Saturday, October 19, 2019

2020 BUDGET

The devil is in the details...

This page will show you the overall figures.
I will post some of the significant details later under posting titles. Here are the headlines from this report.

2019 budget   1,646,475.00
2020 budget   1,729,799.00

2019 dues and assessments   605,06
2020 dues and assessments   632.73
per cent increase   4.57%

Click on the report once or twice to enlarge:


25 comments:

Anonymous said...

$27.67 increase...give me a break! Who can't afford that??

Anonymous said...

Have ever thought of comparing one's percentage increase in income versus one's percentage increase in costs?
Try it sometime.
Once you get those numbers, then subtract the cost one from the income one. If the result is a negative number, that is how much spending cut one will experience relative to the previous year to maintain the same standard of living.

Why do our cabana facilities keep degrading without improvement?
They don't have hot water. They don't have places to hang a jacket. They don't have soap. The walls look terrible. The sinks are ugly as all get out. The water faucets are clogged causing the water to flow out partially. The countertops are ugly and disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Beyond inflation, ask why dues going up? Because of really big mistakes by the bot, thats why.

Anonymous said...

28.00 a year is no big deal? Add that to the previous years and it starts to add up. The board thinks they did just fine last year, so they increased it. Where was there an effort to keep dues down or even lower? Looks like we can expect more of the same and pay more for it. Good job board. You continue to screw the members.

Anonymous said...

The board loves to sue members to cut down or butcher their trees too. Legal costs are very expensive. End the tree regulations now!!!! That will save us all a lot of me. In fact, our dues and assessments will go down year to year.
This is by one of those some love to personally attack.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't the Surfside website post all past budget years recap sheets? The website shows approval of the budget but not the budget itself.

Anonymous said...

$29,000 is budgeted for the "South end Waterline Expansion". The BOT has apparently approved this even though it makes no sense. The well known problem is that the properties served are not in Surfside, do not pay dues or abide by Surfside CC&Rs.

No money is budgeted for the Carbon Treatment Plant, which requires carbon replacement twice a year, at about $65,000 per unit (X2).

Operational budget exceeds dues and assessments by several HUNDRED thousand dollars. The bottom of the chart is not legible. What is the $350,000 in that section that appears to be listed as both revenue and an expense ?

We have been mandated by the State and County to mitigate the wetland permit violations at a cost of about $270,000. Where is that budgeted for ? And legal costs WILL spiral even further out of control if the BOT approves the 6 month compliance requirement on mandatory tree topping. This is a very large cost demanded of owners with trees, as often as every other year, and there is no real urgency for compliance - ONLY in Chair Peg Olds' and Annette deLeests' minds. (J place owners w/ their own compliance issues).

I'm not an accountant, but can understand what I read. There seem to be some holes in this. The Treasurer can only budget for existing revenue.

Anonymous said...

Again, more wrong statements being made off of the wrong statement made concerning the September board meeting.

There is NO 6 month compliance requirement to cut your trees.

Again let me repeat this, THERE IS NO 6 MONTH REQUIREMENT TO CUT YOUR TREES. Got it?

The issue that was discuss was for those that refuse to respond to a complaint in a timely manner. Before it went on and on for months. Now if you don't respond to a complaint with some plan to correct it within 6 months it goes to the next step. This is also with all complaints, not just trees. Quit saying otherwise.

Also, the board did approve this.

It amazes me how people who don't bother to attend meetings keep repeating or in some cases creating false statements that went on there.

Anonymous said...

It is amazing to me that the people at the meetings create false statements to hoodwink our membership.

So there we are....

Anonymous said...

11:55 There are no published minutes to support your claim. Put up or shut up!

Anonymous said...

Most organizations have increases in budgets year to year. If for no other reasons that the cost of goods continue to go up, personnel cost more, etc. the difference here is that there is a definite concern that a significant source of the HOA budget increases are to cover fines, etc that were created by negligence. This is why we need a line by line accounting. If there are actions against the HOA, we, the members are entitled to know the background and charges. The Board and administration seem to believe that we, the members who are the majority of this HOA, have no right to know the what, where, and how much. They hide behind “legal issues”. We just want the truth. Remember, they may represent us, but we, the members, own the funds (yes we do and don’t believe otherwise) and have every right in the world to know what is being done with them. It sure would stop the rumors.

Anonymous said...

Budget looks like depts are being "stuffed" with extra cash, to spread around what they think they need for hidden overages. Alot missing from "this" budget. They just digging their holes deeper.

Anonymous said...

