Hello Aquarinans and Neighbors,
PART ONE
It’s been a bit since the last Blog Post, but we have just completed our move to another neighborhood here in Aquarina. I call this neighborhood “ET Village”, since the folks here are social and a sharing group, and there is a sense of a village community. Being a Resident in Aquarina since 1995, I have probably owned and lived in more neighborhoods here than arguably anyone. But enough on my update to you, let’s jump into our Aquarina community.
Aquarina can be seen divided into categories with each category tiered into a series of social demographics, i.e. the number of Residents in each tier, the money spent on each tier, and the social events for each tier. For Aquarina, there are four categories, i.e. golf, tennis, beach goers, and the general community. Our Board of Directors (BOD) determines how our funds (through are fees) are allocated to each of these categories.
Of course, we know that golf is always first, which includes the golf course, social events, and The Brassie (apparently all subsidized by the Residents’ funds, that should be for Reserves), tennis follows, with lesser embellished activities, the Beach Club, an afterthought and a suffering category, and finally, the Aquarina Community as a whole, the forgotten category.
The tiers for each of the categories can be seen as follows.
- The golf group (AGI) is the most prominent since it dominates the BOD, spends most of the community’s funds, e.g. golf course improvements, exorbitant salaried positions, and subsidized social events. Its low Resident participation number and high spending causes a disproportional spending per participant, i.e. high. You would think that since AGI is expected to generate revenue to pay its expenses, the spending per the participant should be low. Hmm.
- The tennis group, appears as a more modest and balanced functioning category, i.e. with its apparent reasonable spending per participant.
- The Beach Club category probably is the most Resident used and attended of all our categories, yet its proportional funding is the lowest of the above three categories because of the combination of high Resident participation, its lack of sufficient funding, and, more so, its neglect.
- Finally, we have Aquarina as a whole, where there may be a few scattering of mundane events for the Community and minimal maintenance. However, the spending per Resident, when combined with the required servicing of our infrastructure (e.g. repairs and reserve funding), and Community events, is abhorrently proportionately the lowest of all the categories because it serves all the Residents, is also under funded, and neglected.
Though you may expect the Beach Club and Aquarina Community as a whole to have the lowest spending for its participants and Residents; the spending on these two categories has been, unfortunately, much lower which has resulted in a lack of maintenance for both these categories, e.g. pavers, roadways, decking, stairs, dune trimming, etc. The irony here is that you would expect the pool of Residents and participants for these two categories, that are enjoyed by the most of the Aquarina Residents, to certainly be provided the sufficient funds to service the neglected needs of these two categories. Instead, specifically golf and AGI tap into these two pools to subsidize their shortfalls in spending. This spending is for a minority of the Residents, i.e. the golfers and their social cabal.
The rankings could be seen as the following.
Spending per category.
- Golf.
- Tennis
- Beach Club
- Aquarina Community
Social Activities per category.
- Golf
- Tennis
- Beach Club
- Aquarina Community
Number of Residents per category.
- Aquarina Community
- Beach Club
- Golf
- Tennis
This seeming inequity can further be complicated by another category that has faded away from discussion, i.e. The Community Pool. Aquarina allegedly received a chunk of money with the Kahama settlement, for some beachfront property. A focus committee for pool design, location, etc. was formed. When was the last time we heard of any information on the pool? Have the received funds been spent? The recent past BOD’s apparent historical reckless and irresponsible use of the Residents’ funds would make you wonder. We certainly should not forget the continued non-transparency with AGI spending and funding. A courageous Resident hired an attorney to gain legal access to the AGI books, which, BTW, is a State Statute Community Right. AGI is using the Residents’ funds to pay attorneys to fight the release of the detailed financials. How ironic is that! Lastly, CPA Companies, who are expected to certify our financials, come and go at Aquarina. Hmm. CPA’s are ethically required to follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Some suggested solutions to this obvious imbalance in our Aquarina Community shall be coming in a few days as PART II to our discussion. Until then. . .