September President’s Report

President’s Report September 2022

Summertime is ending and school is back in session for our community students. Please pay extra attention to students walking when driving on our roads. We thank you for helping keep our community safe.

The pool will be closed for the season on September 12th and phase two of the scheduled pool repairs begin in October. Thank you all for a memorable and fun summer season!

Our wonderful Assistant Community Manager Marissa is undergoing surgery for a work-related injury and will be out of the office for some time. We ask for your understanding and patience as our Community Manager Scott handles the daily calls and inquiries while she is out.

We mentioned during our annual membership meeting last month that the unprecedented inflation rate is impacting every area of our personal and community life. In addition to rising prices for goods and services, we also are experiencing increased fees and supply chain issues with our business partners. Many of the vendors that we do business with are struggling to keep their businesses staffed and make a profit. All of this impacts our community finances and the budget process for next year. Concurrently, we are in a situation where ten percent of our members owe a past due balance equal to thirty percent of our total budget! This also has a huge impact on our association’s finances.

We follow a rigorous process in preparing the annual budget. Spreadsheets are prepared for the Board to review, detailing each budgeted category and comparing this to what has already been spent and what will be spent by the end of the year. Our accountants and management team review the data ahead of time for accuracy and reasonableness. The Board uses this historical data as the starting point for the 2023 budget. Evaluating the new budget begins with looking at the 2022 proposed budget and comparing the actual year-to-date money spent in each category. This will show us how realistic our estimates were for 2022. Then, we go line item by line item and evaluate all the factors affecting the future budget. We rely heavily on data that has been gathered for us by our management team and in our business partners’ contract renewal information. It is only natural that there will be differing opinions about how the Board should spend the HOA’s assessment dollars. Because the outcome of the total dollars budgeted determines the 2023 HOA assessment, the budget is not final until the Board votes on it in an open session in October. Until the Board votes, all homeowners are encouraged to submit questions and suggestions to the Board. After all, this is your money.

This year, homeowners are already experiencing many cost increases in all aspects of their personal daily lives. During the budget process, your Board will have to deal with many similar issues on a much larger scale that reflects the common community expenses that we all share. The Board already knows that our trash removal costs have dramatically increased in the second half of 2022. Another example is the big increase in the cost of propane. In 2021, the cost was $1.94/gal. In 2022 we paid almost $2.50/ gal. Fortunately, our Community Manager was able to lock in current pricing until the fall of 2023. We have numerous non-negotiable expenses such as insurance and payroll. All rates are increasing exponentially and there will be an increase in the annual assessment. Every $10K of budget spending equals about $27 per homeowner’s HOA assessment.

In closing, your Board will be weighing all options during the budget process and doing its very best during this difficult economic period for every homeowner. That being said, we strongly encourage every member in good standing to attend our special meeting on September 17th. This is your chance to learn more about the draft budget and governing documents proposed amendments, and also participate in decisions made about the budget. We hope to see all of you then.