Speaking after the meeting, committee chairman Neville Cook said there had been some discussion about hearing the item, listed as "project brief - getting to National Equity: Disability Support Services", in the closed session, but some commercial sensitivity was involved.
The project to be put before the boards was not yet approved and it was not the time for considering the matter in public, Mr Cook said.
For several months, the matter of the boards' "over-delivering" of community services for the elderly compared with national averages has been under discussion.
The boards say they are providing a total of $14.5 million more services than they are funded for and have suggested they could jointly reduce this by about $8 million over three years.
The boards have already moved to reduce spending on home support services by lowering the number of hours of housework help and personal care allocated to people in their homes.
It is also hoped the number of people in rest-home care, which has been gradually reducing, will continue to drop from its present level of 753 in Otago to 600.
Committee member Heather Clay asked if rest-home care was to be reduced to that level and home support hours were lowered, what were the alternatives for people affected?Regional general manager of planning and funding David Chrisp reiterated that providing alternative community services catering for people in their own homes was part of the project.
He agreed it was not feasible for the board to get down to 600 people in rest-home care without other services being provided in the community.
He had previously indicated the boards could not save the full $14.5 million because of the need to provide alternative services for those people no longer in rest-home care.
