Blue Haven Terralong residents Peter and Boni Maywald with one of the artworks created by fellow residents Lea and Ken Tucker, which bring the beloved village to life. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
Residents of Kiama’s council-owned retirement village face an uncertain future after an asset condition report on Blue Haven Terralong determined tens of millions would need to be invested in the site over the next decade by a council that is already financially struggling.
Negative public perception and uncertainty have plagued many who call Blue Haven Terralong home after an extraordinary council meeting highlighted a report stating that more than $50 million was required over the next 10 years to bring it from ”poor” to ”average” quality.
“We just want people to feel OK about living here and for the community to understand that the people living here are paying their way,” resident Boni Maywald said.
“People are tired of fingers being pointed at Blue Haven Terralong, saying ‘You cost us money’.”
Boni and her husband, Peter, moved from the now privately owned Blue Haven Bonaira to the Terralong site 18 months ago and are involved in many ventures both within the Blue Haven community and that of the broader Kiama.
And while they enjoy the connections and home they have created, they said many didn’t understand the costs and financial structure associated with living at the site.
“These days, they do a market testing of the costing for any available unit that you pay to sign the contract to move in here,” Boni said.
“You literally have to sell the family home to move in here, and then every month we pay, as a couple, around $570 as a maintenance fee that covers the ongoing costs of the garden, staff and maintenance of the building.”
Peter said: “When you move in, you pay for your unit, you get a licence to live here, you don’t have title, you don’t get any capital gain on what you pay.
“So when you move out, you get 70 per cent of the amount you paid when you came in, and the capital value may have increased significantly. It is council, as the owner, that benefits from capital gains in the property value.
“The perception in the community has been that Blue Haven has been a drag on council. It’s just the opposite: it feeds money in to council revenues.”
According to the business papers of the meeting, separate financial records for Blue Haven Terralong don’t exist beyond 2021-22; however, reports ”based on recent years’ performances indicate that Blue Haven Terralong has been cash positive by an average of $1.3m per annum”.
“Blue Haven Terralong returns some revenue to council, but that doesn’t cover all the expenses, including staffing, depreciation, renewal and replacement,” a Kiama Council spokesperson said in response to whether the site was making or losing money.
“And the report says we need at least $51.2 million to bring Blue Haven Terralong to a fair condition, which far exceeds council’s ability to fund.
“The maintenance fee paid by residents is solely for the purposes of the recurrent expenditure operating budget at Blue Haven Terralong. A residents’ budget is developed every year, in line with the retirement village regulation, and is approved by the residents.
“The terms ‘poor’ and ‘average’ in the report are engineers’ terms for an asset management classification. The retirement village is a quality facility with lots of positive attributes, but what the report is acknowledging is that there is a backlog of maintenance that needs to be undertaken to bring it up to a better standard.”
The council resolved to have a peer review undertaken of the report to determine whether the figures truly represented what needed to be done, with the CEO Jane Stroud to investigate the site’s future options, including its potential sale.
But with many units sitting vacant, residents feel as though the council is missing out on millions of dollars that could help solve their problems.
“There are about 20 units empty in this building and some units empty in the other buildings as well,” Boni said.
Peter added: “We spoke to the managers recently and they said they just refurbished a unit. The people who bought it originally paid $360,000, lost 30 per cent of that when they moved out, and council spent $80,000 refurbishing it and re-leased it for $1.2 million.”
Ms Stroud met with the residents’ committee on Thursday (16 April) and reassured all in attendance that she understood the value and connection they had to their homes while also appreciating it was a business unit and a council asset.
”The meeting was at times robust, but overall a constructive and open exchange of concerns, ideas, questions occurred,” a council spokesperson said.
“There were good questions from many of the residents regarding the asset condition report itself.
“This is the start of what will be a long conversation with the residents over the future of the facility and how best to manage and fund the backlog.”
Peter said: “Residents at Thursday’s meeting, especially those who know the buildings well and have worked on them, say that council just needs to use available Blue Haven Terralong funds for the legislated purposes — maintenance, refurbishments and upgrades as needed — over the coming 10 years, rather than syphoning the funds off for other council purposes, as has been done in the past.”
And as this conversation continues, residents want consultation with them to be crucial, calling for an honest approach to anything that’s decided.
“We’re looking for transparency and truthfulness,” Boni said.
“We just want the residents here to be told the truth about the supposed condition report analysis, and if it’s falsely based, for it to be more honestly assessed.
”The residents here value their retirement community as a self-managed and self-maintained community and just want proper management in line with legislated requirements.”
