IT HAS been faithfully counting its pennies and has ended up around the middle of the DHB pack for the last financial year.
Whanganui District Health Board budgeted a $1.342 million deficit for the 2005-06 financial year. It has ended up with a deficit of $1.862 million, a $520,000 difference.
These are
interim figures, with final ones published in November.
The board's income was $150 million. This had to pay for hospital services, mental health, supporting the elderly and disabled and some health costs outside of hospital.
Adding to WDHB debt is a "write-down" of $13 million in the value of the hospital buildings. This is for buildings that are to be demolished because they don't meet modern earthquake standards.
The plan is to replace them with new buildings in the hospital's nearly $30 million upgrade.
The $13 million figure was likely to be revised downward due to accounting adjustments.
The write-down boosted the deficit to more than $14 million ? but that was only on paper, corporate services manager Peter Beirne said.
The board had finished up close to the budget figure it aimed for.
At its meeting on August 11, member Graham Adams noted that Southland DHB had a deficit of $4.6 million.
Diana Valentine said having a $500,000 deficit wasn't too bad.
"We have to focus on the bigger picture, where we sit within the country.
"We should be benchmarking against the rest of the DHBs, because they face the same problems as us."
But Ormond Stock said members shouldn't be too complacent about meeting a deficit budget, because they had been told not to have a deficit at all.
