BrightSide Animal Center, formerly the Redmond Humane Society, expects a small profit in fiscal year 2013-2014 for the first time in several years, according to Director Chris Bauersfeld.

Bauersfeld said the center is on track to pay back the $600,000 remainder of a $1.5 million loan taken from the county in 2008.

“Our finances were tight but it’s getting better,” she said. “We have a budget in place that we’re able to meet. It’s already going well, and we’re exceeding projections each month this year so far.”

Bauersfeld said the animal center in 2009 sold a piece of property in southwest Redmond. The $1.4 million in proceeds are held by the Alice Teater Trust to be shared with the Humane Society of Central Oregon and to pay down the loan owed to Deschutes County. She said the center plans on paying the county $150,000 in two to three years and another $150,000 six years from now.

Additionally, the animal center owns another 11 acres it has not yet sold.

When it does sell, the profits will go into a similar trust, meant to pay down the loan at a faster rate.

“The county is comfortable with this plan,” she said.

Deputy County Administrator Erik Kropp said there is no formal payment plan, though, he is aware the organization has funds it’s using to steadily pay down the debt.

“The rehabilitation loan agreement essentially is the mechanism for the loan to be repaid through the disbursement of the assets from the Teater Trust,” he said in an email.

The organization spent several years operating at a loss, incurring debts to vendors large enough for them to seek financial assistance from the county in 2008.

“The county was able to negotiate a much larger debt down to $1.5 million,” Bauersfeld said. “We were blacklisted with a lot of companies who were basically paid 50 cents on the dollar.”

Vendors became wary of the animal center’s stability and stopped donating, exacerbating the difficult times.

“Companies thought we were sinking, and people don’t want to donate to losing causes,” Bauersfeld said. “It’s taken us a while to convince people that we’re here, and we are going to stay.”

Bauersfeld said that when she took over after the former executive director resigned, she did not have access to the shelter’s financial records. This meant she didn’t know exactly what it would cost to run the shelter.

“I’m not sure what happened, but we had really incomplete records,” she said. “It was a difficult and interesting time, but we got through that time.”