LAWRENCE COUNTY Buyers postpone sale of Hill View Manor home

A financial audit is needed to revise the buyer's bank financing agreement.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The sale of the county nursing home has been delayed for another 60 to 90 days as the buyers take another look at Hill View Manor's operating costs.
County commissioners had expected to close the deal Monday morning with Sylvan Heights Realty Partners, but the buyers asked for an extension after meeting nearly two hours behind closed doors with their attorney.
George Howley, one of the partners, said the delay is directly related to a drop in the number of residents at the facility. He said the $1,715,000 price will not change.
Howley said the buyers' plan is to do a financial audit in the next few months and revise their bank financing agreement.
The bank loan was contingent upon a certain amount of revenue from residents to offset construction costs for a new patient wing, he said.
But a drop in patients from 80 in February to 68 as of Friday has lessened that revenue amount, Howley said.
"As a private business, we have to meet ratios. It's not in our best interest to see ratios fall off," he said.
Here's the situation
Sylvan Heights Realty Partners had intended to buy Hill View Manor in February, but the deal was stymied when the Laborer's District Council of Western Pennsylvania, Local 964, refused to forgo a 180-day notice to employees of any sale.
Howley noted that there are still 111 employees at the nursing home and it is recommended that there be only 1.1 employees per nursing home patient, which lessens the revenue.
John Hadgkiss, one the other Sylvan partners who is now managing the nursing home for the county, recommended the county lay off 35 employees to make the nursing home more profitable. He said managers had recommended layoffs previously.
Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said that recommendation was not followed because it came too close to the spring primary and others did not want to lay off workers near an election. DeCarbo is not seeking re-election this year.
Commissioner Ed Fosnaught, who has been opposed to the sale and criticized the other two commissioners for negotiating it without him, estimates laying off 35 people will cost the county nearly $300,000 in unemployment claims.
"This is an example of the horrible decision-making. No one has been looking out for the county's interests in this whole transaction and this is the result. No one should be surprised that this happened," Fosnaught said of the sale delay.
cioffi@vindy.com