Charbonneau Financial Oversight Committee By JOHN MCLAIN
Leadership is hard but rewarding Over the past year , I ’ ve written a lot of Villager articles on “ how things work ” in Charbonneau , especially financial viewpoints that may be interesting to residents
MCLAIN on how the Charbonneya
Country Club Board of Directors budgets and allocates its annual assessments . Much of it is “ boring ” financial stuff , but feedback from residents is appreciated and a sign of transparency by the CCC Board that is welcomed , and some say long overdue . These are some topics I have covered : � Can debt be a good thing ? � Where do my dues go ? � What are reserves and a reserve study ? � Developing a five-year budget and forecast � Understanding the costs and revenues of amenities
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� Understanding the network of HOAs and dues in Charbonneau
� Why does my HOA pay income taxes ?
� CCC owns a golf course and a water company too ? ( future )
Cathi and I are spending a couple of months in the Southern California desert , a first for us , in a travel trailer with our dog Jasper . So , instead of a boring article on a key element of financial oversight , I ’ m taking time to reflect on this month ’ s Villager theme of “ leadership ,” especially financial leadership . The stars here at night are perfect for reflecting and inspiring deep thoughts since this desert oasis is nowhere near any significant city or metro or even small cities - Borrego Springs is a traffic circle and there are no traffic lights anywhere . OK , so there is one traffic light about 50 miles away in the middle of the desert connecting our access road to a rural highway . Here is my reflection on CCC Board leadership as I think back on stories shared with me by current and previous board members .
More than two decades ago , a previous CCC Board of Directors commissioned a large resident group to prepare a “ Vision ” document about what Charbonneau needed to be in the next 20 years - a copy is available in the CCC office or on the CCC website . The facilities of
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Charbonneau were approaching 40-50 years old and beginning to show their age in a non-flattering manner . The report strongly suggested that it was time to refurbish , revitalize , and renew the Charbonneau facilities and amenities . The board leadership adopted the vision document as a guide to reinvest in Charbonneau . However , after decades of less-than-inflation adjustments to dues since the beginning of the HOA in the mid 1970s , there were no funds set aside for such a bold plan , and the annual dues were far too low to fund the improvements . The hard part of adopting a vision was to also raise annual assessments to establish funding to pay for upgrading the image and amenities of Charbonneau in a way to maintain a desired level of value for residents ’ homes . Over the next decades , CCC assessed dues increases to specifically fund improvements to facilities and amenities - by 2023 , $ 34 per month , or 33 % of total dues . The remaining 67 % goes to operations and reserves for replacements . The CCC budget has not identified a need to increase this $ 34 per month amount for a few years since it has proven to be adequate to fund equity and loan payments for new and improved facilities for the next several years . For example , the recently completed Activity Center cost $ 8 million and was funded by cash plus a 20-year-term $ 6.7-million |
loan at a 3.125 % fixed rate for 10 years . Along the way , the CCC Board also managed to sign a merger agreement with the golf course , resulting in the course being an independent subsidiary of CCC - an HOA-owning a for-profit company . It is also unusually HARD for unpaid volunteer residents to serve on an HOA board and deal with the magnitude of the many decisions over the past decade . Board members are varied in their demeanor , backgrounds and willingness to confront assertive resident questions and aggressive resident groups that may not agree with the vision and the increases in dues to fund it . From my personal experience , it was often HARD to get agreement on the board and then even HARDER to provide full transparency and open dialog with residents to withstand the questions and sometimes personal affronts .
When I consider the full magnitude of past and present CCC Board members and the volunteers on the many committees , I can speak from experience , it is sometimes HARD , uncomfortable work , but the resulting rewards of a greater Charbonneau are well worth the time and effort of service on the CCC Board . Start by joining a committee , get involved , and share some of the HARD work and then you too can bask and reflect on the rewards of volunteering your time and talent . If not you , then who ?
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