URBANA – After a series of months in the black, finances at the Champaign County Nursing Home have taken a turn for the worse.

But the facility is still about $100,000 ahead for the year, the county nursing home board of directors learned Monday night.

August and September turned out to be tough months for the county-operated facility, with a loss of about $24,000 in August and another $15,000 in September, according to nursing home director Andrew Buffenbarger. That came after three consecutive months with net income of $66,191 to $91,766.

August originally was in the black until officials discovered that not enough money was being deducted for retirement expenses. All of the mid-year correction of about $47,000 was taken in August, resulting in a loss for the month of $24,000. The loss in September was attributed mostly to pharmacy costs and higher than expected staffing costs.

The nursing home's census remained strong through the summer, Buffenbarger said, but has begun to slip in recent weeks. From May through September the average daily census was more than 200. The nursing home's goal is 195.

But Monday's census was 190 and "we're seeing it start to really struggle," he said, with an average census of between 190 and 195.

Buffenbarger said the census likely is down because there are fewer referrals from local hospitals, probably because of the impending holidays.

"It is cyclical," he said. "And we're getting into a time period when the hospitals get less busy and as a result the nursing homes get less busy."

Jason Hirsbrunner, a nursing home board member and an official at Christie Clinic in Champaign, acknowledged that people tend to delay elective surgeries before the holidays and avoid putting elderly parents in nursing homes.

"They'll say, 'I can't bear putting mother into a nursing home until after Christmas,'" he recounted.

Buffenbarger said the nursing home now is reviewing its staffing models to be prepared for a lower census.

Last year after a peak in August, the nursing home's census fell throughout most of the fall months until rebounding in December and January. It reached its peak in May and June.

One positive for the nursing home, Buffenbarger said, is that the nursing home is no longer under monthly review by the Illinois Department of Public Health after a series of complaints earlier this year.

"Each one of those complaints cause a cycle," he said, "and we have to wait for public health inspectors to clear out the cycle. They have done that and we now have been free of those complaints for two months."