It has been brought to my attention that a number of unit owners have not yet turned in their budget proxies. It is critical that owners submit their proxies as soon as possible. To avoid a maintenance fee increase of 30 percent or more, you must vote “Yes” to waive reserves and send in your proxy in time for it to be received by the association by the Dec. 17 deadline, which is the date of our budget meeting. Some of you have told me you misplaced your proxy or never received it. No problem. Click HERE to download and print one. Others have asked me for specific instructions on how to complete it, so here goes:
Fill out the very top part where it asks you for your unit number and building. Leave the line just below that blank; the board secretary will act as proxy and is required by law to cast your proxy form as you filled it out. Just make sure you check "Yes," date it, sign where it says "Signature of voting representative" and print your name below that, and leave everything else blank, including the "Substitution of proxyholder" part at the bottom. (If you have more than one unit, fill out as many proxies as you have units.)
You can bring the proxy to the office in person, fax it or scan and email it. You could also mail it in, but considering that the proxy must be received by Dec. 17, it might be safer to use one of the other methods.
To email it, just scan the completed form and send it as a PDF or jpeg attachment to admin@internvillage.com and include the word “Proxy" in the subject line.
To fax it, send it to 954-486-5677.
MY BUDGET PROPOSAL
As for the budget itself, I have taken the time to review the proposed 2014 budget, with some help from a fellow unit owner, in advance of our Dec. 17 budget meeting, and I am now confident we can cut the $159,000 needed in savings to avoid a 7.4 percent maintenance increase.
First off, let me state that our employees are greatly appreciated for their hard work and dedicated
service to International Village, but I cannot in good conscience support the proposed 4 percent salary increase at the same time the budget is asking already struggling owners to pay 7 percent more in maintenance (which happens to be about seven times the current rate of inflation). Let’s keep in mind that our employees are already going to get a substantial increase in health insurance benefits as a result of Obamacare mandates, which will require us to spend an extra $16,000 in health benefits next year. That’s the equivalent of a raise in my book. So why would we add another $30,000 salary increase on top of that, just because it represents the same 4 percent raise that was given last year? In this economy, how many of us can expect an automatic 4 percent raise every year? Salary increases and bonuses have their place, but they should be tied to performance using defined benchmarks such as, say, success in balancing the budget without raising fees. Here's the deal: I pledge to support this proposed 4 percent salary increase for all employees if our property manager presents the Board with a budget that doesn't include a maintenance increase at our budget meeting this coming Tuesday. Of course, this will require coming up with the $159,000 in savings I mentioned earlier. To make this task a little easier, I took the liberty of identifying some savings in the budget myself, and have come up with the following proposed cuts, which add up to exactly the amount of savings we need.
1. Legal fees – Save $25,000 by engaging in less unnecessary litigation, which often seems driven by Board members’ personal animosities.
2. Computer expenses – Why are we budgeting $15,000 for such a tiny operation? Save $7,500.
3. Office equipment and supplies – Again, for such a small office, the proposed $15,400 sounds exorbitant. Save $8,000 by shopping at Walmart.
4. “Other expenses” – This very vague line item is budgeted at $10,000. Unless we can get a better definition of at least what general category of expenses we are talking about here, I would eliminate this item altogether.
5. Signage – Why is $2,500 budgeted for signage when less than $200 was spent in 2013? Save $2,300.
6. Cell phones – There is no justification for spending $1,350 for the Board of Directors president’s cell phone when all other Board members pay for their own. I have no problem letting the three other individuals with association-paid cell phones keep them since they are employees and need them for their jobs, but there are cell phone plans for $50 a month – less than half of what we’re paying now. Save $3,600.
7. Cable – Eliminate premium channels like Showtime (trash time). I don’t know how much this will save, but let’s say $35,000 (about 10 percent of the annual price of the contract).
8. There appears to be some redundancy in the budget. We have an air conditioning contract, a landscape contract and a pest control contract, which are costing us a total of $66,540. But in a separate part of the budget, a total of $60,000 is set aside in maintenance costs for air conditioning, landscaping and pest control. Why are we paying twice for the same things? We don’t seem to be getting our money’s worth on these contracts. Let’s rebid them to make sure our contractors do more so we don’t have to do so much. Save $30,000.
9. Copier lease – Why are we spending $4,500 a year on this? Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a copier? Dump this expensive leased copier. Save $2,000.
10. Water and Sewer – At $600,000, this is the single biggest line item, but maybe we could get some of it back. There has been talk of enforcing the Village’s ban on washers in units, but also of the impracticality of forcing owners with “grandfathered-in” washers to remove them. But we could turn this negative into a positive by simply acknowledging that they exist and charging these owners a fee based on their estimated increased water usage. Recover $5,000.
11. Open the clubhouse one hour later every day, at 8 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. According to our property manager, only between 3 and 10 people a day use the clubhouse between 7 and 8 a.m. anyway. This would save about $4,700.
12. Paint – Let’s cut the $6,000 budget for this item in half by stopping the practice of repainting the walkways every year. We could easily get away with painting them less often and just giving them a good sweeping. But if the paint is fading faster than it should, we need to switch paints. Save $3,000.
13. Social activities – I believe this should be mainly a volunteer initiative. In fact, this past year, volunteer owners organized several successful and very well attended parties that didn't cost the association anything. Save $4,500.
14. Maintenance and janitorial supplies – $78,000 seems like a lot. Let’s try to make do with $65,000. Save $13,000.
15. Gym – We just replaced all the gym equipment. So why is the budget $3,000 higher than last year's approved budget? Save $3,000.
16. Tennis and racquetball courts – Why are we spending $3,000 on these two items? Save $2,000.
There you have it. I don’t believe I have exhausted all the potential savings in the budget, but just doing the 16 items above will avoid the threatened maintenance fee increase. Let's hope our property manager and Board take heed. And be sure to attend our budget hearing this coming Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse (as well as our regular meeting scheduled for the day before on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.).
SECURITY SCAM
In other news, the Safety & Security Committee held its first meeting last week. (See it HERE by scrolling down the page to "Safety & Security Committee.") The committee, which was established last month by Board of Directors President Marvin Tow, had been billed as a way to solicit ideas from owners on addressing safety concerns in the Village. But the first hour or so of the meeting was devoted to a slick sales presentation by two representatives from a local security firm, who pitched several unsolicited big-ticket items including front entrance locks and a telephone entry system for each residential building, a new electronic key access system and, of course, a camera surveillance system – none of which they provided price estimates for, saying they were under strict orders by someone on the Board (the president?) not to discuss costs.
Some cynics had suspected that this committee was just designed as another vehicle for our Board president to once again push his favorite pet project (despite a recent ruling by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation that forced his $150,000 camera scheme to be put on hold). What they probably didn't see coming was an even more ambitious maximum-security plan to convert International Village into a virtual prison.
ART FESTIVAL
On a lighter note, International Village will be hosting its own mini version of Art Basel this weekend, with an Art Festival to be held this Saturday, Dec. 14 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the fountain in the “French Quarter” of the Village. Bring your art works to sell and share, bask in the beauty of this perfect gathering place, and meet and network with your neighbors while enjoying some free cake courtesy of our social activities chairman John Henderson. Musicians are welcome.
By now, most of you have received your ballot package for the Jan. 27 International Village Board of Directors election, or you should be receiving it soon.
