Meadow Hill completed 2008 in a strong financial position. Other than our normal month-to-month bills, we have no debts and we have reserves of about $235,000.
During the course of 2008, we used some of our reserve funds on a new greenhouse and some stonewall reconstructions, but we still managed to grow our reserves by about $60,000. Our road repair project had been a budgeted item.
At the December 16th Owners’ Meeting, the community unanimously approved a budget of $547,000 for 2009. This represents no change from 2008, so there will be no change in our common fees for the new year. We have continued to control our costs well as evidenced by the fact that for the seven year period of 2003 through 2009, Meadow Hill common fees have increased by only 4.75%. For the same period, Social Security benefits have increased by 22.0%. Additionally, for the six year period of 2003 through 2008, the National Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Areas (CPI-U) has increased by 22.3% and the CPI for Northeastern Urban Areas (CPI-NEU) has risen by 24.6%. So we are tracking very well.
The Finance Committee was actively engaged in 2008. It started the development of a Long Term Capital Plan to identify our capital requirements to maintain our infrastructure for the next five to ten years.
As part of this effort, we will conduct a Reserves Study in the first half of 2009 to better understand the size and timing of
those capital needs. The committee was also active in the development of the 2009 budget and, in particular, used a successful brainstorming session to find ways to reduce our costs going forward. We will be doing similar cost containment work in 2009,
looking for ways to get more value for our dollars. For example, there may be savings for us from increased use of our main- tenance staff (i.e. in-sourcing) and more vendor bidding and negotiations. If you have ideas or suggestions for ways we might reduce our costs, please let us know.
Lastly, a very Happy New Year to all!
Lincoln May