by Doug Taggart

"There is only one admirable form of the imagination:
the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality,
that it makes things happen."

by Sean O'Faolain

We are now in a New Year and I am looking forward to implementing some changes as we move forward. At the last Board meeting of 2006 the Board made significant progress in setting the course for preparing to provide improved services to the community. Before we can proceed however, we need the Membership to weigh-in and give us the green-light by voting to approve the fiscal year 2008 budget* at the March annual meeting. For the next few months I will be making this point over and over again -- Please plan to Vote and in casting that vote, I strongly encourage you to support the Budget. In asking for your support, I promise to use this page, townhall meetings, and directed mailings to make sure you understand fully what the Board is proposing.

The proposed fiscal year 2008 budget is built on an expense total of just under $2,250,000. The annual assessment needed to fund this budget is $493.00 per household. This is a $36 per year increase over the FY2007 annual assessment of $457. The proposed FY2008 assessment increase is necessary to accomplish all of the contracting restructuring activity focused on improving the quality of services in the community. Over the next few paragraphs I'll attempt to put into words how the assessment total of $493 is constructed.

Members that have been following my President's Pages through October, November and December will recall that I have been forecasting a restructuring of the Armstrong contract. This contract restructure was approved by the Board at the December 2006 Board meeting. The annual cost of this restructured contract is approximately $816,000. This equates to $212 of the annual assessment (as a rule of thumb every $20,000 of cost/expense represents $5.00 in assessment).

In this new approach to contracting for services, subcontractors will be used to provide landscaping and community security. Landscaping of the common areas will be subcontracted to Community Landscaping Services. The annual cost of this service is just shy of $120,000. This equates to another $31.00 of the annual assessment. Accounting for contributions to reserve, insurance, lifeguard contracts, operating expenses etc... another $150 of the assessment is consume. This leaves about $100 of the $493 total to be divided between events, Board support, lake maintenance, facilities, the newsletter and common area maintenance and a security service.

As I indicated in my December 2006 Montclairion article, if the Board had elected to contract for a security force with a 24/7, year-round presence the annual cost would have been in the range of $300,000. This expense, if included in the budget, would have represented an assessment expense of $74.00 per household. In order to avoid an assessment increase that would have approached nearly $100 annually, the Board took on the challenge of reducing costs in some areas of the budget while also reducing the requirements for a security force.

At the December Board meeting a compromise position was reached where a line item for a subcontracted security force at a total annual cost of $162,000 was included. This service will consist of 24 hours per day, 7 days per week coverage for 15 weeks in the summer when the beaches are open and the kids are out of school defined by two eight hour shifts of two personnel on duty with one eight hour shift with one person on duty. For the remainder of the year we will contract for two personnel to be on duty for an 8 hour period each day. This service amounts to approximately $42.00 of the assessment total.

I will be holding townhall meetings in January and February to explain the budget in greater detail and provide residents an opportunity to ask questions. The January 2007 townhall meeting will occur on Wednesday, January 17^th at 7:30pm at the MPOA Building.

I would also like to announce that for the balance of FY2007 January through April, using funds that became available following the mid-year contract restructuring, the Board is looking to award a security contract for a demonstration of the proposed services in FY2008 budget. At the time of this writing further details are not yet available. As soon as details are known the information will be posted on the community website (www.montclairva.com).

If you wish to add comment or provide me with input please feel free to send an e-mail to: Dtaggart@montclairva.com or Dougtag@aol.com.

* The MPOA Fiscal Year is from May 1, 2007 to April 30. 2008. This is referred to as the Fiscal Year 2008 budget.