Butler County is preparing for the potential sale of the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Included on the Wednesday agenda for a possible vote by the county commissioners is whether to hire Marcus & Millichap of Chicago to evaluate and market Sunnyview for sale.

The commissioners will discuss that issue at their Monday agenda-setting meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m. in the commissioners meeting room on the fifth floor of the government center.

Commissioner Bill McCarrier, board chairman, said a sale is the best option financially because Sunnyview workers on Tuesday rejected concessions the county sought under a four-year contract with SEIU Healthcare that ends in December 2014.

McCarrier said it’s impractical for the county to continue subsidizing the deficit that Sunnyview carries.

“There’s no reason for government to be in that business,” he said.

Sunnyview, which is off Morton Avenue in Butler Township, is budgeted to lose $1.5 million this year. However, $450,000 of that deficit is for a balloon payment on a 30-year bond.

The nursing home lost more than $800,000 in 2012.

Workers on Tuesday voted 134-5 opposing the 11 pages of concessions, which included wages, a higher paycheck deduction for health insurance and reducing the number of sick and vacation days.

McCarrier pointed to the trend among counties across the state, including Beaver and Cambria, to sell their nursing homes.

Commissioner Dale Pinkerton agreed the union vote demonstrated the need to move forward with a sale.

“When it was so pronounced, we just need to do something,” Pinkerton said.

He said the union contract’s 3 percent wage hike for 2014 would add another $250,000 to $300,000 to the deficit, so keeping Sunnyview county-owned isn’t cost-effective.

“It’s just without the concessions proposed, there really isn’t any way,” Pinkerton said.

But Commissioner Jim Eckstein opposes a sale. He said the county purposely made the concessions unreasonable to force a rejection by workers.

“They made it too difficult,” Eckstein said. “They knew it wouldn’t pass. They didn’t try to compromise.”

McCarrier said opponents of a sale are exaggerating the impact to the nursing home and its residents.

“One of the things I’m concerned about is they use fear mongering,” he said.

McCarrier said residents and workers have nothing to fear.

“The employees still will have jobs, and the residents still will have homes,” he said.

Pinkerton concurred.

“All we’re doing is changing ownership,” he said.

McCarrier pointed out there are 14 nursing homes in the county.

“Apparently, none of them are any good,” he said about the implication made by those opposing Sunnyview’s sale.

Pinkerton said the need for the county to operate a nursing home stretches back to a time when there was not public welfare, federal Medicare and state Medical assistance.

Eckstein criticized his colleagues for rushing a sale.

“It was predetermined and planned the whole time,” he said.

McCarrier said the county only was ready for any outcome to the union vote.

“We were preparing all options,” he said. “I’ve been talking with other counties that sold nursing homes.”