LIBERTY, N.Y. — Sullivan County and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) have announced the pending closure of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center, known as the Care Center at Sunset Lake in Liberty.
In a statement released Wednesday, County Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz said the decision follows the County’s financial challenges and the inability to transfer operations to its consulting firm.
“This is not something the County wanted to do, but our challenging finances and the lack of ability to transfer operations to our consulting firm has left us no choice but to initiate the closure process,” Rajsz stated. “The majority of my colleagues and I agreed that taxpayers cannot afford to continue the costly operation of the Care Center while facing enormous revenue losses and quickly increasing costs throughout County government.”
The New York State Department of Health has approved the County’s closure plan, allowing the transition process for residents and staff to begin. The Care Center currently has 93 long-term residents and 86 employees with a capacity of 146 beds.
Sullivan County Legislator Cat Scott, who chairs the county’s Health & Human Services Committee, said today marked “a sad day in Sullivan County.” For now, she says her immediate focus is finding reasonable placement for residents.
“There isn’t a deadline [to leave] because it depends on how the facility is able to find beds for the residents,” said Scott. The County said it will work with NYSDOH and area nursing homes to identify new accommodations for the Care Center’s long-term residents, adding “no resident will be left without a skilled-care option.”
But some residents have raised concerns about the lack of public involvement in the closure process and the long-term impact of private contractor Infinite Care’s involvement over the years.
Years of financial and management challenges
The Care Center has long faced financial challenges. Sullivan County planned to sell the facility in 2020 but faced significant community pushback.
Infinite Care, an administrative services provider for nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, stepped in to manage the operations at the Care Center in 2021. The facility’s rating dropped from a four-star rating to a one-star rating in the years following the transition, according to reporting from The River Reporter.
The Care Center’s most recent listed federal health inspection in September 2024 also shows 19 health citations (more than double the average number of health citations in New York state), including failure to ensure resident health and safety, poor food safety storage practices, and lack of accident-free hazard zones.
In July 2026, Infinite Care announced it would withdraw from its consulting role at the county-owned nursing home, as local officials scrambled to map out the center’s future.
Ken Walter, co-chair of the Sullivan County Senior Legislative Action Committee, says the abrupt closure will only worsen the county’s healthcare desert.
“[Our seniors] need to stand up and start to yell and scream. They need to get out to these meetings and ask questions and never cower to these elected officials,” said Walter. “You, as a citizen, have the rights. They don’t. Open government favors us as people, not them as elected [officials].”
Walter also questioned why the public wasn’t involved in the closure’s decision-making process. “When did they decide? What secret meeting did they have this in?”
Scott said that the state’s health department immediately put in place a gag order which strictly prohibited those involved from speaking publicly about the closure once the decision was made.
Dan Hust, Sullivan County’s Communications Director, said legislators had been looking at the future of the Care Center for months.
“The cost of operating, maintaining, and furnishing the facility just had become unsustainable, and the county is already dealing with the industry-wide problem of low reimbursement rates, seeing other costs climb for services and programs it’s mandated to provide, while facing significant declines in sales tax receipts,” said Hust.
Congressmember Josh Riley told Radio Catskill that the closure was “devastating.” Assemblymember Paula Kay said in a statement that she was “shocked, but not truly surprised.”
Hust said it’s unclear yet how the building will be used moving forward.
For employees, the County said that, where possible, staff will be offered opportunities to transfer to other County positions. When transfers are not possible, the Center for Workforce Development will assist employees in seeking other employment.
“When we’re having conversations about this, be mindful and be respectful because today was somebody’s worst day, and they deserved better,” said Scott.
The transition is anticipated to conclude by the end of the year.
Kimberly Izar contributed reporting to this story.