| THE COLONY NEWS | JUNE 2025 | 3
From the Desk of Chuck Gordon
Should it be the rst priority of the
HOA Treasurer to keep Assessments as
low as possible?
On the surface, it sounds like an easy
question. Most likely many are saying,
"well of course it is, that's why he or she
was elected and appointed Treasurer."
While the question seems easy, the
answer is somewhat complicated. e
Treasurer's primary role is nancial
stewardship within the HOA. To that
end, the Treasurer must oversee the
strategic budgeting process.
While it is the ultimate desire to keep
owner assessments as low as possible,
the rst and foremost consideration
in strategic budgeting is to align HOA
nancial resources to community needs
by prioritizing the following:
1. Maintaining the level of services
and the standard of living within
the community.
2. Ensuring the long-term nancial
health of the community.
3. Being prepared for unexpected
expenses and ination.
It is essential to maintain sucient
funding levels in our owner's equity for
emergencies and much-needed capital
improvements. We currently strive
to maintain owner's equity at (2.5 x
monthly gross budgeted expenses). To
ensure long-term nancial health, we
strive for a funding percentage level
in our reserves account at or above 70
percent. As a result, the Board approved
a 10% increase in our contributions
towards our reserves account in the
current scal budget. Ination is toxic to
budgets. Our reserve study professionals
assume an annual 4 percent inationary
increase in their forecasts. It is prudent
therefore that we should adopt a similar
approach in our budgeting process.
Even though the above three objectives
remain a top priority the Board works
diligently to keep assessments to a
minimum.
