The owner of the Stay and Save Inn is telling Leesburg officials "the check is in the mail" as the deadline came and went Tuesday to pay the utility bill.

Possibly left in the dark, dozens of families said they have no other place to go.

But the city has decided to extend the deadline one more time.

Robert Sergeant, a spokesman for the city of Leesburg, said negotiations have been going on for months, and the owner is going to owe another $12,000 on Thursday.

But because the owner assured city officials the money was on its way to America, the city left the lights on for one more day.

Families living month-to-month at the Stay and Save Inn had their belongings piled by the door Tuesday, ready to leave if the lights and air conditioning suddenly went out at 11 a.m.

A deal was reached Friday to give the owner until then to make at least a partial payment on more than $38,000 he owed in overdue utility bills.

"They said they would be express delivering payment to us from out of the country," Sergeant said.

Priscilla Clark, a resident of Stay and Save Inn, said she's going to "keep her patience and trust in God."

In the midst of all the uncertainty for the residents, a homeless ministry happened to open up Monday right next door.

Volunteers with the mission delivered food to the hotel’s residents and have been helping them with deposits if they wanted to find a new place to live.

The Rev. Joanne Knight, of Come As You Are Ministries, added: "Too many times, people are like, 'Oh, we can't do it.' There are multiple organizations that have funds right now that just don't."

As the 11 a.m. Tuesday deadline passed, Leesburg still didn't have the money. But after conversations with the owner's bank, city leaders decided to keep the utilities on for at least one more day.

"If (the owner) doesn't pay his utility bills, then that burden falls on all of our other utility customers we have," Sergeant said. "And we don't want that to happen. But we also want to be sympathetic to the business owner and help him out any way we can and keep him operations."

Some residents, who are fed up, are already making plans to move.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Brandon Caswell, another Stay and Save Inn resident. "It is all I can say."

City officials said that if it does shut off the utilities, they wouldn't be the ones to decide if people could stay at the motel. That would be a decision for Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants.