Budget Season

by Nicole Careaga

While October is all about the Boos, Scares and Thrills, the team has been focused on making this budget season less scary for all of those involved.

Over the past few months we have been meeting with, and discussing the financial impact of the contracts for our 2021 Fiscal Year. In a typical budget season, the management team works to take the BOO-hoos out of budget season by gathering information for your Finance

Committee as early as May to ensure that they are prepared for the budget writing process. The management team reviews current contracts, and presents ideas to the Board for renewing or changing vendors based on anticipated costs and service levels.

Going into the 2021 budget season has been very different than in past years. The year 2020 has been quite scary, which makes preparing for a new year a bit more unpredictable. Most years, we are able to anticipate costs for the new year based on what was spent in the year prior. Of course, operations this year saw an abnormal increase in items such as sign printing, disinfecting, and PPE supplies, while other items saw a decrease due to limited operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Your Finance Committee is an integral part of completing the budget, as they have insight from you, their neighbors, regarding anticipations and preferences for your financial operations. This year, the Finance Committee will be taking their final look at the budget on Friday, October 9th at 10am. During this meeting, they will provide a recommendation that the Board will be reviewing at their meeting on Thursday, October 22 at 10am. We hope that you will join us at both of these meetings via zoom.

Once the Committee and Board of Directors have approved the budget, a summary will be sent via USPS to all Toscana owners. You will see this arrive in your mail the latter part of November.