Residents of a Stamford nursing home asked regulators Friday to back off of a plan to close the facility.

Some of the patients have lived at the Smith House nursing home for 20 years. The say they are terrified of leaving.

But Stamford Mayor David Martin says the Smith House is on track to lose $7 million this year.

"We now have an insurmountable and unsustainable financial challenge," Martin says.

A private buyer has offered to keep the place open and keep workers paid their present salaries, but the union representing much of the staff is stalling over that buyer's proposed pension and health insurance cuts.

The CEO of Center Management Group, the group poised to buy the facility, says he hopes the union will compromise.

The state will decide within the next four months whether to shut down Smith House.