The recent national economic news about bailouts, foreclosures and lending woes had a strong impact on Porter-Starke Services plans to expand its services in Portage. As construction plans were being completed for a new mental health and addictions service center on Willowcreek Road, and a fall groundbreaking date tentatively set, a local lender chosen to finance the project was forced to react to the national market and dramatically constrict its lending terms. As such, the new terms prohibitively increased the cost of the project which indefinitely delays the expansion until such a time that market adjusts.

“Every economic indicator from the financial experts we’ve consulted with is that the market is not going to correct itself in the near future,” said David J. Lomaka, Porter-Starke President/CEO. “Any financial decision we make absolutely can not reduce our capacity to serve our clients, and at this point if we went ahead with the construction based on the market terms, we would have to cut back in other areas and that is not acceptable,” said Lomaka.

“The tragedy of all of this is that during times of economic distress the need for mental health and addictions treatment significantly increases,” said Lomaka. “It just doesn’t seem logical to have to limit expansion and access when all the projections show that more people are going to be seeking help.”

Lomaka plans to meet with County leadership to revisit the use the interest proceeds from the Porter Hospital sale to infuse local health and mental wellness initiatives. “The fact that our local leadership had the vision to negotiate the sale and that they’re such careful stewards of those dollars should really be applauded,” said Lomaka. “But there are some strong established health and wellness programs here in the county that could really be saved and enhanced with those dollars and that would save the taxpayers from footing anymore of the cost.”

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