The Solterra Board and various committee members are meeting to begin talking about our budget for 2020. Last year we had working copies of proposed budgets. This year we don’t. So the residents will be at a little disadvantage. But it is still worth coming to the meeting.
Here are some issues you might want to pay attention to:
1. You will remember that notice in January stating that the management company failed to submit the correct mill levy to Jefferson County. They collected 6 mills too little – a loss in revenue equaling $347,955.
It will generate some havoc with your mortgage escrows and some big surprises for some next year, but putting that aside for now, there are also some budget questions.
The Board stated that they had enough reserves for this year but would be considering an increase for 2020 to make up the difference – so we might be paying 6 mills more for last year, plus 6 mills that we didn’t pay last year – a total increase of 12 mills over what we paid this year.
Here is the relevant language from the January notice:
“As mentioned above, the Boards have been maintaining some tax revenue reserves in the debt service funds for the Districts to protect against just such an unforeseen event, so there are sufficient debt service fund balances between Districts 2 and 3 to absorb the tax revenue deficiency and still meet the payments on the bonds in 2019. At the end of 2019, the Boards for Districts 2 and 3 will evaluate imposing an additional 6 mills for debt service in 2019 for collection in 2020, because property taxes, like income taxes, are collected one year in arrears.”
2. The Townhome folks will recall that the Board was seriously considering imposing an additional fee on the Townhomes for maintenance of the common area around the Townhomes (particularly snow removal). Now will be the time to remind them of the residents’ position. Now will be the time that they consider taking action – they will have to include it in the budget.
3. There has been much said about the pool/retreat/management companies. Last year the Board homogenized the budget categories so we don’t know how much we are spending on the two separate management companies (we only need one) and the YMCA. We should require that the Board break these out so we can have a substantive conversation about change.
4. There is some concern about what monies are being exchanged between the District and Brookfield. The budgets are less than clear about that. We need to require more transparency.
5. Attorneys’ fees. We are spending a lot of money for attorneys’ fees. We need to require a breakdown of projects for which we are spending money on attorneys. For example, we spent at least $10,000 on the misguided planned lawsuit against our sewer provider on behalf of Big Sky. And we didn’t know anything about it while the money was being spent. We need more accountability for legal expenses.
6. We own the sewer and water pipes. Another area is how much are we saving to pay for replacement and/or repair costs.
You all will have some issues. Please share them. Other issues will emerge. This is just the beginning of the conversation. It is our money and we need to pay attention to how it is being managed and spent.
John Henderson