2022/2023 Budget – Effective August 1, 2022
Each year the Association’s volunteer Board of Directors performs a very careful review of the past year’s expenses and income to best project the amount to collect from each member in the upcoming fiscal year. When reviewing the budget, the Board considers several factors such as: recurring contract costs, inflation, utility usage and rates, insurance, and appropriate reserve contributions each month to pay for repair, restoration and/or replacement of common area components as needed.
There were several factors that impacted the Association’s budget for this upcoming fiscal year. The cost of labor and materials is on the rise, and those increases are financially impacting the Association through contract increases from service providers and increased costs of maintenance and repair projects. The cost of utilities goes up every year, and this particular year, a 20% increase in the cost of electricity and water is reflective in the 2022-2023 budget.
This past year, a change in landscape maintenance vendor was made which impacted the budget for landscape by nearly 50%. The new company discovered that the irrigation on the slopes behind the homes at Santa Gustavo and the slopes adjacent to the homes along Santa Sofia was not functioning at optimum capacity. After conducting an extensive irrigation audit with Andre Landscape and Monarch Environmental, it was determined that the irrigation pump was not working properly, as it had insufficient pressure and was unable to pump water from a lower level to a higher level to adequately irrigate the slopes. A repair was made to the irrigation pump and the Board is now in the process of having it inspected and plans to continue a recommended preventative maintenance program to ensure this does not happen again.
Each year the Association has a reserve study prepared to determine the current level of reserve funding for the existing components. The recommended reserve contributions were increased by 37% for this upcoming year in order to adequately fund the reserves and meet anticipated expenses. Due to these factors, the Board of Directors has determined that an increase of 10.87% is needed to responsibly meet the Association’s financial needs in the upcoming fiscal year. Please note that effective August 1, 2022, your new monthly assessment will be $153.00 per month. If you are on auto-pay, please be sure to adjust your payment to the new assessment amount.
The Board recognizes that the timing of an assessment increase may be difficult for some homeowners due to financial hardships. The Board sympathizes with those homeowners and has carefully considered this in the approval of the budget. Even in times of hardship, the Board has a fiduciary duty to the membership to approve a budget that accurately portrays the forecasted and contracted operational costs for the fiscal year.
The Board of Directors would like to thank all the homeowners for your trust in the Board of Directors as we strive for a peaceful and beautiful place to live. We would like to acknowledge those of you who volunteer your time to promote the success of our community which includes the Architectural Committee members, Nancy Fowler and Amy Bourne. Thank you for your thorough and prompt reviews. The newly appointed Landscape Committee, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the folks who took on the communitywide project for the enhancement of the slopes and the community entrance, JoAnn Buchanan, Amy Bourne, Robert Crowley, Allison Stephen, and Michael Williams for their hard work and dedication to our community. The newly planted areas look great and have enhanced the appearance of the community beautifully!