Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Veterans Homes Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Veterans services asks for nurse retention, annual CPI support and one‑time funds to open subacute therapy unit
Summary
Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Patricia Ross told the committee the agency needs roughly $1.5 million to avoid shrinking its war‑veterans nursing‑home bed capacity, requested $250,000 to support nurse retention across the campus, and sought $1 million one‑time funding to open a previously renovated subacute therapy (med‑psych) unit.
Patricia Ross, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Veterans Services, briefed the House appropriations subcommittee on the agency’s amended FY25 priorities for veterans homes, cemeteries and outreach programs.
Ross said the veterans homes face rising costs and staffing pressures. She reported turnover rates and overtime expenses that undermine capacity — for example, a cited 88.6% turnover rate for CNAs at the Milledgeville nursing home and $1.2 million in overtime for nursing in the past year. Ross asked the committee to retain a $250,000 nurse‑retention allocation and to provide a roughly $1.5 million increase tied to CPI and cost growth so the agency can maintain current bed counts rather than shrink further.
Ross also requested $1 million in one‑time operational funding to open a renovated subacute therapy unit (described as a med‑psych or subacute behavioral‑health unit) at the Milledgeville campus; she said the federal VA contributed about $11 million to construction and the state contributed about $6 million for renovation, and failing to open the unit would require repaying federal funds under the VA agreement.
On cemeteries, Ross said federal grants will expand both Milledgeville and Glenville cemeteries and that Augusta will seek additional local/state resources for infrastructure work; she summarized the agency’s Unite Us referral platform and outreach, and provided figures showing the department’s role in channeling veterans benefits and federal education dollars to Georgians.
Ending: Ross asked the committee to consider maintaining annual CPI adjustments and the one‑time operational funding to open the subacute unit, stressing the operational and human costs of losing beds or not opening the renovated facility.
