Chrissy's Views

Review any vendor or supplier contracts

Review all utility charges with the supplier. This includes water, sewer, electric, gas, telephone, cable television, and any other utility for which you pay some other company. Ask if they plan any increases during your upcoming fiscal period. Look at their historical performance to see how much they normally increase their rates. Another important area for review, although not a utility, are the real property taxes and any personal property taxes the community pays. Call the local tax assessor to see if any changes are in the planning.

Examine the ADA compliance checklist to determine what you need to do to meet the goal of being ADA compliant in your office, sales center, and clubhouse. Incorporate improvements as you can into each year’s budget.

Next, think about the capital improvements that are needed in the community. Do you need to do some major street repair? Does the playground need new equipment? Is the maintenance shop in need of a new roof? Is it time to install a new blower motor in the wastewater treatment plant? Do you need new signage, lighting and landscaping at the entrance? These capital improvements, while they may be listed on the deferred maintenance list, are more often just things you “would like to do.” Try to include some of these “nice to have” things each year. From a marketing perspective, these are things that generally increase in a positive way the aesthetics of your community, and impress the prospective residents as they drive through the community. They also reinforce to the current residents the values you provide to them.

Finally, one of the last components of the budget is to study the specific schedules for complex categories. For example, if you have more than one employee, you need a specific schedule for wages. On that schedule, you would list each employee, their base pay at the beginning of the fiscal period, any allowances for bonuses, the payroll “load” (workman’s compensation, the employer’s share of health insurance, etc.), and any raises which you plan to make available to them during the coming year. Other areas where a specific schedule may be required would be for rent. In that case, the schedule would show the number of homesites that pay full rent, those that are on reduced rent along with the ending date of the incentive, and allow for new residents moving in and the rate of rent they will be charged. This schedule is also useful if you have more than one rate of rent in your community (corner homesites are more, lake front homesites are higher, etc.).

that are up for renewal during the budget period. Try to renew them now, during the budget creation process, so you aren’t surprised at the new rates. Consider the financial impact of bringing some of the work inside to staff to alleviate the payments to contractors. Be sure to take into consideration the skills of the onsite staff, the current demands on their time, and the equipment of the community before committing them to more tasks. Also review equipment leases and/or contracts for continuing applicability. Many communities lease their copier. Is it really large enough for what you do, or is it too large? Can you substitute a newer, better piece of equipment for the one currently under lease?