Nursing home asks for loan help

The financially strapped nursing home can't make the payment.
MERCER, Pa. -- Mercer County was expected to come up with a $220,144 bond payment today to prevent the Woodland Place nursing home from defaulting on an $8.8 million bond issue.
The county guaranteed that issue, which was borrowed to finance renovations at Woodland Place, once the county's nursing home but now a private nonprofit operation.
Tom Amundsen, Mercer County controller, said he received verbal notice from Woodland Place Tuesday that it would be unable to make the bond payment due today.
A formal letter to that effect was expected today, Amundsen said, adding that the county is obligated to make the payment on behalf of Woodland Place but that the nursing home is also obligated to repay the county.
Awaiting request
He notified the county commissioners of Woodland Place's position and said this morning he is awaiting a payment request from the commissioners to make the payment.
"We need to move the money today," Amundsen said.
None of the three commissioners could be reached for comment this morning but two of the three have shown a recent willingness to help Woodland Place through its financial difficulties.
Commissioners Olivia Lazor and Michele Brooks voted to give the nursing home a $1 million loan, with that money covering today's bond payment plus about $650,000 to pay a contractor doing renovations at the facility.
The loan was held up by Amundsen, who challenged the commissioners' legal ability to make a loan to a private corporation.
The commissioners went to common pleas court to force Amundsen to make the loan, but a court ruling hasn't been handed down yet.
The result was Woodland Place's payment default on the $8.8 million bond issue today and the county having to make the payment.