Where does my money go, and how do Tellico Village Property Owners Association financial decisions get made? Well, with the 2016 budget and 2017-21 five-year plan actively under development, this is the right time of the year to find out.

The TVPOA Board of Directors, the Finance Advisory Committee and the TVPOA management team are committed to conducting the financial affairs of the organization in an open and transparent manner and to communicate financial results in a variety of forums to meet the diverse needs and interests of our membership.

If you are interested in a high-level view of TVPOA finances, then this monthly article may be enough. If you want a deeper level of understanding, I encourage you to attend the monthly scheduled meetings of the TVPOA Board of Directors and the FAC. Board meetings are typically scheduled on the third Wednesday of the month, though holidays or other considerations may cause us to alter that schedule. FAC meetings are held on the Friday before board meetings.


The format of the finance portion of these meetings includes a review of the current month’s operations, revenues, expenses, net income and variances from budget. We also review major capital and maintenance items and seek FAC and board approval as necessary, consistent with our purchasing policy and procedures.

Special projects and studies are reviewed, and our progress toward execution of the current year’s capital plan is summarized project by project. This allows us to identify and explain individual project variances from budget and to manage and control our overall capital spending within the plan that was approved during the budget process.

Right now is an exciting and critical time of the year for determining how we will spend our resources in the coming year, and how we will plan for the five years beyond that. The FAC meetings scheduled for Oct. 12-14 provide the primary forum for presentation and review of detailed budget proposals by department heads and for obtaining input and comments on budget proposals from property owners.

Budget reviews cover revenue projections, expense budgets, capital plans, user fees, the assessment rate and projected financial performance.  All of these budget items are reviewed, and the final budget is approved by the board in November, but it is in these FAC review meetings that the budget begins to take shape.

Budget review schedule

If you have a particular area of interest in the budget, following is the order of review for the major budget areas:

  • Oct. 12 — Recreation, marketing, communications and public relations, administration and information technology.
  • Oct. 13 — Public services, including water and sewer, Architectural Control Committee and codes, public works, maintenance, docks, recreational vehicle storage, gasoline, docks and contracted food services.
  • Oct. 14 — Golf, Kahite food services and overall capital plan summary, net income and cash self-sufficiency check.

If you are unable to attend the regularly scheduled meetings of the FAC or the POA Board of Directors, the finance section http://www.tellicovillagepoa.org has a wealth of information readily available with the click of your mouse. Approved minutes of the six most recent FAC meetings are posted along with a link to board meeting minutes.

You can also see the five most recent audited annual financial statements, the current year’s budget summary, current assessment rate and user fees, a pie chart depicting how your assessment dollars are spent and recent IRS forms.

Road rejuvenation

During the September meeting, the POA Board of Directors heard an update on the $264,000 maintenance project for application of Pavement Dressing Conditioner rejuvenation and striping of 14 miles of roads in the Mialaquo neighborhood. PDC rejuvenation is a cost-effective means of extending the life of our roads and deferring higher cost asphalt overlay. 

Interior renovations to the new Tellico Village welcome center are now complete, and we are open for Discovery Tours and other visitors. A grand opening is planned for this month.

The latest new amenity, the paved walking trail around the Wellness Center, was officially opened with a public ribbon cutting ceremony and hot dog cookout. Special and sincere thanks go to the Tellico Village Lions Club for its generous contribution of four exercise stations installed along the walking trail at a cost of more than $17,600 and 78 member hours of effort. This project represents about one year’s worth of proceeds from fundraising projects sponsored throughout the year by the Lions Club.

 

Monthly financials

Through the September board meeting, we have approved approximately 80 percent of the 2015 capital plan and are about $177,000 over budget, though much of that will be offset by project cancellations, deferrals and expected under runs on remaining projects.

Year-to-date net income reflects a favorable variance to budget of about $181,000, though approximately $160,000 of that is a timing variance between the budgeting for the PDC rejuvenation project in August and the completion of expenditures for that project in September. Budget and actual spending will match up by the time September financial statements are published.

Parker Owen is financial director with the Tellico Village Property Owners Association.