as possible and checked whether any were qualified to fill any of the open jobs.

Billy Riccaldo, president of the Southern Region of the Civil Service Employees Association, said the union appreciated County Executive Ed Day's efforts to keep people working.

County employees, he said, worked hard over many years to build safety net resources like the mental health care unit for Rockland residents.

"Because of years of irresponsible management and a failure of checks and balances in our county government, people in need are going to slip through the cracks," Riccaldo said.

The termination notices came the same day Rockland County Health Facilities Corp. planned to announce the buyer of Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center, a transaction that could see another 400 county workers lose their jobs. The matter was deferred.

The county created the local development corporation to oversee the sale of the nursing home, then transferred ownership of the nursing home to the LDC. It later transferred ownership of the long-term acute care hospital, called the LTACH.

The CSEA and Northern Group, a company interested in buying the nursing home, each filed lawsuits Thursday asking the state Supreme Court to nullify actions by the county and the LDC and prevent any sale. One other company submitted a bid for the nursing home while two others each sought to buy the entire facility.

Burt Dorfman, attorney for Northern Group, said the LDC returned his client's $150,000 deposit check March 6. He said the process went wrong once the LTACH also was put on the auction block.

"This is about the abuse of the use of the legislative purpose of a local development corporation," Dorfman said.

The nursing home is losing money and that will force the county to close or sell it, so putting it up for purchase fits with state legislation requiring certain public purposes and benefits when creating an LDC, he said.

The same cannot be said for the LTACH, which made more than $7 million in profit in 2012, Dorfman said. It is one of four such hospitals in the state and gets higher reimbursement rates as a result, making the LTACH license valuable.

"This was strictly a play to reduce the county's deficit," Dorfman said.

Rockland is looking to sell its nursing home as operating expenses rise and changes in state and federal reimbursements and the health care industry itself make it more difficult for a government-run facility to break even.

The county has a state-certified deficit of $125.6 million and has been named the most fiscally stressed county in New York by the state Comptroller's Office. It plans to use proceeds from the Summit Park sale to help address the deficit.

The CSEA lawsuit also alleges improper actions by the county and the LDC, including the County Legislature's failure to determine that Summit Park was not needed before it transferred it to the LDC. It contends the requirements put forth in the bid proposal itself show the facility is needed, both for space for other county departments and because it requires the facility's new owners to operate it at the same or similar level over future years.

Day and Legislature Chairman Alden Wolfe issued a joint statement Friday: "The sale of Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center remains integral to stabilizing Rockland County's fiscal condition. We are currently reviewing the lawsuits and their implications. We have every confidence in the LDC and its process to identify the best provider for our patients, to secure the best deal for employees and to protect our taxpayers."

Twitter: @LauraLoHud