MERCER COUNTY Controller stops payment of loan

The county guaranteed an $8.8 million loan to the facility in 2001.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- County Controller Thomas Amundsen has refused to pay the first installment of $304,050 on a $1 million loan the county is extending to Woodland Place, stating the loan "is not authorized by law."
At Thursday's Mercer County commissioners meeting, he cited Section 1752 of the Pennsylvania County Code, which states if the controller does not approve a bill, he should return it to county commissioners with a notice of his refusal and his reasons.
Commissioners now must reconsider the claim and resubmit it to the controller if they still think it should be paid. If the controller still refuses to pay the bill, commissioners would have to obtain a court order to force payment.
At the July 22 meeting commissioners agreed by a split vote to extend the loan to the nonprofit nursing facility, which bought the former county home in 1998. At that meeting Amundsen and former county fiscal director Tresa Templeton had advised commissioners against making what amounts to a loan to a private institution.
2001 guarantee
The county guaranteed an $8.8 million loan to the facility in 2001 in exchange for a $3.5 million cash payment, using the building as collateral. The proposed loan would be drawn from that cash reserve and would be used to finish renovations and meet other expenses. If Woodland Place defaults, the county would be left to deal with the facility, which has 70 residents and 90 employees.
Only the two commissioners who support the loan to Woodland Place, Commissioners Olivia Lazor and Michele Brooks, were on hand Thursday to hear Amundsen announce his refusal to pay the claim.
The third commissioner, Brian Beader, had voted against making the loan. Beader, who is an electrician, was absent because he is taking two weeks off in order to work the hours needed to maintain his pension with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Solicitor's opinion
On Thursday, Brooks pointed out that before last month's loan vote, commissioners obtained a legal opinion from their solicitor, Mark Longietti, stating they could proceed with the loan. Longietti again said Thursday that based on case law on a section of the state constitution, he believes the loan is "probably legal."
Lazor repeated her earlier statement that one of the reasons the county must keep Woodland Place open is that, when the county sold it, it required the facility agree to take any indigent patient who could not get into another nursing home. She said counties are charged with the care of indigent patients.
However, Lynn Owens, income maintenance case worker supervisor for the Mercer County Assistance Office said current law prohibits any nursing home from discriminating against Medicaid patients.