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Welcome to October. A famous Chinese proverb states, "May you live in interesting times." Isn't that the truth! This month we celebrate holidays ranging from Columbus Day and Halloween to National Apple Day. The United States is very prolific at creating "national month" events. It also should be the month our weather begins to leave behind the hot days of summer. This month we are scheduled to approve the budget for 2021. As mentioned by our General Manager last month, we have an ad- hoc committee working with our Finance Committee to develop the budget. There are several guidelines that are important in this process, including: 1. looking at past data and comparing previous expenses, 2. reviewing our reserves and the reserve study, 3. negotiating contracts with vendors, 4. estimating income and costs, and 5. determining impact on assessments. The ad-hoc committee, with representatives from Finance, Landscape, Access Control, and Facilities, will determine priorities, that is, what needs to be done to maintain a safe and beautiful community. They are best able to forecast what expenses are expected in 2021. The Board must keep in mind that our mission is… "to preserve and enhance the quality of life and… support initiatives and capital improvements that benefit the greater good of the community." In other words, be pro- active and don't accept the status quo, yet be fiscally responsible. The budget has two major accounts, the Operating Fund and the Reserve Fund. The operating fund is used for keeping up with day- to-day expenses and maintenance of the association's assets. This is where most transactions take place. The reserve fund is essentially a savings account, where money is set aside to pay for the replacement or repair of association property. This is similar to a resident who sets money aside for future needs, such as painting, etc. Ideally an HOA wants to have a 100% funded reserve, meaning that it has enough money to cover all anticipated costs. This avoids having a special assessment. The estimated % funded at the end of 2020 is 96%. A reserve study is required to be conducted at least every three years. This identifies major components that the association is obligated to repair, replace, restore, or maintain. Another requirement is to determine the annual contribution that will be put into the reserve fund to defray the cost to repair, replace, restore, or maintain the components. Identifying all components is important, as well as the estimated useful life of the component, such as the roof on The Lodge, The useful life is defined as the number of years the component is expected to serve its intended purpose. We also need to know the replacement cost of each component to properly budget the money required when needed. This involves forecasting future expenses. Thanks to our resident volunteers who have served on committees and the Board, we have been able to operate on a balanced budget with no assessment increases. As we approach the election in November, emotions are likely to be running high. The most common recognized emotions are anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and contempt. All of these likely will be experienced before and after the election. We are living in another historic and challenging time, but it is important to remember that our country has faced many difficult times and persevered through all of them, including a civil war, an earlier pandemic, an economic depression, and several major wars. No matter what our individual beliefs and feelings, which may sometimes differ from our neighbors, we live in a community where we support each other. When help is needed, we don't ask "what political party do you belong to?" we say "what can I do to help." Stay safe. Message from the Board of Directors 2 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | OCTOBER 2020 | Sincerely, and on behalf of your Board of Directors, Greg Rockvam, Cliff Post, Tony Criscenti, Jim Hatcher, Ken Pounders, and Jerry Hawkins Jim Crase President

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