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Homer senior living facility reveals over $1 million debt

Homer Senior Citizens Executive Director Sarah Weideman speaks during a public board meeting on Nov. 13, 2024.
Jamie Diep
/
KBBI
Homer Senior Citizens Executive Director Sarah Weideman speaks during a public board meeting on Nov. 13, 2024.

Leadership at Homer’s main senior living facility revealed it had more than a million dollars in unpaid taxes and debt at its Nov. 13 board meeting last week.

More than 50 people packed into a small room last week for the Homer Senior Citizens public board meeting. Sarah Weideman started as the center’s new executive director last month. She told attendees that since then, staff have discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.

“There is an estimated $643,000 in unpaid payroll taxes that have gone unreported for 18 months,” Weideman said, “This amount, which may incur penalties and interest, is a significant liability, and addressing it is one of our highest priorities.”

Weideman added that’s in addition to more than $350,000 that’s owed to vendors. The nonprofit is also behind on its mortgages.

In total, Wiedeman said Homer Senior Citizens, which runs one assisted living facility as well as independent senior housing, is looking at somewhere between $1.5 to $2.5 million in debt. The discoveries came after the nonprofit’s previous director Keren Kelley passed away earlier this year.

In a follow up interview with KBBI, Wiedeman said the center’s financial director Connie Ball filled in as the interim director until Weideman stepped into her role.

“I give her props for being willing to take on those two major roles, but there wasn't a huge push to find a permanent Executive Director, and so I think that was probably part of the start of things kind of going sideways is that was a lot of responsibility to put onto one person,” Wedieman said.

She said they’re currently negotiating terms of paying back the outstanding payroll taxes with the Internal Revenue Service. Weideman said if the IRS hands down its full penalty, the senior center would pay an extra 100% on top of the unpaid taxes with daily compounded interest. She said some staff directly involved with the center’s finances while it didn’t pay taxes could also potentially be held criminally liable.

“We don't know what the IRS is going to do, because those penalties can be horrific, or they can be a little gentler with us,” she said, “And we're hoping that we can show that we are a staple. And that we discovered it, we immediately went to work to try to figure it out and move forward.”

Right now, the senior center is completing a forensic audit going back 18 months. Weideman is also recommending putting funds for building an Alzheimer’s wing toward paying off the facility’s debts instead. If no one objects to this by Dec. 13, the funds will be moved.

Wiedeman said the center is back on track to report payroll taxes moving forward, and she hopes to complete the first part of the audit in 6 months. In the meantime, Weideman is asking the community for help through donations and volunteering.

“Right now, we are strongly dependent on community support. And rightfully so, the community hasn't been super generous with giving us funds. I don't blame anybody. There hasn't been transparency,” she said.

Wiedeman said they’ve launched a new donor program where members of the public will be able track their donations. Meanwhile, the board meets again on Dec. 11 and is open to the public.

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Local News Homer Senior Citizens Inc.Kenai Peninsula NewsHomer Senior Center
Jamie Diep is a reporter/host for KBBI from Portland, Oregon. They joined KBBI right after getting a degree in music and Anthropology from the University of Oregon. They’ve built a strong passion for public radio through their work with OPB in Portland and the Here I Stand Project in Taipei, Taiwan.Jamie covers everything related to Homer and the Kenai Peninsula, and they’re particularly interested in education and environmental reporting. You can reach them at jamie@kbbi.org to send story ideas.
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