Council Corner: Aligning Budget Planning with Board Priorities
My son’s kindergarten class starts each day with an opening meeting that consists of a roll call followed by the teacher’s goals and priorities for the class to accomplish that day. The activities may include reading a new book or finding and decorating stones. While the students often have discretion on how to accomplish the goals, they are still expected to follow the priorities set by the teacher.
Likewise, a key purpose of Columbia Association meetings is for the Board of Directors to establish goals and priorities for the organization to accomplish. At the October meeting, the Board set a budget priority for “reducing costs to residents including resident membership costs and annual charge costs.” In addition, the Board also voted to deprioritize grants to other nonprofit organizations.
Unfortunately, the draft budget presented to the Board at the November meeting overlooks these Board priorities. Instead of reducing the costs, the draft budget shows the total annual charge increasing by $1.8 million over last year’s budget, and also calls for a “modest increase … in most membership rates.” Rather than reducing grant expenditures, the draft budget includes $125k in grant expenditures, which is 4% higher than last year’s budget. In the next budget revision, it will be important to ensure that the draft aligns with the Board’s priorities.
Finding opportunities to add value and reduce costs is an official Board goal for the year. One way to accomplish this goal is by granting access to pools and other CA amenities to every resident who pays the annual charge, either directly as a homeowner or indirectly through their rent. Extending these benefits creates inclusivity and builds community. Other HOAs are able to achieve similar outcomes while charging lower HOA fees, and CA should be able to do the same.
The CA Board operates as a governing board with full oversight authority, rather than as simply an advisory committee. As such, the priorities and goals set by the governing board should be faithfully implemented by its organization. This is important because the Board, which is elected to represent the Columbia community, serves as the residents’ voice in how our annual charge dollars are invested back into the community.
The next CA Board meeting will take place on December 12. At this meeting, the Board will continue to discuss the budget, including the annual charge rate and cap. Residents are encouraged to sign up for Resident Speak Out to address the Board regarding these or any other issues surrounding the Columbia Association. As another year of working together to improve River Hill wraps up, I wish everyone happy holidays, and a healthy New Year!
Eric Greenberg is the River Hill Representative to Columbia Council and the CA Board of Directors.
Email: Eric.Greenberg@ca-board.org.
Disclaimer: This column reflects the views of Eric Greenberg only and not those of the CA Board or the River Hill Board of Directors.
