SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The Sunset Lake Local Development Corporation (LDC), which was established in 2020 to sell the county-owned adult care center, voted unanimously to dissolve on May 14. The LDC never executed a sale, and the ownership of the property, held by the LDC, will revert back to the county. 

The facility is one of the few adult care centers in Sullivan and the only one that’s county-owned. It is among a small handful of government-run adult nursing homes still in New York state, and a rapidly shrinking number of government-run homes nationally.                      

Although technically owned by the county, the adult home hasn’t been operated by the county since 2021. That year, a private company, Infinite Care, was brought on through a consulting agreement contract to carry out the facility’s functions. Since the agreement, the county remains responsible for the facility, but does not run it. 

Without the LDC, a lease agreement with Infinite Care will revert to the county, and there will be one layer fewer between the facility and legislative oversight. 

More about the Care Center at Sunset Lake

Claims of negligence and accountability

Claims of negligence at Sullivan county owned care center continue 

Who is accountable for plummeting care at nursing home 

Nursing homes fortunes may change with new appointment 

Legislators urge state to transfer care center to private owner 

Sullivan county legislature gets a ⅖ star rating 

How we got here

The LDC was initially established by the county legislature to carry out the sale of the care center, with the county saying then that it was a burden on taxpayers. The county transferred ownership of the center’s physical property to the LDC to facilitate a sale.

An LDC is a private, nonprofit entity that works with local governments to promote economic development at the local level. It can provide low-interest loans and manage real estate development.

The LDC entered into a 30-year lease agreement with Infinite Care for the facility. 

Since 2021, the Care Center at Sunset Lake, located in Liberty, has been the subject of numerous claims of poor conditions—poor quality and lack of care, staffing issues and maintenance concerns.  

Since October 2021, when Infinite Care took over operations, the care center has gone from a four-star to a one-star rating, and currently has an overall one-star rating according to medicare.gov.  

In order to transfer responsibility of the center from the county to Infinite Care and complete a sale, approval from the Department of Health (DOH) would be required. Infinite Care submitted an application for a Certificate of Need (CON). The approval is necessary, but has yet to be granted.

District 5 Legislator Cat Scott, who also sits on the LDC, told the River Reporter that when the former legislature first wanted to sell the facility back in 2020, “people came out in force against.”

Despite a March 2024 letter from county manager Joshua Potosek, which was signed by a group of five current legislators urging the DOH to grant Infinite Care’s application, the DOH has repeatedly delayed Infinite Care’s application and decision. 

Without DOH approval, ownership of the facility cannot be transferred to Infinite Care, and the nursing home remains under county oversight.

Sullivan residents have petitioned the DOH not to grant application approval to Infinite Care. They continue to urge the legislature not to sell the facility and to remove Infinite Care as the manager of the property. 

The future of the facility

Now, with no LDC, a sale of the facility seems further away; in order to sell the facility, a legislative supermajority is necessary. 

With DOH approval still pending years later and with many of the legislators who originally voted to establish the LDC to facilitate the sale no longer in office, the facility’s future is murky. 

New legislative members like Scott and District 1’s Matt McPhillips have advocated for keeping the care center run by the county. McPhillips also sat on the LDC with Scott.

Scott and McPhillips told the River Reporter that part of the impetus for the sale was that there were extra costs to sustain the LDC that the county was covering. The attorneys told McPhillips that when they weighed the pros and cons, “there were no drawbacks,” he said.

Once ownership of the facility property was transferred to the LDC, it was no longer tax-exempt county property. The county was footing the bill for property taxes being paid to the Village of Liberty, which, before the LDC, didn’t exist, in addition to paying for required audits.

McPhillips said they don’t want to dig the Town of Liberty into a hole and know that they have budgeted for tax revenue, so he’s hoping they can work to find an agreement.

McPhillips said he’s always thought the facility belongs under direct legislative oversight and that decisions regarding the sale should happen in the open.

“Having that [care center] deed in the LDC, you had five people who were not elected by the public who were there to make the decision about selling this facility, and to me that’s not appropriate, and now it’s back in the legislature’s hands,” Scott said.

Although the lease agreement will revert to the county, Infinite Care will remain operating the facility. Despite the county ultimately being responsible, Infinite Care still wedges a level between the legislature and direct oversight of the facility.

Many of the facilities’ employees are employed by Infinite Care and are not required or responsible to report to the legislature like true county employees.