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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | AUGUST 2022 5 Message From The Board By Kathy Craven Can you believe it is August already? Did you know August is the month the budget preparations for the next year begin? There will be several meetings to look line by line at the budget to ensure we fund all of the wonderful amenities we enjoy while living in this beautiful resort community we all call home. As we move through the year, the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee will analyze where we are in our budget and will look at what will be needed for next year. We are seeing the impact of an 8.6 percent Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past 12 months and are watching the price of everything continue to go up. You probably feel this in your household budgets, as well. We are looking at increases in most of our vendor contracts going into the next contract cycle. Because 100 percent of the money used in our budget is paid by our homeowners through the monthly assessment, we determine what we need to sustain the budget for the following year, and calculate the increase or decrease in assessments. Every $22,500 the association spends equates to $1 per household, per month, which makes us prudent about how much we spend and why. Additionally, it has been our policy to keep our reserves at or above 100 percent. The money that goes into our reserves is calculated at today's cost. With an 8.6 percent CPI, this is something that could not have been calculated or forecasted, even by the experts we hire to do our reserve studies. By keeping the reserves high, we hope to never need a special assessment to repair or replace anything. The Board of Directors would like to invite everyone to a special town hall meeting where our Chief Financial Officer, Barry Ginnetti, will cover the highlights of our budget process and roughly what we could be looking at next year in terms of an increase. This meeting will take place on Aug. 17 in the Ballroom at 6 pm. I would encourage everyone to attend to better understand the budget process. The Board of Directors meets the second Thursday of each month at 1 pm in the Ballroom. During the Board meetings we are unable to engage in a dialog with homeowners; if you wish to have a dialog with the Board, then Meet the Board is for you. Meet the Board is a meeting with three Board members (not a quorum) where we can have an open dialog. Meet the Board is the third Wednesday at 1 pm in the RCN. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at (714) 722-1301 or email me at kcravenbod@yahoo.com. Remember, please be kind to one another.

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