"Hayesville House" set to open
By Carla Gwaltney Owens Sentinel writer

Director of Clay County Department of Social Services Debbie Mauney told Clay County Commissioners last week that the new 60-bed assisted living facility set to open in May will have a significant financial impact on the county. Mauney estimated that when Hayesville House opens and reaches full capacity in 90 to 120 days, the cost to county tax payers will be substantial. Per Mauney, patients who come from out of state and move into the facility become residents of Clay County and, if unable to pay for the services themselves, will become eligible for public assistance. Mauney estimated the cost to the county to be $200,000. The county's current budget for the special assistance program is $80,000. Therefore, Mauney told commissioners that they would need to increase that line item in the 2007-2008 budget to a total of $280,000.

Mauney broke down the cost of care at the assisted living facility saying that room and board for one month would cost a resident almost $1,200. Most patients would not be able to pay for the entire bill themselves, Mauney explained, and would be eligible for assistance under the special assistance program. Under the program, the county would be required to share the patient's remaining balance, once an individuals social security income is taken into account, with the state.According to Mauney's estimates, once the facility is full, and with approximately 80 to 90 % of the patients eligible for government assistance, Mauney said the bill for the county would be approximately $200,000.

In addition to this increase, Mauney said case loads for her workers would also increase and she said it is possible that in the future the county would have to consider hiring an additional person to handle all the special assistance clients.

Clay County Department of Social Services currently has 23 SSI clients, and the number could grow to as many as 80 when the new facility opens.

Some of these new clients brought into the county by the facility would also be eligible for medicaid, therefore, the medicaid line item in the county's 2007-2008 budget would also increase, Mauney stated. Medicaid is one of the largest line items in the county's budget at $650,000, and with additions to the county's medicaid roles when this facility opens, Mauney said it is likely that line item will increase.

Mauney said that the adult social worker will also be effected by the opening of Hayesville House, as she will add to her current responsibilities the task of monitoring the new facility and its elderly patients. They will become clients of not only the assisted living facility, but also clients of the Clay County Department of Social Services.

Looking at the jobs that will be created by the facility, Mauney said she has been told by representatives from the home, which is owned by Age Mark Corporation located in Hickory, that around 25 to 30 individuals will be employed by the company at an hourly wage of $6.15 to $9.00 with no benefits. Mauney told commissioners that this is not a liveable wage, thus many of the employees could be eligible for public assistance such as food stamps, childcare subsidies and medicaid for their children.

In addition to the cost to Clay County tax payers, Mauney told Commissioners that she is concerned about the fact that the state allowed the facility to be built in the first place. According to Mauney, the company pushed forward with facilities in Clay and several other small counties in North Carolina while a Certificate of Need law was in the works. The Certificate of Need law requires the State Board of Health to study each community each year. Mauney explained that this law was enacted because it takes taxpayers' money to operate these facilities. The state must declare a community has a need before a company can receive approval to open an adult care facility.

In addition, Mauney said that since the law was passed by the State of North Carolina three years ago they have not once found that Clay County has a need for additional beds for long-term care. It is quite the opposite, according to Mauney, who told commissioners that of the current 16 beds in Clay County six are currently vacant. There are currently two homes operating in Clay County including the Clay County Care Center and Bridging The Gap.

So, without a need for beds, Mauney said the facility will open and attract patients from other counties in North Carolina and from other states, like Georgia who has a shortage of beds. The problem to the county is that patients moving into the facility from out-of-state will become residents of Clay County in 90 days. And once they are residents they become the responsibility of Clay County and county tax payers.

"I wish we would have been notified in the planning stages," Mauney commented at last weeks commission meeting. "That way we could have responded to this and shared our budget concerns."

Mr. Olsen, a representative from Age Mark present at last week's commission meeting , said that he understands Mauney's concerns and the need to plan ahead for budget changes.

However, he told commissioners that he did not believe the impact to the county's budget would be that severe. In addition, Olsen said that although a county gains residents when a facility opens they also often have residents from their county re-locate to other towns to receive care.

He said he believes in the end it more than likely balances out, with residents moving between communities to receive care close to family members.

Mauney said her main concern is the impact all of this will have on the citizen's of Clay County. Mauney said that $200,000 is a large amount to add to a small county's budget and especially so close to the new budget year. Mauney said she wishes she would have been advised of the facility back in November of 2005 when Age Mark began plans for the facility, so she and her department could have started preparing sooner.

Mauney pointed out that the additional $200,000 will have to come from somewhere. Do you raise taxes or cut a program that was in the planning stages? Mauney said something the county was hoping to do might have to be placed on hold or additional resources needed at the Sheriff's Department or at the schools might suffer.

"We all have our hand out, but there is only so much to go around," Mauney stated, adding that with this new expense there will be a little bit less to go around.

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