What is ahead for us in the near future? What will we need to be prepared for and for what should we make contingency plans. It is the normal planning that any responsible person does, be it a homeowner, a unit owner or a renter. One must prepare as best one can for the future - near and not so near.
One of the best ways to prepare is to pay oneself first. Always take something from your paycheck and stow it away. Granted, today there is practically speaking no interest to speak of, but at least the money can be put away. Every Jewish woman inhaled that knowledge from birth and it is the rare one who does not have a "knippel" someplace, in some drawer or hideaway for those emergencies or special times.
So let us take a look at our Village and what we will need as a Village and as unit owners. For one, we need to have a better watch over the care and spending of our hard earned and non replenishing funds. As our buildings and infrastructure age, we all will be hit with something, be it a replacement A/C, new cabinets, plumbing and electric repairs and improvements, new flooring, and at large - new roadways and walkways, better water and lake management, improved pool care, entertainment costs and on and on. These are not free folks, and no one gives it to us for cheap because we are such cute little old folks. So process and procedure MUST be followed and maintained or else we are doomed.
So soon after the roadway job, and it truly was a "job", we are looking at the same accumulations of sand and pebbles, of widening cracks, of ever larger "ponds", of walkways that grow ever more hazardous and the wherewithal to fix all this is nowhere to be found even as the cost continues to rise. We spent money we DID NOT HAVE in a most foolish/and or criminal manner and we are reaping the consequences now and will continue to do so in the future.
We have crumbling infrastructure elsewhere in the Village, be it sports courts, pools, bridges, fences, etc. and how do we fix all this? What we do is prioritize - what must come first, what is emergency, what is most penny wise and dollar wise, who are the best vendors and then squeeze them but good to get the most value, the most bang for our bucks. We are the elephant in the room as far as size and needs go and so he who gets a contract with us is lucky. Let us make sure that we are lucky too and do not have to rerepair pools every three years!
We need to install or institute a step by step process, a procedure as to how to move forward in awarding contracts, even in finding the vendors. Oh, I know, we are supposed to have one, but you could fool me. It is more honored in the breach than in the following. How often must we hear Barbara Cornish, Bid Committee Chair, remind people how contracts MUST come before the committee? And how many times is she ignored.
Why can we not get a clear answer as to exactly what the figures in the budget are? At one meeting the treasurer gave three figures for the same line and said he is not sure, must check or wait for the accountant. Not good. At the assembly we got the same runaround, this time having to do with the money in the Wi Fi exploratory reserve. And what will the new UCO fees be should this not be transferred to the general reserve and its lovely $1.3+ million dollar shortfall?
Our crystal ball shows our fees rising. We are already at over $10 (see a prior blog) and that does not take into account the increase in fees for the association. You know, the insurance fees, the property maintenance costs, the repairs and capital improvements, etc.
And what about what we do not really know? Now we have many in the Village waiting with anxiety as to whether they will have to change their lanai windows. They ask why, as they found these windows there when they bought, or they did it years ago when it was allowed. Are they now to be told - fix or else? Is that old couple in their 90's now to find out that they have to renovate from their dwindling funds and miniscule social security, spend $5,000 - $8,000 that they simply do not have and/or afford?
So the crystal ball looks ahead, sees in the future many expenses, be it a roof installation that has gone sour to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars, to a fence that never gets installed, to repairs of infrastructure, to the expense of hiring top notch attorneys who will fight for a fair and equitable new agreement when the Millennium one is up and on and on. It poses the questions as to why we are planning to spend more money, money that WE DO NOT HAVE on another multi million dollar project even with the million dollar shortfall and the other million dollar projects that will be arising? Where, it asks, is it written that all MUST have Wi Fi, that it is a common or shared element, that one can be forced to pay into that fund like it, want it or not! Especially when there are other options, no matter what name you call them.
The crystal ball reminds us that a dollar can be spent only once. It reminds us that we are not the Federal Government and we cannot run in the red, cannot sell Treasury Bonds to raise money, cannot ask Congress to raise the national debt - or even ask the assembly to do so! The crystal ball reminds us that prudent financial planning is the way to go. Spend what we must, do not indulge whims and fancies, particularly of the individual over the benefits or harm to the many. Plan for the future. Save for the future. Just exactly what is the 40 Year Lookback going to entail and what will it cost us? There are so many unknowns so why must we push the envelope.
Those of you who keep screaming property values - have you bought only to sell, to speculate or have you bought to live, to make this the best place for retirement and living? Have you looked past your own nose to see the needs of the Village residents or do you even care about them? The crystal ball asks these questions, points out the needs, the dangers of the future. Heed it well.
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