Levy calls for meeting on nursing home

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy called Thursday for a special legislative meeting next week in a last-ditch bid to resurrect the $36 million deal to sell the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank rather than shutting it down.

Levy said he hopes lawmakers on Tuesday will reconsider the sale to private nursing home operator Kenneth Rozenberg because it would avoid having to move patients out and preserve the jobs of many of the county workers at the 264-bed complex. Levy said the meeting may have to be delayed until Thursday because several lawmakers are away.

"If there is no sale and a lawsuit forces us to keep the home open without funding, I may well have to submit a bill to the legislature that lays off 1,000 people," Levy said. His 2011 budget ends funding for the nursing home as of March 31.

Levy laid off the first 16 of 240 nursing home workers Sunday. But shutdown foes - three nursing home residents and one worker - went to the Appellate Division Tuesday and for the fourth time got a temporary order blocking additional steps toward closing. Both sides are to file court papers by Friday.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) said he is not sure where lawmakers stand on the sale. "I don't even know where I am on the issue," said Lindsay, who said that Levy's latest proposal will be discussed at the Democratic caucus Friday. He said a compromise now appears unlikely, and if appellate judges rule against continuing the stay, "there may be no choice but to go along with the sale."

The Suffolk Legislature overwhelmingly rejected the $36 million deal late last year. Levy tried unsuccessfully to revive the sale idea in legislative caucuses last month. Meanwhile, the legislature voted late last month to join the lawsuit to stop the shutdown. Levy said if the sale does not go through this time he will return Rozenberg's $2 million deposit immediately.

Levy said he is looking to revive the sale in light of last week's "strong worded" state Supreme Court decision - temporarily upended by the Appellate Division - allowing him to move ahead with a shutdown.

He also said several lawmakers indicated they might change their minds once the state Department of Health approves the county's plan for closing the nursing home.

But Anton Borovina, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, expressed confidence that appellate judges will decide that Levy violated county law requiring the Legislature to approve any sale or closing before the county executive can include the revenue in the county budget.