By GINA KINSLOW
FRANKFORT — A new home for the Glasgow State Nursing Facility is in Gov. Steve Beshear’s state budget. Also in the budget is $780 million worth of gaming revenue, of which $18 million would go to building the new facility.
The hang-up with Beshear’s budget is that no legislation supporting expanding gaming has been approved by state legislators, and Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, pointed out there’s no indication it will pass during the current legislative session.
If expanded gaming legislation passes, then the additional $18 million for the state nursing facility will remain in the budget. If the gaming legislation isn’t passed, then an alternative route will have to be taken to find money for its construction ... “and therein lies the problem,” he said. “The governor put $780 million in there that is nonexistent.
“I’m glad the hospital is in the governor’s budget because that gives some point of reference and an argument that it needs to be in there without that $780 million.”
Bell is not sure what state legislators will do regarding the budget. He said it is possible they will adopt a one-year budget in the hopes that more federal stimulus money will be allocated to “fill in the holes.”
“But if that doesn’t happen, we’ve got a real battle ahead of us,” he said.
Bell said he will not vote for the expanded gaming legislation.
“I will not vote for the budget that the governor handed out (Tuesday),” he said.
He pointed out that the expanded gaming legislation died before the state’s Senate got to vote on it.
“In Glasgow, there seems to be a fairly close percentage-wise of people pro and con. There’s a lot of people who want it and there’s a lot of people who don’t want it,” Bell said. “There’s a fairly close situation there, but from my understanding the issue concerning gaming, at this junction, is supposed to start over in the Senate if there is going to be a vote on it. From what I’ve been told is that if the gaming issue is going to (resurface) it’s going to have to originate in the Senate. Right now, I’ve not been asked to vote on that.”
Bell said he is not “enthused by the governor’s proposal because any time that you do something or that you have $780 million interjected into that proposal that does not exist it makes it very difficult for us.”
“As a body of legislators (our responsibility is) to now fill those holes. We have the responsibility of balancing the budget without the $780 million,” he said. “I’m sure the governor feels what he did was right and what he brought forth was legitimate. I haven’t spoken with him about it and I don’t know his analysis or how he got there. For me personally, we have a substantial task before us now because without that money there are going to have to be significant cuts.”
There is a possibility that Bell could change his mind about expanded gaming legislation. That would only happen, he said, if the state was in dire straits and there was a concurrence between the House and the Senate.
State legislators approved $2 million to help fund the construction of a new structure for the Glasgow State Nursing Facility during a special session. It will cost $20 million to complete the project.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services requested bond authorization for a capital project to replace the nursing home during the 2009 General Assembly session, but the money was not appropriated. Instead, there was language in the budget bill that directed the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to develop and submit a plan to the Legislative Research Commission on Dec. 1, 2008, relating to the replacement of the nursing facility.
“The funding will replace the facility, which has structural issues that necessitate a new facility. The General Assembly previously authorized planning and design for this project. We are confident the General Assembly will provide funding for the construction phase,” said Janie Miller, secretary for health and family services.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services submitted the report and stressed its recommendation was to construct a replacement facility on the nursing home’s current grounds.
The facility was built in the mid-to-late 1960s and once served as a hospital for patients suffering from tuberculosis. Patients who now live at the nursing facility suffer from mental illness/mental retardation diagnoses.
A masonry project conducted in 2004 revealed the building has some structural issues and state officials have struggled over the last couple of years to come up with money that would pay for repairs.
