"I read and understand what both Morry and Jared have said.

No doubt we are in tough times. The current recession has effected our association with increased dues delinquencies, non-payment of dues, and foreclosures. The recent fires and the homicides on Como Lane caused us to spend a lot more money on security in the last couple of months than we could have anticipated.

Now we are facing a very tough 2009. Your Board of Directors consists of five people with five differing views on what some of our priorities should be. As we have worked through the budget process each Board member has expressed passionate views on how we should spend our money and what our priorities should be.

One thing is very clear though, we cannot spend more money than we take in.

Currently there are 613 residences on our books. About 40 of those are significantly behind in their dues. We have to find a way to cover the expenses. The Board is doing that by continuing our collection efforts, reducing some expenses, and by a $5.00 dues increase.

We have a couple of unknowns to deal with though. Our Reserve Study is not complete yet, and the new congress and President have not taken office. We may have to re-evaluate our budget during the year if our Reserves are too low, or changes in the law affect the economy or our ability to collect from those people who aren’t paying the dues. Mortgage relief might also allow our residents who are behind in their dues to have the funding to catch up.

We cannot rob the Reserves to pay for monthly expenses, or new projects; that’s the law. We would be imprudent to underfund the reserves. One established Porter Ranch HOA has major street repairs and their Reserves are at least a million dollars underfunded right now. Those residents will have to pay a large Special Assessment next year. Another Porter Ranch HOA, newer than ours, is also facing Special Assessments next year because their Reserves are underfunded.

The Budget is the most controversial thing any HOA Board works on. Our Treasurer, Greg Norris, sought out advice from the Finance Committee members and other Board members and Ross Morgan before we passed the budget. One Board member wanted to raise the dues more than $5.00 to keep our service levels high. One Board member wanted to keep the dues at current levels by cutting some services and dipping into the Reserves. That same Board member feels that our current collection efforts cost too much money and we should cease filing liens on delinquent dues. Our Treasurer points out that our collection efforts have brought in several large payments of back dues. One Finance Committee member is very concerned that the Reserves are underfunded, while another would like to contribute less to the reserves.

This is just a sample of the views on a very complex subject. Our budget passed on a 4 to 1 vote. Some of the residents that attended our last HOA meeting expressed the opinion that the dues should be increased more, while one resident said that he was assured by S&S that dues would go down as more people moved into our community. I hope that gives you a flavor of why the HOA budget is a compromise. It sure would be nice if a few of our legislators in Sacramento could compromise

Just a note on the “Cows”. Porter Ranch, Chatsworth, and Sorrento/Meadows have had a string of bad news stories beginning with the Metrolink crash. I know the Board has taken all those issues very seriously. I believe I have communicated with the proper tone on those very serious issues. Life here is not all bad news though. I wrote the “Cows” e-mail blast to put a more pleasant face on things. It was meant to be humorous. I got several replies from residents saying they enjoyed a laugh. If anybody in the community feels that they should only get bad news or serious stories they can send me a note and I will create a list of “serious news only” recipients. Of course, I don’t want to spam anyone. You can always ask to be removed from the e-mail blasts completely with a short note to me. My e-mail list is not shared, to protect your privacy.

A note on the Hospitality Committee. Our 2009 budget is $1.36 million. The Hospitality Committee budget is $3,120 or 0.23% of the whole budget. About 42¢ of your $180 per month goes to Hospitality. Melissa Centeno has a corps of several volunteers that work on three or four community events per year. Personally, I think that is money well spent. It helps make our very diverse community a neighborhood. I know many Los Angeles residents don’t care if they ever meet their neighbors, but I think $5.09 per year, per house, is truly a bargain for what we get from these events.


Pat Pope
President
Sorrento HOA"