Calculating the Fully Funded Reserve Amount

Does your board know how to calculate the amount needed to be fully funded?  It isn't as easy as one may think.  You cannot take the figures calculated on the Cash Flow Specific Projections or the Distribution of Accumulated Reserves Schedules and use them as the amount needed to be fully funded.  Unless your community as been following the study to the letter and the amount in the reserve fund at year end when the study was done was correct. 

Why Does Bermuda Grass Look so Bad but Rye Looks so Good?

For those communities that have problems growing summer Bermuda grass year after year it can be frustrating.  The same places are bare with soil, dead grass, sunk-in and slowly grow bigger each summer.  Water  seems to run-off the lawn even after aeration, chemicals to soften the soil and fertilizing do nothing to fix or help the problem.  Yet the overseeded winter Rye grows beautifully without problems. 

Many landscapers will tell you it is because our water in Arizona contains a high salt and high calcium content.  That will turn white when the water evaporates causing the water to not penetrate causing run off and grass death.  It takes a lot of years to build up enought salt for it to be seen on the soil surface and summer monsoon rains flush it out.  If salt was the reason causing the summer grass not to grow, the winter grass would also be affected. But, they are the landscapers and you try it and it does nothing.

Next you fertilize yet nothing so you even try replanting yet nothing works.  It's because those aren't the reasons why the grass will not grow.  It has nothing to do with the salt content of the water, fertility of the soil, or any other problem that can be solved by softening the soil or watering more.  In fact watering more caused the problem to worsen and allowed mosquitos, chiggers, & aphids, to lay eggs in the soil resulting in a potential health problem .  So, what do you do?

Suntree or Indian Bend Village this exact problem with the summer grass and it has nothing to do with salt, sun, soil fertility, or any other problem that has a cheap or quick fix.  The photo below shows the plugs left on the lawns after landscapers aerated in 2011.  All the plugs came from the same area in the same lawn where the grass will not grow in the summer.  Notice one of the plugs has a something white on top and at the root zone below (previously joked about being bird poop).  Notice that the entire plug isn't white and not all of them are white.  That is because it isn't salt build up; it is one or more kinds of fungi. 

Once Suntree Board Members start taking an active interest in the community and begin researching the problem themselves.  They will figure out they have to take matters into their own hands and sends soil samples they collected themselves using sterile tools for testing to a facility (not ASU) to determine what kind of fungus it is and how to treat it, the problem will just continue to grow.

I just don't understand why people are so quick to run to the doctor for something like a runny nose then refuse to believe that anything else can get sick.  Plants, grass, shrubs, trees, pets, soil all get sick too.  They think the only problems that plants have is from watering to little or to much, not enough sun or too much.  They don't consider pests that may have infested the plant due to over watering, stress, bacterial infections, viral infections, and certainly not fungus.    All plants need water, sun, and be able to obtain air through the roots.  If the soil is compact and hard the roots cannot get air and they will come to the surface to get it or die out.  But, more importantly, they need soil that drains and dries out between waterings, is free from fungus, bacteria, viral infections, and undesirable pests.   

You can learn what different infections look like and the symptoms from the following books.

Suntree Landscape Director has Orgasm in Front of Membership

After attending our annual meeting for Suntree HOA, I have to give the board some credit. They almost have their crap together, still they are missing some fundamentals.  Not to mention missing the financials and minutes from the ownership packets.  We got budgets but that's it.  The annual meeting is specifically to discuss how our money was spent. 
As with most communitites, Suntree's single largest expense is landscaping, Making it a hot topic among owners at annual meetings.  Meaning that any person seeking the landscaping chair, has to be as thick- skinned and prepared to be thrown in front of the fireing squad without taking it personally.  I was however shocked at how our landscape director perfomed her presentation and focusing on money and not landscaping.  I'm also disappointed how she behaved and ignored one owners very valid, cost effective, smart, reasonable, suggestion based on business judgement.  Her level of excitement was more like someone having an orgasm then patting themselves on the back for it.  It proves she is only about spending the money and hiding it from everyone.  She has been the reason for almost $100k in spending over the last few years with no real impact on aesthics!  She needs to spend her own money and stay out of ours.   

Repeating the Same Mistakes Expecting Different Results

I just had to share some news I got today.  I found out Suntree HOA changed landscaping companies.  It explains why our budget showed $11,000.00 for a sprinkler audit.  Most landscape companies charge a high fee upon the initial contract signing for a sprinkler audit.  This is essentially a guarantee that once you sign the contract you don't cancel it after they disclose everything they found wrong during the initial inspection.   

UPDATED Save Suntree aka Indian Bend Village HOA

My intention isn't to trash anyone; I just want to make new people aware of things to watch out for during election time.  The candidates on the Suntree 2011, ballot are a) a click of women wanting to spend money ("We have the money we may as well spend it." Talking about spending reserve funds on landscaping projects.), b) four live on the golf course or have mountain views, and c)two live near the pool and on the golf course.