Join the Conversation! 2010 Budget Input

The Board is currently reviewing the 2010 Budget -- and we welcome any input & recommendations about how & where our HOA money should be spent.

The Board is always interested in ways to save HOA money, to keep assessments low.

Often homeowners ask "where is all my money going?" and "what are my assessments spent on?" Here's a pie-chart to help answer this question, visually (based on the current 2009 Budget):



Please tell us:

What do you want the Board to consider when building the 2010 Budget?

Perspective (continued)

Some people have asked for more explanation of the September 12 post titled "Perspective", which detailed that Mt. Si Cottages is a $12 million corporation. Here is some more perspective.

• This corporation's largest financial asset is our property. This has a value of more than $12 million.
  


• We have annual revenues of nearly $120,000 (from assessments).
  


• We have annual expenses of nearly $89,000. (It takes a lot of money to run a $12 million corporation, even when we spend every penny carefully.)
  


• We currently save nearly $31,000 into our reserve fund each year (i.e. "savings account"). This money is set aside for major repairs & scheduled projects that will cost us a lot of money in future years. (A healthy reserve fund is important. It helps ensure that we wont get charged special assessments down the road. And it is critical for resale values -- because Lenders expect healthy reserves before they'll lend someone money to buy your house.) ** The Board is currently studying our reserve fund closely, to ensure that we adequately fund it. **
  
  
• Our corporation has 44 owners. (These are the 44 homeowners).
  
  
• The owners elect a Board of Directors, responsible for overseeing the management of the business.
  
  
• Every owner shares in the success or failure of this business.

A Message From Your Landscape Committee

My thanks to everyone who helped with the garage sale. We netted $230, which was really great seeing we only gave people 4 days notice!

Our goal is to find ways to lower the landscaping costs the HOA is paying (so we can put more of that money into the Reserve) while at the same time enhancing the plantings around the cottages. We'll be doing that by finding free plants, doing the extra planting ourselves and possibly some of the maintaining of the beds. This will be Mt. Si Cottages-wide project that you will be able to join if you are interested.

I'd like to thank the four members of the Board who helped with the garage sale by donating and/or manning the tables--Dawn Davis, Lynette Erb, Megan Roberts (who is expecting any day!) and Jason Pynn's wife Wendy. Bill Erb donated his truck and time to get the leftovers to the Goodwill truck.

Also, thanks to the members of the Landscape Committee who made it all happen: Cara Axe (let us use her super location), Julie Hopkins, Wenda Miller, Ron Sajjad, Doris Shelton and Paige Weed. Thanks also to Viera Baran, Shauntel Hart and Dana Guinn who offered items for the sale.

This was a great community effort--it was fun to get to know each other and you'll be able to see the results in the new plantings around the utility boxes (pending approval).

We'll do this again with the spring ROA garage sale and give you more warning.

Please let me know if you want to help with the Landscape Committee--25% of our homeowners took part in the garage sale! Way to go!

Sincerely,
Sue Swanson, Committee Chair

Perspective.

Here's some valuable food for thought. There are 44 homes in our community. Let's assume an average home-value of $280,000. Think of that. This means we are each invested in a $12.3 million corporation (44 homes x $280,000). And every act of this corporation impacts our lives directly.

Join the Conversation! Board Meetings

Thanks to anyone who's ever come to an HOA Board meeting. Community involvement is great (and so, so important).

For those who haven' t come (or don't come regularly) we're curious what keeps you from coming. Check out the new poll to the right, and select your reasons. (Or leave us comments on this Blog post.) Thank you!