2008 Budget

nospam@example.com (Melissa Centeno) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:15:14 -0700

You have now received the 2008 Sorrento HOA Budget. It has our first budget increase in the seven years that the HOA has existed. I listed the reasons the increase is necessary in the cover letter you got with the budget.

Believe me, all of the resident Board members considered the service improvement requests of the residents and the committees before we finalized the budget. Unlike the government we cannot spend any more money than we take in.

The budget had to be completed by November 30^th for the new fiscal year. I personally believe that unless we have a larger than expected number of defaults and foreclosures in 2008 we will have a balanced budget at the end of 2008. At this point, I cannot think of a reason we would need another increase, especially one of this size, in 2009.

No budget, just like no answer to the speeding problem, will please everyone. Yet your Board of Directors has to make the tough decisions. We hope to meet the needs of the majority of the residents.

Every member of the Board of Directors reads the blog. We all pay attention in the meetings. We all get copies of the correspondence to Marinel. We would like to hear what you have to say about the budget.

I usually try not to respond to attacks, or anonymous posts, but I will be glad to answer any other questions posed on the blog. If I can’t answer a question another Board member can. Please try to keep civil with your neighbors.

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

Sorrento HOA 2008 Budget

nospam@example.com (Melissa Centeno) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:51:31 -0700

In the next couple of months the Sorrento HOA Board of Directors will be setting the budget for 2008.

There are several issues that will have to be factored into the new budget. I will list some of them here, but seek your input on what you as a resident want the Board of Directors to consider when we set the budget and the dues for 2008. I want to hear from any resident that has a thought about the budget. This issue could clearly become more volatile than speeding, or parking, or any other issue we have faced here. Please don’t snipe at your neighbors who have a different point of view than yours. I personally will give more weight to those who are thoughtful concise and are willing to put their name on their posts. It is quite clear that your Board of Directors cannot please everyone and will have some tough choices to make.

Here are just some of the issues:

The dues have been the same since 2000.
There are several residents that are not paying their dues. The HOA has taken aggressive collection efforts, but a few people are over their head and may go into foreclosure.
The drought continues. The DWP has asked the City Council for a significant rate increase.
S&S has turned over more land to the HOA including some very large plots of hillside on Browns Canyon Road that we must maintain and water.
There was significant dissatisfaction with the pool service, the janitorial service, and the security service this year.
Speeding is a very significant problem here. It will be addressed. We probably will have to install several speed humps and pay for a speed patrol.
The Budget Committee recommends that we increase contributions to the reserve fund by 5% for the fund to remain solvent.
Our existing suppliers have asked for rate increases.
Our legal expenses have been very high in 2007.

Those are current facts. I know some residents were told by the person that sold them their home that as we became more built out dues could go down. The Board did not make that sales pitch. Not even Alan Greenspan predicted the current mortgage mess. Not even Fritz Coleman predicted the current drought.

I personally am looking for other ways to increase revenue at least a little. We will be advertising on our website and possibly on the maps that security hands to visitors, but quite honestly, that revenue will do little more than cover the expense of the website and the maps. By the way, website expenses should be less in 2008 than 2007.

This Board has tried to save money this year. We moved our summer meetings to the pool to save rent at the church. The future winter meetings will be at Sierra Canyon to help save on rent. Through the effort of this Board we have new gate arms on Torino, and got most of the money for the arms reimbursed by S&S. We have used the Internet more effectively and saved on mailings. We have many more committees consisting of volunteer residents working on their own time to improve our community.

Nobody wants to pay more for dues. Everybody would like our HOA to be clean, safe, and well maintained. What do you think we should do?

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

Sorrento HOA Blog - Finance

2008 Budget

Sorrento HOA 2008 Budget