POA Board of Directors presents ’22 budget, says labor costs had impact

BELLA VISTA — The POA Board of Directors presented its 2022 budget at Riordan Hall on Nov. 11 as part of a public meeting that was sparsely attended.

There were no questions or public comments from the audience.

The meeting was also livestreamed on the POA’s Facebook page. People can visit https://bellavistapoa.com/governance/board- of- directors/ for the video and documents discussed at the meeting.

General Manager Tom Judson summarized the commitments the board made during the most recent assessment election and explained that the board has been fulfilling each.

First, usage fees for golf, recreation and lakes have been eliminated or reduced. Six dollars of each assessment go to those departments to replace the usage fees.

The board also committed to using $2 of the fee to pay some of the costs of the Trafalgar fire, and $1 of each fee is added to reserves.

The last commitment was to use $4 from each assessment for operational costs and capitol improvements. The 2022 budget exceeds that goal with $1,531,300 planned for capital projects.

Labor costs made a big impact on the 2022 budget.

Wages went up in 2021 when it became difficult to hire employees. Another increase is planned, although Judson emphasized senior staff will not receive the same increase.

Leaving the positions open isn’t an option, Judson said. He used the water department as an example. The water department doesn’t have enough staff to notify customers of water leaks in a timely manner. Right now, there are 400 water leaks that customers don’t yet know about.

“We’re months behind,” he said.

Bartenders are also in short supply. At one point the new Gear Garden in Blowing Springs Park could not open because there was no one to staff it.

Expenses are going up in all departments, he said.

Judson listed capitol projects for each department.

“An industry best practice is to spend in capitol the same amount as you have in depreciation,” he said. “That means you’re keeping your total assets current.”

The 2022 budget didn’t quite reach that mark. Depreciation was estimated at $1.8 million, but capitol expenses are budgeted for about 85% of that number or $1.5 million. In 2019 and 2020, capitol budgets were much smaller because of expenses related to the Trafalgar Road fire and covid-19. In 2021, capitol expenses were budgeted at about 50% of depreciation.

Capitol projects range from $175,000 to rebuild tennis courts to $ 11,000 for a ball dispenser at the driving range. Included are trucks for general maintenance and lakes, new mowers for golf maintenance and new servers for IT. Some paving will be done at the RV Park and Rayburn Dam. The Lake Ann sink hole repair will begin with $103,000 budgeted.

New ponds will be added to be used as nursery ponds for the fisheries and the pickleball courts at Metfield will be rebuilt and reoriented at a cost of $70,000.

The water department has its own operating budget. Although the POA owns the water department, the accounting is kept completely separate.

The POA is still repaying an inter-company loan for over $3.7 million from the water department. Those funds were used to put out the Trafalgar Road fire. The plan is to repay $280,000 in 2022. In two years, the POA has paid $1.2 million.

The water department budget also contains capitol items including $1 million for water line replacement and $ 140,000 for a water tower renovation. A light duty truck, a van and a new server

are also included.