Community Health Centers gets $1 million IRS break

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Often cast as the agency without a heart, the Internal Revenue Service has agreed to absolve the Community Health Centers of Southern Nevada of more than $1 million in debt.

The deal was disclosed Monday.

Thanks to the intervention of Rep. John Ensign, D-Nev., the IRS has agreed to a very amicable compromise that will eliminate 80 percent of a $1.4 million debt. The debt accumulated when previous administrators at the center shirked payment of employee payroll taxes.

Since 1994, the center has been paying the IRS $12,500 each month as part of a negotiated payback plan. Because that sum was only attacking the interest, while the principal remained, administrators approached Ensign's office for help.

As part of the deal negotiated with the assistance of Ensign, the center is now only being held accountable for about $215,000 of the $1.4 million debt.

That will be paid out in $6,100 monthly payments for two years and topped off by a balloon payment of $71,000.

Ed Martinez, executive director of the center, said that he will use the money saved to help meet the medical needs of more children whose families lack coverage and can't afford treatment.