SCW raised their PIF so now the logical progression for us to follow suit? After all, it’s easy money and why not? Let’s just keep charging the new folks, right? At what point is the new buyer going to say ‘no’? When will people decide they aren’t willing to cough up an extra $5k to live here?Are we creating an environment that new buyers are going to continue to find enticing enough to gladly pay a premium to move here? Likewise, ever new amenity that is added increases maintenance costs and general ownership costs, which in turn increases the annual property assessments. Right now the number being mentioned is $20 million in deferred maintenance. So how much more will the assessment have to be increased to ensure that the properties are properly maintained and how many of our current residents will able to afford it?
Great questions to analyze and develop answers to. About $15 million in unrestricted funds in budget. Why not use some of this money for overdue maintenance? Seems to me that is what the money is for.
Overall they haven't said no. Maybe a few individuals may not have bought but no great numbers. I remember the Board Member Exchange when they raised the PIF to $3500. All doom and gloom from the commenters. It didn't affect sales! I think it was former board member Gene that said we should raise it to $5000 back then. I agreed with him. The Rec fee should be what is needed. You can't budget in reverse. You can't start with the total and then divide. There will always be people that can't afford the increase, and many that just say they can't. That can't be a factor, as long as long as the RCSC can justify the amount of the increase.
The question: "when enough, enough?" is one that can be answered from a historical perspective. I'm not talking back 50 years, i'm talking since the PIF was passed in 1999. Nope, i wasn't here when it was passed, but i suspect there was some angst from those attending board meetings. Would this new $750 fee kill sales of homes in Sun City? Clearly not. Here's the interesting footnote to that question; i have attended every board meeting where it's been increased (5 or 6 times) and at each of them, most often Realtors, told us point blank, the increase would be the death knell for home sales. It never mattered a whit. A better piece of history is this tidbit. My good friend Ben Roloff has been giving me old newspaper reprints for years. The one in particular that i was shocked at was from 1983. It was a Letter to the Editor of the Independent newspaper where an RCSC member did a financial calculation claiming the buy-in to Sun City should be $2500. He factored every amenity and its value and stated unequivocally every home sold should pay that figure to become "owners" of the RCSC's amazing array of golf courses, rec centers and other grounds. Imagine had that idea caught on and we started the PIF in the mid 80's? Alas it didn't and we are still playing catch-up. People continually tell me i/we can't live in the past. Duh, really? My argument is we can learn from it. Once Sun City West went to 5K it was pretty much ensured we would follow suit. My only concern is we are able to explain the need for more money. Which is exactly why i was so excited by the prospect of using 20% of the potential $5000 buy-in directed towards capital expenses. That would keep the roughly 8 million dollar yearly collection for new projects (think Lakeview remodel down the road) and helping buffer the stuff that didn't get done over the past 5 or 6 years. It's brilliant. Best of all out of this mess, self-inflicted by boards who just let the GM do whatever, we (the interim GM and board) have come to understand there can be no secrets. If members are to buy-in, they need to know exactly what they are buying into. That's simply an idea that is long overdue.
I am not convinced yet that more money from fees is warranted or necessary. We as a community need to do a much better job of analyzing, planning, budgeting, and spending existing monies. How can I say this? Just look where we are now! Which I am not sure anyone really knows. If we do not have the money then don’t spend any money. Fairly simple concept. Let’s get it all on paper before any major decisions are made.
People move here knowing (or should) that the assessment can change at anytime to whatever is board approved. That can be $1 or $1,000. It's impossible in a community this age to not have unexpected maintenance costs that add up. Penned figures will only go so far once they get in and start making repairs. Everyone should be aware of this and understand we are all responsible for our fair share if we choose to live here. We need to stop balking about a few bucks it's not realistic. We are not a low income housing project.
Then why do we have an estimated $20 million of deferred maintenance and talking only about building new buildings?
Two different funds. PIF has to have a 15 year life and a cost of 300K. Most deferred maintenance wouldn't qualify. There is some discussion of changes there but it will be discussed with the membership at some point.
I believe there is about $19 million of unrestricted funds in the existing budget which can be used for maintenance. Time to tap some of that money and do some smart budgeting to cover this deferred maintenance. At this point I don’t see a reason to mix the PIF with the assessment funds. Just my opinion not having complete info. Hope we get all that info in the very near future. Some have been calling the receiving of this info as a “coming to Jesus moment”.
Here's a message from the moron. I was at Bell this weekend and talked with a gentleman who has been working for Sun City for 13 years and gets paid the same as a new hire. Mr. Bill, you have said that you were a union negotiator (?) Why is this happening? Shouldn't employees that have been there be making more money than a new hire with raises every year? Please correct me if I am wrong, but how can this be fair and how do you expect anyone to stay on the job long term? I was told that they can't keep workers. I am surprised that workers haven't walked out. I was shocked to hear about this. You were a board member, why did you allow this? The men I was talking with both should be making at least $20 an hour if not more after all these years,!! And btw, did anyone see the channel 12 pickleball segment last night? Pretty eye opening. Being in my 80,'s I couldn't play it if I wanted to, but this is what the young want and they should help fund it.
Wages are woefully low and while last year there was an across the board adjustment, there were many issues not addressed. The 2024 budget proposal is expected to include major changes that will take in to consideration many factors including the long term employee matters as well as our very low wage scale overall, contributing to the RCSC high turnover rate in some employee categories.
I realize that they’re two different funds. My point being if you can’t maintain what you have, why are you building more? The more you build, the higher your maintenance costs, so up goes the annual assessment. Hence, when is enough enough?
A competitive salary isn't only about employee retention but also about attracting skilled applicants. We can't afford to lack in employee quality especially in the senior positions. And if we can keep the good ones from leaving that would be a plus.
Most employees would complain about being assigned more responsibilities without an increase in pay, and rightly so. So does that mean if we're going to increase everybodies salaries that we can ask them to perform more duties? Maybe hiring more employees isn't necessarily the only answer? Just ask'n!
Salary should be in line with job duties. If we pay low for their current assignment then adding more responsibility is not appropriate.
Really say what? That's as good as you've got. Well, if the shoe wears it brother. Anyway, while i was on the RCSC board (2012-1014), the state minimum wage was somewhere between $7-$8 an hour. Of course as smart as you are, you already know the big jump came in 2016/2017 when a state minimum wage proposition passed and it exploded to around $12 an hour, with increases nearly every year thereafter to get us to the new state minimum wage of $13.85. As Linda pointed out above, they tried to make some minor tweaks but from a practical standpoint, we have fallen well behind, especially for golf maintenance employees. And, being the smart guy you are, you also know the board has no say over how employees are paid, other than the general manager. Over the past 18 years, the board elected to follow the lead of the GM who wanted almost total autonomy over all things RCSC related. including wages. The good news is, the new board and the budget and finance committee is now involved and trying to sort through how to fix the problems; including a competitive wage scale and golf equipment that hasn't been held together with band-aids. Suffice to say there is a lot of work to do on a lot of different fronts. Thanks for asking.
From what I've heard through the grapevine employees have walked out. We may need to increase + hire more help. If the benefits package is out of this world that may help with rentention.
