WWS2010 Budget - Operating Accounts

The budget committee meetings on Saturday 9/26 and Tuesday 10/6 were a review of operating accounts since 2000 and the preliminary budget for 2010.

The chart below is a visual representation of how each maintenance dollar is allocated in the proposed budget. As you can see, over 50% of each maintenance dollar is spent on the uncontrollable items of insurance, utilities, and cable tv. Those are the big ticket items where rates are determined by municipalities or single service providers.

The preliminary budget as presented shows an average decrease in maintenance fees of over 7% for 2010. A large portion of that decrease is a result of the change in reserve accounting that is being proposed by the Budget Committee.

The proposed budget must now be reviewed by the BOD. There may be further adjustments before the numbers become final.

The complete presentation including the chart shown above is available at the link below and on the President's Blog.

2010 Budget Presentation

The BOD will consider the preliminary budget at the October BOD meeting on 10/26. All owners are invited to attend.

A Blast from the Past

I thought it might be fun to devote this entry to some material I came across in the WWS office. I'm not certain who found these materials. But I enjoyed comparing them to current photos of the same locations and I hope you like it as well.

The first item on the left is a photo postcard from Wildewood Springs. It must date from the late 70's and might have been created as marketing material for condo sales. The photograph is Pool 3 looking toward the rear of cluster G. On the right is a recent photo taken from approximately the same location and orientation.
























The next pair of photos shows Pool 1 in the same approximate time frames as the photos above. This view looks toward the rear of cluster B. The old photo is from a WWS marketing brochure.



































The most striking difference for me was the lack of mature trees in the early photos. I had thought the trees we can see in the later shots were always on the grounds. It's easy to see the visual impact of a mature landscape for this property. It looked nice then, but it looks wonderful now. Maybe this place was named 'Wildewood' because someone had a crystal ball. Enjoy the photos!

BOD Meeting & Update

Here's a quick summery of some high points from the 4/27 BOD meeting and what you might expect during the summer months. A number of projects will be in progress during the summer break.





Pools
The BOD gave bid approval for work to address the Federal Portion of Virginia Graham Baker Act (VGB). Work may begin as early as the week of 05/04/2009. The pool upgrades will be done by divers while the spas will be drained for the grate installation. Pool down time will be minimal. Watch for the notices.

Documents
The Document revision will be separated into 3 parts:
1-Election of Directors
2-Insurance - requires mortgage holder approval
3-Remainder of changes

The BOD will be reviewing the document sections relating to election of directors and insurance. The plan is to have these sections approved by the BOD and distributed to unit owners for review and vote during the summer. Our goal is to have the section relating to elections approved in time for the 2010 BOD elections. The portion relating to insurance will require an additional approval step from all mortgage holders. The remainder of the documents will be addressed when regular meetings resume in the fall.

Summer Meetings
Regular monthly meetings are suspended for the months of May, June, July and August
There will be BOD workshops and meetings during summer for the Document Revision project and other business which may arise. The dates will be announced.
A Special meeting will follow later in the summer for the owner vote on the first two document revisions

Cluster Advisor Door to Door Distribution
The Cluster Advisors will distribute the Red Cross Vial of Life Materials during the month of May.


Have a great summer!

Board of Directors April Workshop

The Board of Directors schedules a monthly workshop meeting as a method to discuss topics that are pertinent to our community in a more informal setting than the monthly Board Meeting. No official business is conducted at a workshop. Instead, the meeting is used as an information gathering and exchange forum for the Directors. Owners are welcome and may also participate in discussions.

I'm working up the agenda for our April BOD Workshop. One important topic that we will be discussing in this workshop is the renovations we must make to our spas to conform to the Virginia Graeme Baker Act.

The Virginia Graeme Baker Act was enacted by Congress and became effective in December of 2008. This law requires specific updates to commercial spa drain covers and installation of anti-entrapment systems to prevent possible entrapment of children and small adults.

The April BOD Workshop is planned for 4/7/2009 in the WWS office at 9 AM. Watch for notices on CH 95 and the mail kiosks.