County commission OKs second Maple Lawn loan with questions
BRANCH COUNTY — County commissioners approved a second $250,000 loan for Maple Lawn, the county-owned nursing home and rehabilitation facility, at its Thursday work session.
Official approval will come next Thursday at its formal meeting.
Financials for the cash-strapped facility were positive for the last four months, but a third $340,000 payroll in August left administrator Jayne Sabaitis and her board requesting a second loan.
Commission Chairman Tim Stoll raised questions about how the board could determine if Sabaitis is implementing the future business plan the county required a year ago when granting the first loan without benchmarks to measure success.
Commissioner Tom Matthew questioned the facility’s balance sheet and budget of $16 million. Stoll and Matthew questioned Sabaitis for over half an hour during the meeting.
Sabaitis said costs and expenses were comparable to Michigan’s other 42 county-owned nursing facilities.
The commission asked that representatives of accountants Plant Moran attend the commission meeting for her next report to the commissioners.
A year ago, state Medicaid officials began taking back payments made during COVID-19, causing Maple Lawn to face cash deficits for its operations.
At that time, Maple Lawn learned it could qualify for $3.6 million in Employee Retention Credits from COVID-19 relief money.
Sabaitis said the IRS has denied the claim because Maple Lawn files federal tax returns under the same tax ID as the county. Plant Moran filed an appeal of that decision.
Sabaitis told commissioners Thursday, “Plant Moran has indicated they believe we will receive that money. Other county medical care facilities have received those funds in whatever amounts were owed to them.”
Prior story Financially strapped Maple Lawn budgets $1.2 million more revenue for 2023
With $500,000 in loans and $200,000 used from memorial funds, commissioners want assurance the nursing facility can pay back the loans and memorial fund.
Commission liaison with Maple Lawn, Jon Houtz, pointed out the nursing home cannot cut back on its operations. “If they cut staffing where do the patients go? They need that care.”
Nursing and nursing assistant shortages during COVID-19 kept patient count down.
Sabaitis said the patient census hit 101 out of a maximum of 114 beds this month.
Maple Lawn must balance staffing with the number of those seeking care. Admission was down in July.
Sabaitis told the commissioners, “The highest census average in 2022 was 88. So far since January all the months in 2023 have been 90 or above. We are moving in the right direction.”
The director said, “In the first six months of 2022, the facility had lost $1.3 million. As of the first six months in 2023, the facility has made $156,000.”
The director also pointed out that when the state withholds Medicaid money, it does so immediately. The state owes Maple Law between $800,000 and $1.2 million in Medicaid payments. “We don’t know when we will receive those.”
Subscriber Follow county government. Subscribe to the Daily Reporter.
Those payments would allow Maple Lawn to meet its August third payroll, but the board wanted the second county loan to ensure it had funds to meet all expenses this month.
---Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: County commission OKs second Maple Lawn loan with questions
