Berington Club Homeowners Association, Inc.

Berington Club Annual Report(s)

2000 Annual Financial Report

BERINGTON CLUB HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2000


ASSETS

Cash - Operating $8,655.26
Cash - MM Reserves 14,684.38
Utility Deposits 560.00
Accounts Receivable 1,001.92
TOTAL ASSETS $24,901.56



LIABILITIES & EQUITY

CURRENT LIABILITIES
A/P Vendors $8,747.67
Pre-paid Assessments 8,423.05
Subtotal Current Liabilities $17,170.72

RESERVES
Roads $6,251.08
Recreation 1,896.34
Entrances 1,646.28
Contingency 4,491.83
Signs 398.85
Subtotal Reserves $14,684.38


EQUITY
Beginning of Fiscal Year - Owner Equity (5,595.59)
Prior Year Expenses Paid (1,010.00)
Current Year Net Income/(Loss) (347.95)
Subtotal Equity $(6,953.54)


TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY $24,901.56

2000 Annual Financial Report (Income/Expense)

BERINGTON CLUB HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC
2000 Income & Expense Report

2000 2000
INCOME Actuals Budget Variance
300 Assessments 45,361.40 60,300.00 (14,938.60)
301 Late Fees/Interest 261.92 - 261.92
303 Return Checks 25.00 - 25.00
304 Attorney Fees 315.00 - 315.00
306 Capital Contribution 11,500.00 14,256.00 (2,756.00)
307 Intent To Lien 25.00 - 25.00
308 Developer Contribution 9,100.70 - 9,100.70
365 Interest - Reserves 196.22 - 196.22
367 Allocate Reserve Interest (196.22) - (196.22)
371 Transfer Fees 25.00 - 25.00
TOTAL INCOME 66,614.02 74,556.00 (7,941.98)

EXPENSES
ADMINISTRATIVE
401 Management Fee 4,636.00 3,600.00 (1,036.00)
412 Telephone/Fax 580.32 552.00 (28.32)
414 Postage 494.86 180.00 (314.86)
415 Copies/Printing/Supplies 777.63 180.00 (597.63)
417 Meeting Room Expense 111.00 - (111.00)
431 Property Insurance 234.09 2,397.00 2,162.91
432 Legal Expense 768.79 900.00 131.21
433 Licenses & Permits 61.25 61.00 (0.25)
470 Professional Services (Accounting) 150.00 150.00
480 Bad Debt Expense 25.00 - (25.00)
TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE 7,838.94 8,020.00 181.06

BUILDING
560 Lighting & Fixtures 2,024.63 - (2,024.63)
TOTAL EQUIPMENT 2,024.63 - (2,024.63)

RECREATION
670 Recreational Courts 65.00 600.00 535.00
TOTAL EQUIPMENT 65.00 600.00 535.00

GROUNDS
700 Lawn/Landscape Maintenance 16,056.00 9,180.00 (6,876.00)
701 Landscape Replacement/Upgrade 2,000.00 1,200.00 (800.00)
708 Annuals & Special Plants 2,350.00 - (2,350.00)
709 Mulch - 1,250.00 1,250.00
710 Irrigation Repair 240.00 1,200.00 960.00
730 Fence & Gate Repair/Maint 4,401.01 1,500.00 (2,901.01)
745 Sign Maintenance - 600.00 600.00
799 Grounds Miscellaneous 1,914.38 1,200.00 (714.38)
TOTAL GROUNDS 26,961.39 16,130.00 (10,831.39)

UTILITIES
800 Electric 10,842.64 6,276.00 (4,566.64)
801 Water & Sewer 5,246.95 19,560.00 14,313.05
TOTAL UTILITIES 16,089.59 25,836.00 9,746.41

MISCELLANEOUS
860 Service Contracts 1,095.00 2,100.00 1,005.00
TOTAL MISCELLANEOUS 1,095.00 2,100.00 1,005.00

RESERVES
903 Road 5,039.19 8,540.00 3,500.81
908 Recreational Equipment 711.75 1,200.00 488.25
911 Entrances 1,470.95 2,500.00 1,029.05
918 Contingency 5,314.40 9,000.00 3,685.60
922 Signs 351.13 600.00 248.87
TOTAL RESERVES 12,887.42 21,840.00 8,952.58

TOTAL EXPENSES 66,961.97 74,526.00 7,564.03

SURPLUS (DEFICIT) (347.95) 30.00 (377.95)

State of the Association Report

BERINGTON CLUB HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING OF HOMEOWNERS
February 20, 2001

State of the Association

As many of you know, the past four months have been very busy for the Association.

On October 4th of last year, the Association assumed responsibility from Beazer and elected our first Board of Directors. The Board elected the Association’s officers at our first meeting on November 9th.

In response to a question from a homeowner, let me assure you that none of us is paid anything – in fact, it is illegal for an officer or director of a homeowners association to be paid anything.

Since the Board assumed responsibility for managing the Association, we believe we have accomplished a lot, both in taking care of present business and planning for the future. We believe there are five areas that define the role of the Association – finances, security, maintenance of property values, communication and governance. Following is a summary of our action in each area.

FINANCES

· Restored solvency to the Association.
When we took over, we owed about $7,000 more than the cash in our operating account. It took us about a month to determine exactly what we had and what we owed. By the end of November, we owed nearly $14,000 and had $41 in our operating account.

We managed our payables, collected over $9,100 from Beazer (arguably more than they legally owed us) and with the collection of assessments in January, we now have over $51,000 in our operating account, nearly $22,000 in our reserve accounts (both earning interest), and no bills.

