The union representing licensed practical nurses and nurses’ aides at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center should agree to discuss with county officials the county’s request to reopen their contract in response to the facility’s big financial deficit.

But before a reopening is exercised, the county should present to the union a comprehensive breakdown of Sunnyview’s current costs and how those costs compare with last year’s, even possibly going back five years.

That breakdown should include utility costs, government reimbursements, salaries, fringe benefits — all categories of Sunnyview’s spending.

In making such a significant request to the union, the county should do all possible to show that the union’s help is absolutely necessary to resolve what can be regarded as a serious financial dilemma.

The union rank and file might be more receptive to opening their contract if they have in hand a full explanation of the financial problem, including how the county already has been attempting to reduce the deficit.

Presumably hanging over the deficit issue, regardless of the union’s response, will be the sell-Sunnyview option, which county leaders in the past talked about but were unwilling to do.

But the county can’t afford incurring annual losses approaching — or in excess of — $1 million, even though some of those losses deal with building depreciation and indirect costs.

Making this year more difficult is a $450,000 balloon payment on a 30-year bond that paid for renovations in the 1980s. Still, without a balloon payment in 2012, the nursing facility ended the year more than $800,000 in the red.

But while asking for help from the union, the county needs to look for ways other employees can help trim the deficit as well. Demonstrating that it is seriously pursuing that, the county might increase its chances for a positive response from the union.

County solicitor Mike English was premature in pressing for an immediate answer regarding the contract-reopening request at a Sunnyview board meeting on Thursday. English knows such a request must be decided by the bargaining unit’s members, not by one person, in this case the business agent for SEIU Healthcare, a division of the Service Employees International Union.

The business agent, Tamara Lefcowitz, told English that a meeting would have to occur before a stance could be taken. She said a meeting could be scheduled for later this month.

If Sunnyview is to survive as a county facility, all components of the home will have to play a part in producing savings, not just the one union.

The county needs to take the leading step by putting the facts and figures on the table, including what it has done to date to justify what it has proposed.

The key from the start will be for everyone involved with Sunnyview to keep an open mind, as well as remain agreeable to compromise.

Rejecting that could jeopardize the home as it currently exists.