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Thursday, February 25, 2016

Former Finance Committee Chairman Asks Questions of the Board Candidates


From

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Former Sun City Anthem Finance Committee Chairman Asks Questions of 2016 Board Candidates

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(but we want your input as well)

We received a detailed email from Forrest Quinn, the former head of the Sun City Anthem Finance Committee, asking us to pose several questions to the Board Candidates...

We'd like them to respond, but we would also like to hear your thoughts as well.

It's with great pleasure that we would like to brings these concerns to the Sun City Anthem community in order that the electorate may cast their Board ballots in an intelligent manner.

From Mr. Quinn....

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My name is Forrest Quinn. 

I am a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). 

I also earned a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance. 

I was on SCA’s Finance Committee for nearly three years. 

Base on my experience, the questions below will focus the board election debate to SCA’s main issues for 2016.  

They should be addressed by both board candidates and board members:

Should SCA Board Members Be Disciplined for Misconduct?

How should SCA’s governing documents be changed to censure, discipline, demote, or remove board members who fail to follow NRS 116, SCA’s Board Policy Manual or Board Resolutions?

What is Being Done and What Should Be Done, to Mitigate the Liberty Center Damages?

Has FSR’s payroll (which SCA reimburses) been reduced to reflect the reduction in service?   If so, how much money is the community saving per week, or per month?

Should/Has FRS’s monthly management fee been reduced/suspended due to the reduction in services?

How Will You Evaluate Employee Performance?

Within a year or so, SCA’s new employees will be expecting pay raises and/or bonuses.  How will you determine if they did an unsatisfactory job, an adequate job, or an excellent job? 

Will pay raises be granted for increasing the number of bus trips, organizing more parking lot sales, cleaner bathrooms…. Just how will employee performance be determined?

How Will You Measure SCA’s Performance After Transition?

A business can measurement performance by:  Its percentage increase in sales, an increase in profit, a cost reduction, its return-on-assets, its return-on-equity, etc.   

As a non-profit entity, other than lowering costs, none of these business metrics are particularly suitable for SCA. 

What performance goals will you set and how will progress toward those goals be measured?  

On April 1st, 2017, you will look back and say: “Transition was a success(failure) because….?

What is the Future Role of SCA’s Finance Committee?

Should the Finance Committee be an independent body like SCA’s Audit Committee, providing independent analysis and opinions to the SCA’s community? 

 Or,

Should the Finance Committee remain under the control of SCA’s board? 

(Unfortunately, to the detriment to the community, the FC’s original, useful and insightful work is often suppressed, censured, trashed and/or ignored by SCA’s board).

Did SCA have Surplus Cash on 12/31/15?

In the three years from 12/31/12 to 12/31/15, SCA’s year-end cash balance has doubled from $1,334,000 to $2,726,000.  This is an increase of $1,392,000, or nearly $195/home.   

How has SCA changed since 2012 so that SCA now requires twice as much cash-on-hand?

Assuming We Can’t Change its Use, How Much of a Subsidy Should a Restaurant Vendor Receive from SCA?

I use “subsidy” in the sense that a vendor pays less than SCA’s full cost to maintain the restaurant.  

I estimate SCA’s cost ranges between $160,000 to $200,000 per year (See Note 1 below).   

As I recall, Café V’s (then Vic’s) original lease was $48,000 /year plus utilities, so they paid about $90,000/year against SCA’s total costs.  

Under my definition, Café V received a $70,000 to $110,000 “subsidy”.

Based on our experience, it is unlikely any vendor can pay SCA’s full cost to maintain this space.   

Any future vendor will likely require either a direct and/or indirect subsidy.  

Should SCA’s annual subsidy to a restaurant be:

$0 (zero)/year
$50,000/year ($7.00/home)
$100,000/year ($14.00/home)
$150,000/year ($21.00/home)
$200,000/year ($28.00/home)
$200,000+/year

For example, if SCA grants a $14/home subsidy, would a restaurant provide residents with more than a $14/home return in value?

 If we can change the restaurant to an alternate use, SCA’s cost to maintain that space will not drop to zero.   

