Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Annual budget increases & capital improvements

[Peter Orbeton (peter.orbeton]

Very good advice about the decision-making process. I'm wondering if you've
tried working from a prioritized list of capital projects with the priority
setting exercise entirely separate?

For 2012 NNF decided to fund about $3K over seven years to build another
shed/garage, and a wonderful local bank would consider making a commercial
loan available to us so we can have it built sooner rather than later. This
though was a specific amount for obviously a specific purpose. I can
envision (or rather would like) having multiple capital improvement
projects underway at once so there isn't say a seven-year gap between
projects.

We're also looking at issuing promissory notes to residents to reduce
borrowing costs, however, money is so 'cheap' these days, a bank loan
wouldn't be prohibitively expensive anyway. So we have a lot to figure out
as far as capital improvements are concerned - funding amount, financing,
decision-making process, project pipeline process, etc.

Peter Orbeton
Treasurer, Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm<http://www.peterboroughcohousing.org>




On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 6:06 PM, Holly McNutt <holly.mcnutt [at] 
gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Hi Peter,
> Here at Nyland, our financial folks (FINBOD) have done a great job with
> the budget process.  I can put you in touch with one of them.  The CI
> question interests me and I hope other people will reply.  Our community is
> 20 years old and puts money every year into a Cap Imp fund.  In the early
> days, I am told, there were so many cool projects that people wanted to do
> that early in each year, people were asked to come up with ideas and the
> community would decide early in the year which ones to focus on.  That
> system fell by the wayside, and now we have a lot of money and a rather
> unclear and challenging process to tap into it.  And because of that,
> people who would like to bring an idea forward are often hesitant to do so
> because it is so hard to pass a proposal that uses Cap Imp money.  One can
> end up putting a lot of time and energy into something only to have it
> blocked all too easily IMO by a very small minority.  Attempts have been
> made to streamline the process, but in the end it comes down to having a
> really good decision-making process that allows projects to move forward
> without 100% consensus.  So we continue to put about $3000 per year for our
> annual budget into this account and my hope is that someday we will be able
> to move forward on some really cool projects.  My advice would be, if and
> when you set up a Cap Imp fund, have a really clear and simple process in
> place first to determine who to use that money to fund proposals.
> - Holly
>
>
> On Feb 17, 2012, at 2:46 PM, Peter Orbeton wrote:
>
> >
> > Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm is a relatively young cohousing community,
> > and is looking to tweak the budget process. We've heard first-hand from
> > residents of other coho communities who have passed through about less
> > meeting-intensive processes than we have now, pre-determined annual
> budget
> > increases (tied to the CPI), and capital improvement funding not
> > necessarily earmarked to a project. The number of meetings (and time)
> spent
> > with our current process is probably, we've learned, directly related to
> > our newness. And because we still have development projects, we've
> > experienced annual budget increases that are not sustainable.
> >
> > As the Treasurer, I've volunteered to gather information on other
> > communities, and have plumbed the C-L archives. While suggestions on how
> to
> > achieve a short and painless budget process are certainly welcome, I'd
> like
> > to hear how annual budget increases are determined so we can model ours
> for
> > more predictability. Do you base it on the Consumer Price Index,
> establish
> > a fixed dollar figure ceiling annually, or by some other means?
> >
> > We have operating reserves and a reserve fund
> (replacement/replenishment),
> > and would like to also establish a capital improvement (CI) 'account.'
> Our
> > budgets to date have been line-item specific, and up until 2012, were for
> > the most part not funding multi-year projects. We've heard of other
> > communities with CI accounts that are tapped when a team/committee
> brings a
> > proposal forward, and are funded annually based on a pre-determined
> amount.
> > So, my questions on this topic are do you have a CI account, how is that
> > account funded, what is the process for withdrawing from it.
> >
> > I'll take responses directly if you would prefer. Based on the
> responses, I
> > may post a summary as well.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Peter Orbeton
> > Treasurer, Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm
> > http://www.peterboroughcohousing.org
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> >
> >
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>
>
>


-- 
Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm
http://www.peterboroughcohousing.org