Deficit, surplus dependent on budget document

MESSAGE FROM THE GRF TREASURER

by Nick Massetti

GRF Treasurer

There’s a lot of irrelevant information floating around the community about our assessments, and why they are going up, and what we can do about it. Dragnet’s Joe Friday would say “just the facts, ma’am,” and bring the conversation back in to focus. The fact is that our assessments, both from GRF and from our Mutuals, are derived from, and only from, their related budget plans.

These budgets are the result of months of work by GRF staff and the directors of GRF and the Mutuals. The process is transparent and is open to residents to participate in. The result is a forecast and plan detailing the required spending needed to provide for the preservation of the related assets and for the services enjoyed by residents. The plan may also include income from sources other than residents which offset and reduce the net expenses that assessments need to cover. Once the budget is approved the related assessment remains unchanged throughout the year.

How the budgeted funds are spent, and whether there is a surplus or deficit at the end of a budget year, is largely irrelevant in determining the assessments. Sometimes funds are not spent on planned items. Sometimes more funds than projected need to be spent to complete planned items. Sometimes more or less of the planned income materializes.

We may not agree with how some funds are spent on specific items. All spending is reviewed and approved by multiple layers of staff and directors of GRF and the Mutuals. The existence of a surplus or deficit at the end of a year is somewhat of a measure of how well the budget planning process anticipated the needed funding. It can also indicate how well the staff and directors managed spending and obtained income according to the plan.

So, since our assessments are based solely on the result at the end of the budget process, if one wants to do something about them one has to participate in that process.

The process is a transparent one and the most constructive way to have an impact on it is to participate in it. The 2024 budget year has now ended and the results are in. There will be a report on how well that turned out in an upcoming issue.