Any alternative use will require a “subsidy” for utilities, reserve contributions, janitorial services, R&M, insurance, etc.  This could easily be $80,000 to $100,000 per year.

Note #1 SCA’s Cost to Maintain the Restaurant Space  

SCA’s accounts are not well organized, so SCA’s total cost is difficult to determine.  

 My estimated cost includes $80,000 to $100,000/year of Reserve Fund contributions, $40,000/year in utilities, $15,000/year of Property Tax, $5,000/year in Service Agreements, $20,000/year in Repairs & Maintenance plus unknown amounts for Insurance, Janitorial Services and Other.  

Even if the Restaurant remains closed, many of these costs will remain.
________________________

Anthem Opinions would like to send our sincere thanks to Mr. Quinn for his concerns and thought provoking questions and comments.

Got a question? 

 Comment?

Send it to us at:

  1. From Barbara Sidary...to...Anthem Opinions

    MORE QUESTIONS FOR THE BOARD CANDIDATES

    1) Why is the mold problem not covered by insurance?

    If I have a leak in my roof at home, all the costs to fix it and the problems it caused are covered by my home owners insurance.

    2) Are the board members bonded?

    Seems like the question of the money spent for the busses for Hillary's talk has just been dropped.

    3) When they had meetings about Vics, most of us wanted to have a place more like a Village Pub, Winchells, Del Mar Deli.

    We ended up with a supposed "fine dining" which we don't need. Would be nice to have a restaurant that we could drop in and even pick up something to take home for dinner.

    4) If we are paying health insurance for the GM and her entire family, are we not required to do that for the rest of the employees?

    5) We have not been instructed where to send our dues for the next quarter. Any idea if it goes to Sun City or to FSR?

    6) Are we planning to carpet the tile by the card players so people will not fall anymore?

    We have had a number of accidents and someone will really get hurt soon since we don't have enough room for the tables. If they carpet this area, it will give us more room and people won't fall. This is all because they won't move the pool tables.


    Thanks for your blog. It is the best.

    I got my signs for Forrest, Barry and Steve put in my yard yesterday.

    Hope we can get some changes with our board.
    1. From Bud McQuillan...to...Anthem Opinions

      What a wonderful working document to guide SCA forward.

      Somehow this MUST be embraced by the Finance Committee and Boards.

      It is clear thinking in the best interest SCA residents whose money it is that the Board spends wisely or squanders all to often.

      No more Bella Bucks, No more Bella Bucks, No more Bella Bucks!

2 comments:

  1. From Barbara Sidary...to...Anthem Opinions

    MORE QUESTIONS FOR THE BOARD CANDIDATES

    1) Why is the mold problem not covered by insurance?

    If I have a leak in my roof at home, all the costs to fix it and the problems it caused are covered by my home owners insurance.

    2) Are the board members bonded?

    Seems like the question of the money spent for the busses for Hillary's talk has just been dropped.

    3) When they had meetings about Vics, most of us wanted to have a place more like a Village Pub, Winchells, Del Mar Deli.

    We ended up with a supposed "fine dining" which we don't need. Would be nice to have a restaurant that we could drop in and even pick up something to take home for dinner.

    4) If we are paying health insurance for the GM and her entire family, are we not required to do that for the rest of the employees?

    5) We have not been instructed where to send our dues for the next quarter. Any idea if it goes to Sun City or to FSR?

    6) Are we planning to carpet the tile by the card players so people will not fall anymore?

    We have had a number of accidents and someone will really get hurt soon since we don't have enough room for the tables. If they carpet this area, it will give us more room and people won't fall. This is all because they won't move the pool tables.


    Thanks for your blog. It is the best.

    I got my signs for Forrest, Barry and Steve put in my yard yesterday.

    Hope we can get some changes with our board.

    ReplyDelete
  2. From Bud McQuillan...to...Anthem Opinions

    What a wonderful working document to guide SCA forward.

    Somehow this MUST be embraced by the Finance Committee and Boards.

    It is clear thinking in the best interest SCA residents whose money it is that the Board spends wisely or squanders all to often.

    No more Bella Bucks, No more Bella Bucks, No more Bella Bucks!

    ReplyDelete