Looking at Sun
City Anthem Financial
Strength
Then &
Now
with
Comparison to
Sun
City Summerlin
by
Barry
Goldstein
Former Member of
the Sun City Anthem Finance Committee
A few days ago a draft of the 2018 Sun City Anthem Budget was
presented to the unit owners and its contents should put to rest the
misinformation published by a blogger who opposes the removal of the Directors
Weddle, NIssen, Waterhouse, and Burch.
Has
Self-Management been cost effective?
Let's look at some
comparisons !
A. In 2015 (the last full year
in which FSR managed the community), the total amount expended by Sun City
Anthem for payroll and benefits totaled:
$2,865,733
In 2017 (the first FULL year under self-management, the budget
projected these costs to be:
$3,372,020
Result:
Additional expense under
Self-Management:
$506,287
Adding back the FRS management fee that would have been paid to
FSR in 2015 to the amounts paid in salary and benefits that year
($2,865,733):
$408,000
Total amount that would have been paid in 2015 had FSR been
retained:
$3,273,733
Additional
2017 cost of Self-Management
$98,287
B. Annual increases in payroll and benefits
Comparison:
From 2014 to 2015 while managed by FSR,
the increase in payroll and benefits was:
$25,000
The increase from 2017 projected year
end of $3,372,020 to 2018 budgeted payroll and
benefits is:
$423,000
C. Many comments have been made requesting a
comparison of Sun City Anthem costs to other Homeowners Associations'
expenditures; and perhaps the best example is looking at our northwest neighbor,
Sun City Summerlin.
Currently, Sun City Anthem is the second largest HOA in Nevada while Sun
City Summerlin is the largest.
Looking at Sun City Summerlin (which is readily
available for public viewing on their web site), that community consists of the
following:
3
golf courses
3 restaurants
4 community centers
Summerlin is populated with
7,800 homes.
Current number of
employees: 300
Annual employee payroll:
$7,691,772
Annual Dues assessment:
$1,392
Analysis Comparison
to Sun City Anthem:
They pay $182 per year additional dues; however they are also
responsible for 3 golf courses, 3 restaurants and 4
centers.
They have 4 times the employees, but pay 2 times
for payroll and benefits.
Summerlin Reserve Account:
$15,000,000.
Summerlin interest
income: $250,000.
Result
of analysis:
They have 50% more in their reserve account than
Sun City Anthem, but get 3
times the return, under the same investment
restrictions.
And one more item that has
caused the greatest conflict:
D: General Manager Compensation:
Sun
City Summerlin
$160,000
Sun
City Anthem
$270,000
To coin
a phrase that has been used so often by the Removal
opponents:
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Anthem Opinions thanks
Barry Goldstein for the time and effort he devoted in
obtaining this helpful information.
What conclusion can be
drawn from all of this?
Got a
comment?
Send it to us
at:
We have been lied to for years by Boards, and this information says it all!
I still don't understand why the population thinks Self-management is better than hiring a Property Management Company.
We own rental properties in Anthem and would never even consider managing them ourselves.
The Property Management Company we use provides a rental ad if required, screens all applicants, visits the property every 90 days, collects all the rent, handles all the maintenance/repair calls, and send us reports and our share of the revenue monthly.
I am sure managing our HOA property is much more complicated, but there are a number of companies that can do this job very well.
They say you get what you pay for, and I for one, think paying for a Property Management Company is the best use of my HOA $.