2:09

There are no publish minutes except a recap in the weekender where it was said that the board approved it to be put to the membership for input. As you well know they rarely put in writing the discussions around it and in this case they didn't and in fact wrote it wrong. This whole thing was even discussed under the topic here titled "Information?". Go read it for yourself.

Bottom line, I was there and heard FIRST HAND what was said and discussed.

So to you and 12:24, if you still say I am wrong and am making false statements let's settle this. We can meet at the office to listen to the recordings of the meeting. We can put a $100.00 bet on if I'm right as I say or if I'm making a false statement as you say. I'll even lay you 2:1 odds.

So there, I put up, now you show up or shut up.



Anonymous said...

You're right, let's settle this. Which board member are you?

Anonymous said...

My guess is, Miss Peggy.

Anonymous said...

Sure I'll meet you there. What day and time?

Anonymous said...

2:09 there is a saying “if it isn’t written, it isn’t”. If we were to believe everything we hear, we would still believe the world is flat.. Perhaps a statement confirming what.you believe placed in writing, signed by the Board President and distributed to ALL members of Surfside HOA might be more convincing.

Anonymous said...

11:55 - At most, about 15 to 20 members attend Board Meetings, so you shouldn't be so shocked that, without other sources of information published by the HOA, some details may be a little foggy. But you conveniently ignore the main point which is, legal spending has greatly increased in the enforcement of Tree restrictions, as stated by the HOA attorney at the Annual Meeting. Increased enforcement pressure and fines are the driving force.

So more intensive enforcement, and these ridiculous mandatory closing inspections searching everywhere for something to write a ticket on and delay an owner's closing, will cost the community much more. So much more legal spending, and the hiring of 2 compliance officers amounts to a lot of posturing of HOA toughness in a very compliant community, and a lot of money pissed away on a Phantom problem.

When the HOA starts routinely informing the owners of their actions, proposed policy changes, policy changes made, and what exactly they are spending OUR money on, you'll have something valid to complain about when people share inaccurate information, or are missing some details. There is no concerted effort to divulge details of any kind by the BOT.

Anonymous said...

No 1:44, I'm not "conveniently" ignoring anything, you are. My comment was concerning the statement made about a 6 month mandatory tree topping, which wasn't said and isn't true. You're the one that keeps bringing up the legal issues which I wasn't even addressing. This topic has been discussed since that board meeting and has been proven that it was a policy change not a new tree topping policy.

Repeating the same false statements isn't helping. People like myself who actually attend meetings and actually hear what's going on come on hear to share the information and are met with people who accuse you of being a board member, lying or more. So it's futile to try any further. Some like to wallow in ignorance and complain, they don't care about facts if it goes against their agenda. So you all enjoy yourselves.

Anonymous said...

Hard to side with u 11:16. Since u come on here to set the record straight, but the bot presents nothing to support you. If the bot was transparent and honest, this blog would not be needed. Or are you how the bot chooses to communicate with us?

Anonymous said...

Heartily agree with 12:50. As long as the Board doesn’t keep the members truthfully informed, you will get opposing views on many subjects. It is up the Board to fix this. You will never get 15-20 people to attend a meeting, they are never paid attention to. I’ve been to many meetings over the past thirteen years and personally witnessed the discrimination.

Anonymous said...

11:16 is James Clancy.
He has told me in writing when he had no rational pisition or argument, "Do as you will". He loves being condescending.

Steve Cox said...

11:16 - You are contradicting yourself. Tree compliance has been given 6 months to offer their plan to comply or they are issued an ultimatum of some sort - which you are not describing. I think we can assume that a fine and legal threats proceed if the owner's "plan" is not acceptable. There are no further criteria it seems ?

As I said, the real problem here is the needless spending of member dollars to routinely move these issues to a status requiring legal spending and threats, as if there is any urgency to cut every Surfside tree's top off. This is a policy driven by special interest and bogus claims. It puts an unnecessary monetary burden on most of the owners in Surfside with trees on their property. There are no covenants that support or guarantee "VIEWS".

Stepping up enforcement pressure is a waste of member funds, and will result in a huge increase in fines and lawsuits. There is a very obvious reason why owners don't want to continue topping their trees. It KILLS them, and costs hundreds of dollars per tree. Stupid. The goal of enforcement is not to try and teach people a lesson. Start with reasonable rational standards and you won't see so much resistance.

Anonymous said...

Now Cox wonders why the board won't seat him on the board.

Steve Cox said...

3:00 AM....You must mean opinions based on common sense and respect of the members. No, I'm not surprised at all. There is no factual basis for increased enforcement pressure. It serves only as intimidation and a distraction from the HOA's failure to comply to County, State, and Federal standards.