· Developed a realistic budget for 2001.
Our Treasurer, Frank Grosch, and our Manager, Mickey House, worked for several weeks to develop a meaningful budget that will allow us to meet all of our obligations in 2001. Although we had to increase our homeowners’ assessments by the maximum 15% allowed by our Articles of Incorporation, we now have established a fiscally-sound plan for the association. Every effort is being made to minimize future increases. Copies of the budget have been mailed to you and additional copies are available here tonight.


· Fully funded our required reserves for roads and common property over their expected lives.
The budget we adopted uses conservative assumptions about interest income and inflation on costs to fully fund all of our reserves over the expected lives of our roads and other common property.

· Initiated collection actions against delinquent homeowners.
We all have an obligation, under the covenants we assumed at closing, to pay our assessments. The Board has a fiduciary responsibility to you to collect all of these legally-required funds, which total nearly $7,000. We are actively pursuing collection efforts for all funds owed to us.

· Investigated an irrigation well to supply water for our common areas.
Digging a well requires Beazer’s assignment of its rights, as developer. They have indicated that they will assign the rights to us. We expect to receive their assignment shortly. At a one-time cost of about $2,500, we should save about $5,600 each year (the cost of water already is included in the budget).

· Installed a bulletin board to save on the cost of notices.
All meetings of the Association, the Board of Directors, or any committees to which the Board delegates decision-making authority, must be noticed. We must mail a notice seven days in advance or post a notice on the community’s bulletin board at least two days before the meeting. Our bulletin board cost about $250 and will pay for itself once we avoid three or four one-page mailings.

SECURITY

· Enabled Sheriff’s and Fire Department (911) services.
We provided a confidential access code to both departments. Previously, neither department could enter the gate without the assistance of a homeowner.

· Requested paperwork to enable Sheriff’s Department patrols.
Without a written request from the Association, the Sheriff’s Department is unable to patrol our neighborhood.

· Reported the vandalization of our playground to the Sheriff’s Department.
We invited the Sheriff’s Department into the community to investigate the vandalization of the playground. We will continue to pursue any crime in the community.

MAINTENANCE OF PROPERTY VALUES

· Initiated the development of consistent community standards.
To avoid differences of opinion on what exterior features are acceptable within our covenants, we directed the Architectural Review Committee to prepare an extensive description of what fences, driveway surfaces, etc. complied with our covenants and community standards.
The ARC is well underway in preparing a draft for the Board’s approval. We expect that we will be able to distribute our draft community standards for comments in a few months, before adopting and enforcing them.

· Ruled on several appeals of ARC decisions. by several homeowners. We believe that we have successfully bridged the gap between the inconsistent decisions made under Beazer control and the development of detailed community standards.

· Modified our landscape contract to add a 30-day no-questions-asked cancellation clause.
Many of us have been unhappy with our common area landscaping. We now have the ability to cancel on thirty-days’ notice and have made it clear to Eden Landscaping that we will cancel if we do not receive the excellent service that we expect. We obtained the best price from Eden (after negotiating with them) and have several alternatives if we decide to cancel at any time.

· Formed a Landscape Committee to coordinate with Eden on plantings.
The Landscape Committee met with Eden to review what flowers they propose planting in our common areas. The committee also learned that the notorious palm tree at the entrance was NOT planted by Eden, but by a predecessor landscape company. Eden is working to improve our common area landscaped areas. The Landscape Committee and the Board will continue to monitor them.

· Continue to work with Beazer to resolve punch list items.
We have continued to follow up with Beazer about the punch list prepared by the ARC. The silting of drains in the common area remains the largest, substantive issue that requires action. Our attorney (see below) advises us that many of the other issues on the punch list are beyond the scope of any Beazer warranties (e.g., “they didn’t promise you a perfect community”) and are unenforceable. We will get as much as is possible accomplished.

· Cleaned up the playground after it was vandalized.
Our Vice President, Vince Murray, generously gave his time to clean up the playground, following its vandalization.

COMMUNICATIONS

· Started a community Web site.
Our newly-formed communications committee, working with our property management company, has created a community web site (http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/seminoleco/berington/) for the community’s use.

· Collected e-mail addresses for improved communication.
We continue to solicit e-mail addresses to better communicate with the community. A list will be circulated during this meeting for you to provide your e-mail address, if you wish us to use it for communications with you.
· Held monthly Board meetings, which are open to all homeowners.
Many issues have been discussed with homeowners at the four Board meetings we have held. Our meetings have been informal, allowing questions and discussion to occur throughout the meetings. A number of good suggestions, described above, resulted from discussions with homeowners at the Board meetings.

GOVERNANCE

· Learned our responsibilities and authority from the Association’s attorney.
Paul Wean, of Wean & Malchow, P.A. provided us with an extremely informative summary of our fiduciary responsibilities and the authority of the Board – at a reasonable price.

· Proposed a workable five-member board.
Our Articles of Incorporation set the number of directors at between three and nine. Beazer set the initial Board at three members. The Articles call for five members, beginning with this election, although the Board can change the number between three and nine.

We believe five members is both small enough to be effective and large enough to allow two-person committees to meet without violating Florida’s Open Meetings Law (at present, two members constitute a quorum of the Board, which would require prior notice and the opportunity for all homeowners to attend). We also believe that five-member board also will be more available and responsive to the homeowners.

· Planned at least five permanent working Committees.
If reelected, we plan five permanent committees – Architectural Review, Landscape, Communications, Social and Nominations – and possibly others will follow. Each committee would be composed of a Board member serving as the chairman and two other homeowners appointed by the Board.

It is important to note, as our attorney explained, that Committees are purely advisory groups that have no authority other than that delegated to them by the Board. They may be formed or dissolved by the Board.

* * * * *

Much remains to be done, but we believe we are heading in the right direction. As always, we encourage your feedback. There will be an open discussion at the conclusion of tonight’s meeting.