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LAUREL — During a special city council meeting Monday, the Laurel City Council approved the payoff of one of its loans originally secured to cover Hillcrest Care Center payroll in February 2025 before the facility was officially closed three months later.
The original loan amount was $180,000 with interest accrual of approximately $15,200. The loan is to be paid off with Employee Retention Credit funds recently received from the Internal Revenue Service.
According to the IRS, an ERC is a refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees who were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those pandemic-era tax credit funds were applied for in 2021. The Laurel City Council is now finally able to use those funds.
The ERC funds recently received by the City Council for the defunct Hillcrest Care Center total $269,785.74. What’s left of those ERC funds after paying off the $180,000-principal loan will go toward other outstanding bills from Hillcrest, according to City Administrator Dan Kuhlman.
The council also voted on the approval of a six-month extension of two other loans originally secured to cover debt accrued by the Hillcrest Care Center.
Those extensions were approved to provide the Council time to look through the budget and get a game plan put together, Kuhlman said.
The now-empty facility, formerly operating as the Hillcrest Care Center, is still for sale.
Financial challenges, staffing shortages and failed efforts to keep the facility operating culminated in the closure of Hillcrest Care Center and Assisted Living in May 2025.
In May 2024, Laurel voters rejected a proposed 1-cent sales tax intended to help support Hillcrest Care Center operations.
That same month, the city dissolved the seven- member nursing home advisory board after board members began questioning the facility’s administration and finances. Oversight of Hillcrest was then transferred to the mayor and City Council.
In January and February 2025, employees began publicly raising concerns about unpaid bills, financial instability and management issues, and several staff members resigned. By March 2025, the city moved forward with the termination of Hillcrest administrator Megan Wieck and saw Hillcrest’s last registered nurse resign before ultimately voting to close the facility.
Shortly after voting on the facility’s closure, community members launched Cedar Haven of Laurel in an attempt to preserve nursing home services, but fundraising fell short of what was needed to keep the facility operating.
By April 2025, the City Council authorized final closure actions, including employee terminations and efforts to sell the facility’s 36-bed nursing home license. Despite all efforts, Hillcrest Care Center and Assisted Living officially closed May 13, 2025.
