A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, authorizing the creation of a working group to study the John J. Kane Regional Centers for the purpose of evaluating the potential for their partial or complete privatization.
WHEREAS, the John J. Kane Regional Centers (“the Kanes”) provide nursing, therapy, medical and other services to individuals residing on-site; and
WHEREAS, the Kanes are comprised of four regional centers distributed throughout Allegheny County, with centers in Glenn Hazel, McKeesport, Ross Township and Scott Township; and
WHEREAS, the Kanes are collectively operated and funded by Allegheny County through a variety of revenue streams; and
WHEREAS, for at least the past eleven years, the Kanes have collectively operated at a loss ranging from $1.2 million to $10.2 million per year, and from 2003 through 2011 alone these operating losses totaled $27.5 million; and
WHEREAS, although a review of the Kanes was completed and a Kane Action Plan formulated and released in late 2006, continued operating deficits amply demonstrate that its recommendations have either not been implemented or have proven to be ineffective; and
WHEREAS, this conclusion is further bolstered by the fact that, in 2006, the Kanes operated at a loss of only $1.2 million, while in the first four years since the Action Plan was released, the operating losses ranged from $1.8 million to $4.2 million, and the Kanes collectively lose approximately $2 million per year to this day; and
WHEREAS, while the County is permitted to fund nursing home care for dependents living within its borders, it is not required to do so by state law, See, e.g., 62 Pa.C.S.A. §2306, and Beaver County recently divested itself of its County-run nursing home; and
WHEREAS, it is the judgment of Council that continued public funding of the operations of the Kanes cannot be justified as fiscally responsible if the administration of the Kanes continues in its current form; and
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