Trimming Down

(Exerpt from CommonGround magazine (July-August 2008), by Karen Soles, AMS,LSM,PCAM

In the current economy, more associations are seeking to control costs and boost revenue. Here are 15 ideas for your community to consider:

1. Impose late fees immediately.
2. Reduce your legal fees.
3. Review your insurance coverage.
4. Safeguard your investments.
5. Maintain your reserve funds.
6. Conduct an energy audit.
7. Renegotiate long-term contracts.
8. Perform preventative maintenance.
9. Monitor water usage.
10. Reduce storage requirements
11. Increase user fees
12. Sell advertising
13. Rent space for cellular towers
14. Negotiate for compensation for utility work
15. Install vending machines

Another way for the Board here in Regency Cove to increase our income is to trim our spending, as a means of keeping our assessments as low as possible. Our Board will soon be considering items for the 2009 budget. Several of the above items have already been tackled by the new Board. Our treasurer Rose Reis has played an important part in keeping our park financially sound. Within a very short time, we will be moving FDIC uninsured funds, dangerously over $100,000, to accounts which will be bearing interest (#4). Rose requested an insurance comparison (#3) and we will shortly have those results.
Our reserve funds (#5) continue to be funded monthly, and a Tampa Water Dept. evaluation was recently completed (#6) which uncovered irrigation and the back-flow valve issue. More investigation needs to be done in the area of energy savings. Your suggestions are welcome!
Several months ago directors Susan Dunphy and Marie Avant conducted a contract review (#7) and one contract was voted unnecessary by the Board, and eliminated, saving well over a thousand dollars. Hopefully more will follow.

The Board should probably take an interest in the truck/equiptment maintenance schedules (#8) as well as anything else on our common grounds which requires routine maintenance. The apartments would be a good place to start.

Monitoring water usage has become a key item in the park. The Board must soon consider how violators will be handled when residents file repeated complaints against their neighbors. Fines need to be imposed, and our Appeals Committee can handle requests for variations or dispensations.
User fees (#11) for docks were increased last year, and will increase more in 2009. Perhaps its time to think about a user fee for the boat storage lot. Shuffleboard tournament user fees? Clubhouse kitchen user fees? Pay toilets? (just joking!)

Our Board, under President Ron Herb's direction, has worked diligently to maintain your financial investment, to improve services in the park, and to trim unnecessary spending. The Board welcomes your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to use one of the new comment forms available in the Office, contact a Board member, or just leave a comment below. We truely welcome comments intent on improving the park.