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Department of Veterans Affairs seeks $16.4 million and repairs funds as it prepares to take over Stone Pavilion nursing home
Summary
The Department of Veterans Affairs outlined requests tied to taking operational control of Stone Pavilion — including a $14.4 million appropriation plus $2 million revenue authorization, a $4.3 million repairs request tied to a building assessment, and recurring funding for contract operations across the veteran nursing-home enterprise.
The Director, Department of Veterans Affairs, told lawmakers the agency will assume oversight of the state’s sixth veterans nursing home, Stone Pavilion in Columbia, on July 1 and requested budget authority and repairs funding tied to the transfer.
The department asked for roughly $14,400,000 in general-appropriation funding with a $2,000,000 revenue authorization (totaling $16,400,000) to support the transfer and to allow the state to use U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-per-diem revenue to pay a contract operator at the VA per-diem rate, the director said. The director noted a roughly $11,000,000 offset in staffing authorizations that will be swept at transfer because full-time equivalents currently held by the Department of Mental Health will vacate.
Separately, the director said a building-condition assessment completed by the Department of Mental Health identified about $9.3 million in near-term repairs at Stone Pavilion. The state previously appropriated $5,000,000; the department requested the remaining $4.3 million to complete the identified work, which includes piping, hot-water systems and flooring.
The director said Stone Pavilion was built in 1971, is a 90-bed facility currently housing just under 60 residents, and will move from state operation to contract operation after the request-for-proposal process concludes. "As part of that transfer, that home will become contract operated just like the other homes we have in the enterprise," the director said.
For the enterprise as a whole, the department requested inflationary adjustments for existing contract operators (a CPI-based escalator), and asked for recurring and nonrecurring funds to support the broader oversight role the department will hold as of July 1.
Why it matters: Transferring Stone Pavilion adds an older facility to the VA’s contract-operated enterprise and requires both capital repairs and operational funding. Lawmakers pressed for clarity on offsets, the scope of repairs and how staffing authorizations will be handled at the Department of Administration.
The director said the department will publish further details in budget documents and confirmed that additional facilities on the campus (including a renovated quarantine-capable pavilion) will come under the department’s purview as part of the transfer.
