ALBANY – Albany County Executive Dan McCoy on Wednesday unveiled his 2013 budget, which calls for privatizing the money-hemorrhaging County Nursing Home and raising taxes by 8.9 percent, well over the state's 2 percent cap.

The $568 million spending plan would mean a $60 hike in the tax bill on a home assessed at $200,000.

"Closing the nursing home is simply not an option," McCoy stated, but the county can also no longer afford the escalating costs of the operation that had a $12 million deficit in 2011.

McCoy, who took office in January after serving as the county legislature's Democratic majority leader, would enlist Upstate Services Group, which operates Hudson Park in Albany, to run the home. If approved by the county legislature and state Department of Health, the proposed transition would take place in the second half of 2013.

Because the budget levy exceeds the state tax cap, passage would require the votes 26 of the 39 county legislators, a two-thirds "super majority." Twenty-nine members are Democrats.

McCoy blamed the need to raises taxes on so-called "unfunded mandates" from the state and federal governments, including Medicaid.

Without the increase, McCoy said, the Crime Victims and Sexual Violence Center, Children's Dental Clinic, Mental Health Substance Abuse Clinic, Children's Mental Health and the entire Aging Department would have to be eliminated.

"It is pragmatic in terms of recognizing the economic difficulties faced by Albany County and is a responsible decision both fiscally and ethically," McCoy stated in his budget message.