Dateline: April 26, 2007

Sale of nursing home falls through

A deal to sell the Medical Center Nursing Home fell through Monday after the prospective buyers, Ron and Sharon Wetzel, withdrew their offer for the facility.

Donley County Hospital Board Vice Chairman Don Thornberry said the Wetzels sent a letter to the board on Monday of this week and cited concerns about replacing the building’s roof and the costs associated with that work.

“I think maybe the more they thought about it, the more they didn’t want to take the chance,” Thornberry said.

The Wetzels, who own Palo Duro Nursing Home in Claude and are part owners of two assisted living centers, had offered $742,000 for MCNH, and local officials were in the process of accepting that offer.

At its April 17 meeting last Tuesday, the hospital board voted to hire an attorney to begin contract of sale negotiations with the Wetzels. The board also approved a motion to have a survey done of all of the hospital district’s property at the Medical Center Campus.

Thornberry said the district will move forward with the survey, and he said the district is also continuing to explore legal questions related to selling the nursing home. That includes legal questions associated with what a sale of the property might mean in terms of paying off approximately $1.3 million in bonds still owed for remodeling the nursing home.

How soon the bonds could be paid off and what that would mean for the hospital district tax rate are also still questions to be answered.

“We still need to know all that information,” Thornberry said.

Beyond that, Thornberry said the board has not decided what to do next in terms of selling the nursing home or keeping it under the hospital district.

Hospital board members have previously said that if the nursing home is not sold, it will likely have to be expanded in order to remain solvent as revenues remain constant while expenses continue to grow.

“Our consultant had recommended getting a professional firm to evaluate the value of the nursing home and possibly market it for us,” Thornberry said. “Or maybe we could make some [budget] cuts and hang in there if the wind farm [property tax] money comes in.”

Thornberry remained optimistic about the future of the facility.

“Everything generally works for the best,” he said, “and maybe this will lead us in a new direction.”