New Blue Haven ownership a 'good thing': Mayor Neil Reilly

He added that he intended to keep in touch with residents at Blue Haven Bonaira after the sale.

At an extraordinary meeting on Monday, Kiama councillors voted to accept on offer from the preferred bidder to purchase the Bonaira aged care centre.

The name of the buyer was not announced at the meeting, though the Mercury understands they are not from the Illawarra.

The vote on Monday comes around 18 months after the council first voted to sell the Bonaira site.

"We have achieved a significant milestone in our two-year journey to divest Blue Haven Bonaira," Mayor Reilly said.

"I want to assure everyone that we do not take this decision lightly.

"Each step of the process has been worked through with meticulous detail, with many pages of reports, hours of briefings and debate among the councillors and other stakeholders."

Mayor Reilly said he wouldn't be walking away from the Blue Haven residents once the sale was completed.

"I feel that we've done the right thing by the council, by the community and the residents of Blue Haven," he said.

"The people who live there are still our responsibility as residents and ratepayers as a council and I will keep up contact with them throughout my period as mayor."

He said it was a "good thing" for the residents that the ownership will change and they would recognise that in time.

"Aged care has become such a specialised area in terms of the legal framework and the ethical obligations that are there," he said.

"If you're a part of that industry, whether you're a recipient of aged care or whether you're a provider of aged care, you really need that assurance that people have got experience and the scale to be able to deliver it."

The council is under a performance improvement order that requires it to be financially sustainable by 2026-27. It also has to ensure that it isn't reliant on sugar hits of asset sales to prop up what might otherwise be a budget in deficit.

The sale of Blue Haven will give a boost to the council's bottom line, and also free it from the ongoing expenditure of running the aged care facility.

Mayor Reilly felt the council could achieve that required surplus within two budget cycles.

"That gives us two years from whenever the ink dries on the contract to ensure that council is a going concern," he said.

"And I reckon that's plenty of time. I think in two years time, we'll be well-positioned and be able to deliver what the government is asking of us."