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SLLA Board Gets Proposed FY 2010-2011 Budget
Written by Greg Hankins, Editor   
Thursday, 18 February 2010

    Treasurer Denny Galford presented a $1.373 million Fiscal Year 2010-2011 budget to the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] Board of Directors during their Monday, February 15 Work Session.
Image     The anticipated $1.373 Million in revenues includes $124,000 that will beset aside for road repaving and state-mandated repairs to the community's dams, leaving $1.249 million in unrestricted income, Galford told the Board.
    After $1.1 million in operating expenses, $149,000 will be left over for capital expenditures. The Treasurer recommended that the Board approve the operating budget at the February 24 Open Meeting, along with capital expenditures of up to $50,000 for road repaving and $60,000 for dams.
    Galford presented the Board with a six-page budget packet, explaining that former Community Manager Dalton Fulcher had presented both an operating budget and recommended five-year capital budget to the Finance Committee. The Committee developed its proposed budget from that starting point and Galford then adjusted the budget to reflect the contract with Talis Management Group.
    [The Times asked for a copy of the budget packet, but Galford declined to provide one. Some budget detail will be attached to the agenda for Wednesday's Open Meeting, which had not been published at press time.]
    The proposed revenue budget exceeds the FY2009-2010 revenue budget by approximately $147,000, which likely reflects a $50 dues increase for FY2010-2011 approved by landowners at last year's annual meeting.
    Galford told the Board that he did not plan to hold a drop-in meeting during which landowners could ask questions about the proposed budget, a practice the Association has followed for the past several years. After the meeting, Galford told The Times that last year's meeting attracted few residents and those who did attend were more interested in revisiting old controversies than asking specific questions about the proposed budget.

 

   
Delaying decisions on capital items
    Galford suggested the Board wait until July before approving any capital items other than $110,000 for roads and dams, in order to give newly-installed Community Manager Alina Cochran an opportunity to develop recommendations.
    "We need to give Talis time to get their feet on ground and review the proposed capital projects," he said.
    Galford told The Board that Cochran has suggested bringing in an outside firm to study the likely life of the Association's major assets — like the North Club House, pool, and mailhouses — in order to help the Board develop a strategy of building reserves for the repair or replacement of those assets.
    "I think we need something like that," he said. "We don't have the five-year/ten-year continuity that we should have."
    Maintenance Director Bud Shaver told Galford he has two committees that could provide valuable input in that area: one studying the expected life and replacement cost of SLLA equipment and another focused on evaluating the major assets.
    "I encourage that the maintenance committee be kept informed," Shaver said, "so we work together."
    
Road repaving
    The Board is also awaiting a road repaving plan that is being prepared by Fulcher, Galford noted. The initial presentation of that work to the finance and maintenance committees is slated for February 23.
    Although the Board voted earlier in the year to begin repaving in August or September, Fulcher's five-year capital plan delayed road repaving until 2013, estimating an $800,000 expenditure that year.
    The idea of delaying repaving clearly did not sit well with Board members, a number of whom noted their earlier vote to move forward this year.
    "The Board has said we are going to go ahead and do it,' Galford said. "Dalton has been saying the chuck holes aren't that bad. In the back of my mind and the committee's mind, when we get his initial report, we may go out and have [Community Manager] Alina [Cochran] get an engineer's study of the roads."
    Director Bruce Keyser suggested that, when it is time to obtain bids for the needed repaving, the Association ask contractors to provide a quote on paving the first eight feet or so of residents’ driveways. The winning contractor could then offer that service to residents as their paving crews pass by.
    The Board expressed support for the idea — as long as the relationship between the paving contractor and residents was completely independent of the Association.
    
Additional reporting requested
    Noting the recent discussion about rebuilding reserve and contingency funds in Seven Lakes West, Director Sally Kindsvatter asked whether the SLLA has a contingency fund.
    Galford pointed to a sheet in the budget packet that showed the Association began the year with a $375,000 fund balance left over from the prior year. "That's how much cash we have in the bank at the beginning of this year," he said. Noting that the FY 2009-2010 dues increase added another $62,000 to that balance, which he said included approximately $188,000 set aside exclusively for road and dam repairs.
    "We expect to have $444,000 in cash at the end of the year," Galford said, "which can be used in future years."
    "We should designate the leftover cash to go into a reserve account," Community Manager Cochran suggested.
    "When we flip over to the Talis accounting system, I would love to see both an income statement and a balance sheet," Director Kent Droppers said. He asked that Cochran bring samples of Talis reports to the next work session.
    "I agree totally with what Kent is saying,” Galford said. "What the Finance Committee looks at is both income statement and a balance sheet."
    
Talis transition underway
    Community Manager Cochran reported that the transition to the Talis accouting software is well underway,  with training of the local staff planned for later in the week. Data on all property owners has now been entered into the system, Cochran explained.
    Cochran said that Community Standards compliance issues will be able to be tracked in the new system.
    “At the next work session could you make a presentation to us, so I have a better understanding of the nits and grits of it?” Droppers asked. “We might have some insights how we can best tweak it for Seven Lakes.”
    Also nearly implemented is the SLLA section of the Talis website, which will allow members to log in and view their account information online. Cochran noted that the Talis website does not offer publicly accessible information and suggested it may be desirable to retain the existing SLLA website to provide general information about the community.
    Cochran told the Board she had been getting to know the community and found it easy to quickly learn about the problems — particularly with drainage problems exacerbated by plentiful rain and snowfall.
    
Other Business
    In other business during the February 15 work session, the SLLA Board:
    •    Reviewed a draft document laying out the respective tasks of managment and directors, and asked for input from Cochran before it is finalized.
    •    Discussed an amendment to the Bylaws, developed by Galford, that describes the Association’s System of Governance. Kindsvatter forcefully made the case for adding a simpler summary paragraph to the bylaws, but the Board appeared ready to approve Galford’s draft. Director Gary Caulk asked that it be put on the agenda of a future Open Session for a vote.
    •    Agreed to host the Open Water Swim competition on Lake Echo on June 4 and 5, which wil require that Echo Dam be closed off for a period time on each of those days. Last year’s competition attracted 600 swimmers plus coaches and spectators.
    •    Agreed that the Sailing Club can temporarily mark the new white buoys to be installed on Lake Sequoia to make the their race course more visible on race day.
    •    Heard from President Randy Zielsdorf that the Greater Seven  Lakes Community Council met with Commissioners Nick Picerno and Jimmy Melton for a briefing on water issues. Zielsdorf said the Council plans to ask to have a seat at the table in the regular meetings between county and municipal elected officials.
 
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