The Haines Borough Assembly last week referred to its Finance Committee a request from the Haines Senior Village for a $350,000, low-interest loan from the municipality to cover a second mortgage on the senior apartments on First Avenue South.
Bob Adkins, treasurer of Haines Senior Village, made a presentation at last week’s assembly meeting. He said a first mortgage on the facility was paid faithfully, but a second mortgage was “relatively ignored” for 20 years, due in part to a misunderstanding about language that stipulated it would be paid off in village “profits.”
A basis for the appeal to the borough is that the borough erroneously charged the village $60,000 for property tax between 1996-2006. In 2006, the borough repaid $30,000 to the group without interest.
The borough is not anxious to repay the $30,000, Adkins said. But the municipality would receive interest income if the loan went ahead, he said.
The 10-year loan would allow the group to pay off both mortgages, a combined amount of about $315,000, leaving $35,000 for needed upgrades to one of the village’s 13 apartments.
The group has paid down its principal on the loaned money $60,000 in the past year, with help from fundraising efforts. “We paid off three-and-a-half years of principal in one year,” Adkins said.