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Forest Lakes Residents –
The FLCA Board wishes to inform you of a higher than usual projected increase in assessments for 2025. We have already started preliminary work on the budget for next year. Given known increases in major expense line items, assessments will need to increase by at least 8% to balance the budget. To recap the process, we start with amounts from service providers – insurance, landscaping, pools, recycling/trash. Other operating expenses are estimated based upon recent history and known adjustments. Finally, the required allocation to financial reserves is added to come up with a total expense base for the year. Nearly 95% of FLCA income is derived from residential assessments and our total income must cover all expenses – we cannot budget a loss.
Most of us are well aware of the significant increase in the rate of inflation since the pandemic. See the steep ramp shown in a graph of the Consumer Price Index at the link below. Unfortunately, even though this rate has subsided in recent months many service providers are still suffering from elevated costs of fuel, insurance and labor – and passing these along to customers via higher prices. Examples of increases that FLCA is facing in major expense items in our 2025 budget are:
· Building Maintenance – 57%
· Grounds Maintenance – 28%
· Water + Sewer – 23%
· Insurance – 16%
· Janitorial – 12%
· Recycling + Trash – 11%
· Lawncare – 10%
CPI Graph https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL
FLCA management and your Board work diligently to minimize expenses whenever possible. Financials are reviewed on a monthly basis and adjustments in operations are made as needed. We are residents ourselves and do not wish to pay more than is necessary for assessments. However, we appreciate the quality of lifestyle that is available to our residents because of the amenities and natural assets of our community. Our pools, courts, fitness center, paths and trails are a large part of what makes Forest Lakes special. We do not want to compromise maintenance of these such that they suffer degradation in the future. We also prefer not to make large changes to the experience that residents have come to expect to reduce expenses. The required increase in assessments for 2025 is disappointing but we are hopeful to be nearing an end of the adjustment period following the pandemic and can return to more normal increases in the future.
The next FLCA Board meeting to discuss the budget will be on Wednesday, October 2 at 6:00pm in the Pavilion. As always, the Board welcomes resident attendance or provision of feedback in advance of the meeting.
At Your Service,
Board of the Forest Lakes Community Association
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