Independence in center sale

Published: July 2, 2009

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Sale of the Lackawanna County Health Care Center is a reasonable course. There is no reason that the center must be publicly operated.

That is all the more so because long-term care continues to become a more difficult business.

Majority Commissioners Michael Washo and Corey O'Brien effectively addressed the key issue this week when they hired an independent broker, Haverford Health Care Advisors, to market the 272-bed long-term care center and advise the commissioners on resulting bids.

Despite protests from minority Commissioner A.J. Munchak, who claimed that county personnel could perform the same functions at lower costs, independent expertise is appropriate and a welcome departure from past practice.

The previous administration's secretive negotiations in another matter, for example, resulted in the danger that the county's publicly owned Triple-A baseball franchise could be sold to a private owner, without so much as an independent assessment of the franchise's value.

And the previous administration agreed to sell the formerly publicly owned Montage ski area before acquiring a definitive appraisal of its value.

Hiring an independent expert deals with all of the issues inherent in selling a major piece of public property, especially when it includes a complex business.

Having opted for independent expertise, the commissioners should further ensure that the public interest is served by applying maximum transparency to the process and the sale.

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2 posted comments

Observer states"it can be run more effectively and efficiently by government". Can you name any government entitlement program that is true of??
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buck,  07/02/2009 16:35
This editorial and position on the sale of the Lackawanna County Long Term Care facility seems to be paradoxical. On one hand we build baseball stadiums, ski resorts and ampitheatres to improve the quality of life. This was done by Lackawanna County government. That same government has owned the Long Term Care Facility for many years, to care for the elderly residents of our community. Then comes a day we sell off these entities and tell the public their interests can be better served through privitization. Maybe these investments should have been private from the beginning. Maybe not. Maybe it's the politicians who diminish the value of these interests with their convoluted thought processes and actions. If a facility can be run by a private entity or a group of investors, it can be run more effectively and efficiently by government. Private ownership will need to turn a profit where government simply needs to provide a service to it's community without profit. Therefore, the costs to the residents in this facility would be lower under government ownership. Private enterprise will still have to negotiate with unionized employees, administrative personnel and incur the same costs as government ownership does. In addition, private enterprise will want a return on their investment which will cost the residents of the facility. I find it ironic that Lackawanna County feels a need for the entertainment quality of life projects but is now considering abandoning a more essential quality of life facility. The comissioners can say privitization will not change anything, but it will. It's a tax increase to the residents. And this editorial does no justice to this issue.
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Observer,  07/02/2009 10:27
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