USS View

My USS View (Utilities, Sitework, Saving) paints a big picture of the financial health of our casitas, and seeks to discover trends. USS was explained in earlier blogs (see this for example) but its key findings for this fiscal year are:

Utilities represents ~20% of our expenses and has been increasing at about 5% per year (i.e. 1% overall)
Sitework represents ~40% of our expenses and has been increasing at about 5% per year (i.e. 2% overall).
Savings (reserve) represents ~40% of our expenses and has been increasing at about 10% per year (i.e. 4% overall).

Adding the above three leads to a 7% annual increase in expense, and hence the first takeaway: our condo fees will likely continue to increase at about 7% per year. The second takeaway is that the savings category is responsible for the bulk of the increase. Indeed the above 20-40-40 split used to be 25-50-25 ten years ago (see my 2013 blog). So unlike Utilities and Sitework, which are relatively stable except for inflation, the Savings category increases steadily as our complex ages, and we have been consistently ensuring that our reserve is fully funded.

In summary, we have a healthy reserve and will continue to be able to fund it without dramatic increases in fees. In fact, our current condo fees, of less than 50 cent per square foot per month, are among the lowest in Willowdale where the average fee is over 70 cents/SF/Month.

Projects

Here are the major projects (~$10K or more) that were completed or contemplated in the 2022 fiscal year:

Completed:

Cleaning the Dryer Venting System.
Replacing expired Smoke/CO detectors with Combo units.
Replacing all mats in Block Entrances and Elevator Lobbies.

Contemplated:

Cleaning the Kitchen Stacks.
Preemptive Replacement of the Elevator Cylinders and Power Units.
Securing the Roof Vents.

Views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the official position of MTCC 1113. They were written by Hamzeh Roumani, the President of the Board, and reflect his personal take on things.