Blue Haven aged care loses half a million dollars in a month

The shocking figures are contained in reports going before the council at Tuesday night's meeting.

Read more: Let public see council's forensic audit, says councillor

For the month of July, the retirement home made $714,534, however there was also $1.3 million in costs.

The bulk of these costs was the more than $800,000 in employees wages and $330,000 for materials and services.

There was also the problem that the facility wasn't at capacity with almost 20 beds empty.

That meant the bottom line for July was that the retirement home was $660,027 in deficit.

Across the combined Blue Haven facilities - including their assisted living units - the figure is not as severe but still shows a $300,000 loss in July alone.

The numbers suggest that the aged care centre component is a drag on council's finances.

"The accounting figures don't lie," Kiama Mayor Neil Reilly said.

"We've known for a time that this is the circumstance. It's a great concern considering we're under financial stress and we've often considered where it might come from - and I think that Blue Haven is the answer."

These figures only recently became available because, prior to this year, the financial performance of Blue Haven was wrapped up in council's ledgers.

It is only this year that efforts had been made to split off Blue Haven into a separate ledger.

"You can see why the minister [for Local Government] is paying particular attention to us to ensure that our focus is on the community as a whole as described in the Local Government Act," Mayor Reilly said.

"We will have to make some very, very difficult but necessary decisions.

"We have to consider that the residents have their rights. We don't want to act in a way that's going to be detrimental to them considering that they might be our customers in the aged care facility but they're also members of our community and we're looking out for them."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.