Efficient county spending, more options for affordable housing and a closer look at the costs of Van Duyn nursing home are among the proposals on key issues from Lorene Dadey, the Democratic Party’s candidate for the District 7 seat in the Onondaga County Legislature.
Dadey, 54, faces Republican Danny Liedka, the mayor of East Syracuse. District 7 is in the central region of Onondaga County, including a small northeastern part of the city of Syracuse, most of the northern and western parts of DeWitt and all of East Syracuse. The election is Nov. 8.
Democracywise posed three questions on some key issues to the candidates in the contested open-seat races for the Onondaga County Legislature. Here are responses from Dadey:
Taxes
Q: What, if anything, do you think should be done about county taxes? How would you get the money required to provide public services? Raise taxes? Which? Increase fees for services? Which? What, if any, specific services or programs would you cut to balance the county budget?
A: “I do not want to cut any services. I’m not going to privatize jobs. That’s not what I stand for. We need to look at what we have first. I would check for duplications of services and equipment. I want to consolidate to the point where we can save more. There needs to be some investigating. Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to see if we really need everything we have. I am a newcomer and I think I bring that to the table. When I worked in town hall, we reduced the number of copiers. This saves on electricity and paper. Efficiency is important. With efficiency comes savings.”
Young People
Q: Keeping and attracting young people is a long-standing concern for our region. What, specifically, do you think the Onondaga County government should do make the area more attractive to young workers and their families?
A: “I know there are great jobs here. In order to keep them here we need affordable housing, taxes and entertainment options, like the hockey and basketball games. We need to offer them something to do, in addition to going to work everyday. We need to maintain different programs, like the ice skating rink downtown. There has been a lot of money put into the Inner Harbor. It’s important to have places for the younger crowd. We have the Oncenter. We could look into bringing more concerts. I would not bring in any new venues. We need to maintain what we already have.”
Van Duyn Home and Long-Term Care for the Elderly
The county-owned Van Duyn nursing home provides long-term care to many of the county’s elderly. But Van Duyn is in deep financial trouble. Last year, taxpayers absorbed about $5.7 million of Van Duyn’s costs and taxpayers are expected to absorb another $3 million this year. As of March 1, 2011, the state also cut off Medicare and Medicaid payments for new admissions to the nursing home, citing unsafe conditions there. And since March, county officials and Upstate Medical University have been negotiating for Upstate to take over the home. But Upstate has not yet agreed, citing concerns about whether the state can subsidize Van Duyn. If the home closes, it’s unclear what will become of Van Duyn’s residents. At the same time, the county’s population — like the rest of the nation’s — is aging and many will need long-term care.
Q: What if anything do you think the county government can or should do to keep Van Duyn from closing? What else, if anything, can or should the county government do to meet the long-term care needs of our aging population?
A: “We need to find out why the Van Duyn Home is losing so much money. I don’t know if it’s a strictly Medicare or Medicaid issue. We need to examine the problem. Are there duplications of services and equipment that can be consolidated? Or are there physical inefficiencies in the actual building? It’s critical that we provide care for our aging. I would look into staffing practices and training procedures, we might be able to turn things around and hopefully not burden taxpayers. Last year we absorbed so much money. That has got to stop.”
(Emily Maher is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism and political science.)
-30-
