The 2014 Annual General Meeting and Budget

by Mark

Hi all,
It is hard to believe but fall is just ahead of us. With our Annual General Meeting to be held at S. Bruce Smith school at 7 pm on September 25th, the board would like to update our membership on some of the events that have happened over the past months.

We would like to extend our thanks to our membership for paying their dues on time, and would also like to thank our volunteers including our board members who have generously provided their time, both in operating the board, as well as keeping our landscaping costs lower than they otherwise would be.

At last years’ Annual General Meeting a motion was passed to increase the dues by $200 to support the formation of reserves and retire debt. The board is happy to report that the debt has been repaid in full. The remaining funds have been earmarked to permit future replacement and repair of capital assets owned and maintained by the Residents’ Association.

The restriction on how these funds could be spent resulted in a decrease in services provided by the Residents’ Association. The budget for 2014 is available here. Essentially, costs related to fertilizer application and weed removal were eliminated for 2014 resulting in a significant savings. At the same time, our landscaping contractor has accepted responsibility for a number of spaces where the developers had been previously responsible. The board also approved the replacement of a large number of rotting and damaged sections of fence.

One question came from a member about how they might contribute to the governance of the Residents’ Association. At the AGM, our members may let their name stand for election to the board; we are always very happy to have new board members. The group makes decisions about how we spend the funds to maintain common amenities in Donsdale. Please come out and participate at this years’ AGM.

3 Comments
  • Renee Murray
    2014/09/15

    The elimination of weed removal and fertilizer application, while effective in improving the budget has resulted in a significant deterioration in aesthetics in the entire area. I sincerely hope this can be brought back now that the debt is retired. We would happily pay more to restore the looks of the area. Good job on snow removal, by the way.

    Comments are closed.

    • Mark Ballermann
      2014/09/17

      Hi Renee,
      Thanks for your comment – I agree, there are clear examples through the community where we have seen the result if our common amenities are not adequately maintained.

      Additionally, one of our board members has been instrumental in hiring a small number of student laborers who performed the fence painting this past year at great discount (compared with hiring contractors) to the residents’ association. Thanks Stanly!

      Comments are closed.

  • Amy
    2014/09/25

    I would have to agree Renee “that the elimination of weed removal and fertilizer application, while effective in improving the budget has resulted in a significant deterioration in aesthetics in the entire area”. However, I was under the impression that by increasing our fees by $200 last year that the area would be maintained under the same quality while paying off our debt and making a reserve fund. I do not support a further increase in fees to get the area back up to the quality we have previously seen. Our fees were increased by 200 last year and then the Board made the decision to move our fee due date up to January without pro-rating our fees for that year. By doing this we residents have actually paid the shortfall for the initial fee increase that the board proposed but that we residents would not agree to. I appreciate all the work our Board members do but as a resident I am left with unanswered questions. I fear since I can’t make it to the meeting tonight that my questions, some of which I have tried to have addressed here on our community website, will go unanswered again for a year.

    Comments are closed.