There’s a feeling that this is just a sad day in the county, and I don’t think that anyone disagrees with that, whether they feel it’s a necessary move by the county or not.”

Dan Hust, Sullivan County Director of Communications

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The next meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature will take place on Thursday, August 20, with the executive committee meeting starting at 9 a.m. Meetings take place at 100 North Street, Monticello, NY.

This is a breaking news story, and will be updated as more information becomes available. 

LIBERTY, NY — On Wednesday, August 19, Sullivan County and the New York State Department of Health (DoH) announced that the Sullivan County Adult Care Center (ACC) would close, ending weeks of speculation into the facility's next steps. 

The ACC, also known as the Care Center at Sunset Lake, has had a troubled past few years. In 2021, the county signed an agreement with consulting firm Infinite Care to operate the facility for 10 years, with a long-term goal of transferring control of the facility to that firm. However, with years of delays and stumbling blocks in transferring the facility's Certificate of Need, Infinite Care decided to pull out, with it being announced in July that it would end its consultancy at the care center. 

Said Sullivan County Director of Communications Dan Hust to the River Reporter at the time, “Infinite Care’s leadership determined that continuing to wait on the resolution of this application was not optimal for them or the county. The county is not accepting further admissions to the care center until the withdrawal process is understood and a future path is determined.” 

The notice of closure followed shortly after Infinite Care's decision to pull out. County leadership said it was a difficult decision to close the ACC, but pointed to the difficulties in transferring the Certificate of Need and the center's challenging finances as factors tying the county's hands. 

“It was the annual cost of operating, maintaining and furnishing the facility that’s become unsustainable,” Hust told the River Reporter, following the announcement. “We’re seeing other costs climb for services and programs that we are mandated to provide, all the while facing declines in sales tax receipts, which is a major revenue generator.”

Hust also said that if the ACC were to remain open it would be a burden to the county taxpayer, saying that, “a property tax increase is already anticipated to help fund the 2027 county budget, and that increase would be higher if the care center remained with the county.”

Due to these financial difficulties and the withdrawal of Infinite Care, the county legislature reached consensus to close the facility and submit a closure plan to the DoH. While the county waited for approval from the DoH, regulations meant the county could not discuss the ACC’s closure, or make any movement on it. According to DoH’s Facility Closure Plan Guidelines, “no announcements or actions related to the proposed closure should be taken prior to receiving approval.”

“Until that closure plan was approved by the state, the county was forbidden form saying anything in any public manner or to anyone about this, because the state wanted to have this coordinated,” Hust told the River Reporter. “The Department of Health would not allow anyone, including legislators, to talk about this publicly.”

Per state requirements, the DoH has approved the county’s closure plan, enabling the transition process to begin for residents and staff. There are currently 93 long-term residents and 86 employees, according to Sullivan County. 

The county said it would work closely with the DoH and area nursing homes to find new accommodations for long-term ACC clients. "The county will ensure that no resident will be left without a skilled-care option," read the press release announcing the closure. "The entire process is anticipated to conclude by the turn of the year."

“We’ve already informed a number of nursing homes in the wider region in New York, Pennsylvania and even New Jersey to help find new accommodations for our 93 residents that best fit their needs,” Hust said.

The county said county employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to other county jobs, where possible. For situations where that is not possible, the county's center for workforce development will help employees find other jobs. 

“We have 86 employees that are being given options where possible based on their experience, for vacant county jobs,” Hust said in an interview with the River Reporter. “That won’t cover everybody. We don’t have 86 vacancies that I think they would all qualify for, but wherever possible that’s what we’re going to do.”

Hust also said that the county will not relocate non county employees that work at the facility, who will be relocated by the staffing agencies that employ them.

“Our focus and concern is on our 86 county employees,” Hust said.

Legislators and other county officials will decide on how to use the former ACC building after the closure. Hust said that while the county is not in a fiscal position to consider the future opening of another county run facility, the county would be open to having a non-county run facility to fill the gap left by the ACC.

“I think the county would welcome other agencies and for-profit companies that might be interested in citing a facility similar to what the care center is in Sullivan County,” Hust said.

The Sullivan County Adult Care Center will close, announced the county on Wednesday, August 19.

RR photo by Liam Mayo

Reactions to the closure

Members of the public have reached out to the county to express their thoughts and concerns about the ACC’s closure. While individual reactions were diverse, ranging from disappointment to shock to anger, they were all unified in a shared grief over the end of the ACC.

“There’s a feeling that this is just a sad day in the county, and I don’t think that anyone disagrees with that, whether they feel it’s a necessary move by the county or not,” Hust said.

“This is not something the county wanted to do, but our challenging finances and the lack of ability to transfer operations to our consulting firm has left us no choice but to initiate the closure process,” said chair of the legislature Nadia Rajsz, in a release announcing the closure. “The majority of my colleagues and I agreed that taxpayers cannot afford to continue the costly operation of the Care Center while facing enormous revenue losses and quickly increasing costs throughout county government.”

“The entire Legislature is very proud of the dedicated care County employees have provided over many years to many people,” Rajsz said. “To our residents and their families, we regret the challenges this may create, but we are committed to ensuring everyone has alternate skilled-care options from which to choose. Our staff will make this process as safe, smooth and clear as possible.” 

In response to the news, Assembly Member Paula Kay issued a statement reading, "When I received the call from NYSDOH that Sullivan County would be closing the Adult Care Center I was shocked, but not truly surprised."

"Because I remain concerned about the existing residents and their families, my focus is to ease this difficult transition for them by coordinating directly with NYSDOH whenever possible," said Kay. "I welcome the families to reach out to my Monticello office at 845/794-5807 in order to bridge this coverage gap, and to help their loved ones find safe and appropriate care, that is not too far from their families."

"Moving forward, I urge the County to engage with me as we look for a solution for the growing aging population of Sullivan County. Everyone matters here," said Kay. 

Speaking with the River Reporter before the news broke, when the overall fate of the facility was still up in the air, legislator Luis Alvarez said at the time he wanted the facility to remain in county control. 

“I would like to keep the Adult Care Center at the county level, operated by the county,” Alvarez said. “I think that we provide a better service than anybody else because we are not in the business of making money. We're in the business of providing services.”

However, Alvarez did have some concerns about funding, saying that financial constraints of the county would have made it difficult for the county to expand services while operating the ACC.

“I would like to see it expand and be there, but I just have this feeling that we don't have any money,” Alvarez said. “I don't know how we're going to provide all the services we have to provide when there are no funds."

For more information, click here to view other stories involving the Adult Care Center.