Community will decide how to spend $3.5 million Lerwin windfall

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Locals will soon get a chance to decide how the Murray Bridge council spends almost $3.5 million from the sale of a beloved community asset.

The council abruptly revealed in November last year that it had sold the Lerwin Nursing Home, which it had owned and operated on the community’s behalf since the 1980s.

A private company had made an offer a few months earlier, and councillors decided to accept it without seeking other buyers or consulting the public.

However, locals will get to have their say about how to spend the proceeds.

Those proceeds ended up amounting to about $3.5 million out of the $11 million price paid by the Roshana Care Group, after associated debts were paid.

At the time of the sale, Mayor Wayne Thorley suggested the funds could be spent on new community infrastructure, aged care services, paying off debt or – yes – temporarily lowering council rates, if that was what the community chose.

A consultation process will begin in the second half of this year.

“Council will advise of details once the approach and timelines have been endorsed,” Mr Thorley said this week.

“Meanwhile, the sale proceeds will remain quarantined within council’s budget until a decision is made on how to invest it.

“This means the funds are set aside for future use and will not be used for day-to-day expenses.”

Under the council’s ownership, Lerwin had been losing about $1.6 million per year.

“The fact is, the sale of Lerwin enabled us to stop losing money and adding to our borrowings,” Mr Thorley said.

“None of us have ever wanted to walk away from aged care.

“(Lerwin) could really have been closed, but we chose not to go down that pathway.”

Election delay set events in motion

Murray Bridge’s councillors had previously planned to leave it up to their successors to lead the consultation process, after the upcoming council election.

But with the election now delayed by five months, Cr John DeMichele pushed for the whole process to be brought forward.

“At the time of the sale … council committed to reinvesting the proceeds into the community and advised that it would engage with the community at the appropriate time,” he said at a council meeting on Monday night.

“The deferral of the 2026 council elections … now allows appropriate time for council to bring forward consideration of the ongoing allocation of the Lerwin proceeds.”

Cr DeMichele suggested it might be appropriate to spend some of the money on programs which would benefit Murray Bridge’s older residents, though Cr Fred Toogood warned that there were many challenging rules and regulations in that area.

In any case, Cr Clem Schubert said, the council owed it to the community to spend the money in a proper manner, perhaps on people less fortunate.

The council will make more information available about the consultation process in the coming weeks.