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HOMES EVERY WEEK! February 23, 2019
Valley News
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
Two plead guilty in case of widespread medical taxi fraud
LIONS BASKETBALL SAYS GOODBYE
Taxi cab owners charged in connection with alleged scheme to defraud state out of millions of dollars
» Lions goodbye Cont. on pg. 7
By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
PLATTSBURGH | Two men implicated in an alleged scheme to defraud the state out of millions of dollars in Medicaid funds have pleaded guilty. Avalanche Taxi owner Arshad Nazir, 54, of Plattsburgh pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and offering and conspiring to pay bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries, all felonies. Nazir has also been ordered to pay $550,000 in restitution to the state Department of Health. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and an additional fine of up to $250,000 at his sentencing on June 18. Nazir’s plea deal is contingent upon his also pleading guilty to state charges of second-degree grand larceny and failure to secure workers’ compensation — both felonies — in Essex County Court at a later date, according to the New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General’s Office.
Elizabethtown-Lewis freshman Elizabeth Hickey gets high fives from members of the 5-6 youth commission team as the Lions take the floor against Chazy for the final senior night home games in program history. Both the boys and girls varsity teams played against Chazy Feb. 14. For more, see page 7. Photo by Keith Lobdell
ROOST proposes bed tax increase, ‘Community Enhancement Fund’ Proposal would redirect portion of Essex County revenue to local capital projects
“Done right, we think this will actually grow business,” McKenna told supervisors Monday.
USE OF FUNDS
Currently, the county retains 5 percent of all occupancy tax revenue, and the rest, 95 percent, is directed to ROOST. As part of ROOST’s proposal, approximately $1.7 million of the new revenue generated through a tax increase would be designated for a Community Enhancement Fund (CEF) designed to steer money toward projects in the Lake Champlain, Schroon Lake, Whiteface and High Peaks regions. An additional $97,715 would be used to fund administration of the CEF. ROOST Chief of Staff Mary Jane Lawrence said the creation of a CEF would likely require setting up regional committees of five to seven people to vet project applications. The county Treasurer’s Office would retain an additional $102,858. Supervisors on the Economic Development committee moved the proposal on to Ways and Means, the next step before reaching the full board at the next regular session March 4.
By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
ELIZABETHTOWN | A proposal to increase the county’s tax on hotel rooms by 2 percent and direct that new revenue to fund local capital projects was put forward by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) Monday. If approved by the Essex County Board of Supervisors, a plan to increase the county’s tax on hotels and short-term rentals from 3 to 5 percent will move ahead. According to county Manager Dan Palmer » Taxi fraud and county Treasurer Mike Diskin, the state Cont. on pg. 2 legislature would then need to authorize a change in home rule legislation to allow for an occupancy tax increase. Last year, the county’s occupancy tax generated $2,869,255 in revenue. ROOST CEO James McKenna believes a 2 percent increase would ROOST CEO James McKenna and Chief of Staff Mary Jane Lawrence generate $2 million in additional proposed a change to the Essex County Occupancy Tax Law, which revenue, which could be directed to would increase the tax by 2 percent and direct that additional revenue town-level projects like bike paths and wayfinding signage. to a “Community Enhancement Fund.”
SUPERVISORS REACT
Not everyone is satisfied with the plan as proposed. Minerva Town Supervisor Stephen McNally said that rather than entrusting a committee to look over applications to receive CEF funding, the revenue should be doled out directly to each town. “I think that personally, if this money was split up directly to the towns, that would be better,” he said. McNally said he was “totally against” the creation of regional committees and said that town governments know best where the money would do the most good. » Bed tax Cont. on pg. 3
File photo
Director: Essex County Mental Health ‘grossly understaffed’ Department seeks clinicians to fill critical jobs By Elizabeth Izzo STA FF W RITER
ELIZABETHTOWN | Essex County is in dire need of mental health clinicians. That’s the message that Terri Morse, director of the county’s Mental Health Department, highlighted in a report to the Essex County Board of Supervisors last week. Where on average there are 390 residents for every one mental health provider in New York state, Essex County’s ratio is one clinician for every 690, Morse said. This discrepancy translates
to a burdensome workload for the 13 clinicians the department has and an inability to expand into areas where their services are needed, and according to Morse, it also means that the department has had no choice but to turn away people with private insurance. “We are grossly understaffed to provide the needs for this county,” she told the Human Services Committee Feb. 11. It’s unclear how many people the department has had to turn away, though the number of people served by the department last year, 1,073, is 48 percent less than two years ago, when 1,590 clients were served. Right now, the department has 13 clinicians on staff. At minimum, the department needs one more clinician, she said. The department has had a vacancy since last September. But ideally the department would attract upward of
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four new clinicians, potentially allowing them to branch out and open satellite offices in more rural areas. “By not having enough staff to meet the needs of the county, it puts a lot of pressure on the existing staff,” Morse told The Sun. “They’re asked to see more people than they have time for. “There’s only so many 30-45 minute blocks of time in a day.”
RECRUITING CHALLENGES
The problem lies not in a lack of positions, but in an apparent shortage of qualified people, according to Morse. It doesn’t help that the department’s typical pay rate, $25.65 per hour at 35 hours a week, is often outmatched by private providers. And there’s stiff competition for the limited labor pool from both private providers and other counties. » Understaffed Cont. on pg. 3
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Sales For The Week of February 21st - February 27th
MEAT SPECIALS
Glazier Red Skin Hot Dogs (8-11) ...........................$5.99 lb. N.Y. Strip Steaks ........................................................$7.99 lb. Boneless Pork Chops ...............................................$2.19 lb. Hatfield Slab Bacon .................................................$5.29 lb. Boneless Chuck Roast .............................................$4.49 lb.
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FROM OUR DELI
LOL Pepper Jack Cheese ........................................$4.99 lb. In-Store Meatloaf .....................................................$5.29 lb.
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New York Strip Loin (14-16# avg)...........................$6.99 lb. Cut & Wrapped, 24 hour notice needed
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Fresh Broccoli .................................................... $2.69/bunch Fresh Avocados........................................................$1.99 ea. Fresh Oranges (Large)................................................89¢ ea. Bagged Mini Cucumbers..............................................$3.19
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