Water, water, every where

In 2016, water surpassed landscaping to become the single largest association expense. In round numbers, our water expense in 2014 and 2015 was $92,000. In 2016 it was $128,000. Since joining the board in February 2016, water usage is something that I have been tracking closely so I wanted to give an update on what's been happening, where we've come from, a project that we've been working on and where we're headed.

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Where does my money go?

As the new treasurer on the board, I have been looking at the 2015 and 2016 budgets in order to come up to speed on the HOA financials. As part of my learning process, I thought it might be instructive to see how our annual dues are distributed across the various budget line items and how much is allocated to reserves each year. The chart below shows approximately how each household's $400 annual dues are spent. (For reference, there are 1,293 dues paying households in the Association.) Expenses classified as one-time, non-recurring are excluded from this analysis.

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