Fall is the time when most homeowner associations go through the ritual of counting last year s cost and crunching next year’s numbers hoping to squeeze blood out of the community turnip. While the well is often dry, or close to it, crunch you must. Here are some of the ways to make the cash flow more freely.
To adjust by Inflation, check the area Consumer Price Index – CPI (governmentese for tax increase ) and raise all budget items by at least that amount. An exception is utilities which enjoy a larger and incomprehensible rate increase based on the utilities the utility companies expect not to sell added to the cost of maintaining antiquated power generation plants plus a fudge factor they hope to slip by the utility rate commission (just a little budget humor ). For a handy inflation guide, see www.inflationdata.com
