WEST SENECA, N.Y. — State lawmakers in Albany are doing what they can to keep open the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center in West Seneca.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's office of mental health hope to save $3 million per year by closing the facility and combining it with the Buffalo Psychiatric Center on Forest Avenue.
Sen. Pat Gallivan, of Elma, sponsored a bill requiring the state to operate the CPC as a separate entity — that bill passed in the senate on Monday with unanimous approval.
Those against the merger say it's a bad idea to have children and adults cared for in the same place, although the state's mental health office has said they'll be treated securely and apart from each other.
The measure now heads to the State Assembly, sponsored by Assemblyman Mickey Kearns (D - Buffalo.) If it passes, the decision falls on Cuomo to sign it into law, or veto the bill. The group Save Our Western New York CPC is threatening a lawsuit against the governor if he rejects the bill in an effort to force the state to continue operating the West Seneca site.