Lawmakers opt to have state operate new veterans facility

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 12:03 p.m.

The Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means joint subcommittee on general government has recommended that the 180-bed home, which is still awaiting final funding approval from Veterans Affairs, be run by the state.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, a chairman of the subcommittee, said the decision wouldn't preclude the state from contracting out for the operation of the home in the future.

Senate Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he remains open to the idea of a privately run home and that the question is still undecided.

The proposal to have the state run the home now goes to the Senate and Assembly money committees.

Raggio said one reason the subcommittee may have voted to have the home run by the state is that the opening will be delayed if contracts for private companies are sought. But the home will open on time in July 2000 regardless of who runs it, he said.

Ed Gobel, representing the Council of Nevada Veterans Organizations, made up of 46 different veterans groups, has argued that a privatized home could provide care for veterans at no cost to them and save the state $1 million.

The best rated homes are privately run, he said.

But Charles Abbott, who recently stepped down as the executive director of the Commission for Veteran Affairs, told the subcommittee last month that most veterans preferred to see the home run by the state because they could have more control over its operation.

The budget for the home was based on the idea that it would be state run. The state will need to hire 224 employees to run the home if it is not privatized.

State officials are still awaiting word from the VA on approval of its share of building and furnishing the $19.4 million home.

The federal agency is paying 65 percent of the total cost, or $12.6 million, while the state has allocated $6.8 million for the home.