More releases from the “B.C.Leaks”data:
Following are a couple of interesting & article relevant snippets of information – the overtime totals from just 2 departments:
Dept 13 / Public Works
174.59 hours of overtime during the 1st 6 weeks of 2022.
Dept 23 / Public Safety
966.5 hours of overtime during the 1st 6 weeks of 2022
The hourly pay rates for overtime are indicated at 1.5X normal hourly rate. The highest hourly overtime rate in these two groups was $54.30 / hr. The average calculated hourly overtime rate in Dept 13 was $32.39 / hr. The average calculated hourly overtime rate in Dept 23 was $27.82 / hr.
Historical Employee Costs – 7 Year Compilation of Data
* Number of employees for the anuual pay period
** Overtime Comparisons year over year
2014 (307 *) —- $4,828,806.00
2015 (302 *) —- $5,154,755.00 (+6.75%)
2016 (294 *) —- $5,147,832.00 (-0.13%)
2017 (302 *) —- $5,444,018.00 (+5.75%)
2018 (313 *) —- $5,843,633.00 (+7.34%)
2019 (303 *) —- $6,444,805.00 (+10.29%) Employee #’s dropped year over year. Overtime was down 9.7% year over year**. Why the Pre-Pandemic Jump in Employee Costs?
2020 (266 *) —- $7,375,372.00 (+14.44%) < A Year of Lockdowns, Amenity Closures?
Q: Shouldn’t this have been down? Especially with a 12.2% decrease in Employee’s? Overtime was also down 12% year over year**. How are these numbers reconciled? Has this trend continued?
The above data (already almost 1.5 years old, as there is a partial gap in data) showed the beginning of an unexplainable escalatory trend. Some up-to-date economic & labor data does exist, is available, has been reviewed, and that data suggests that the trend could be accelerating due to the labor shortage/cost component. Will the POA Board / Management provide Members a real-time overview of what is currently happening to our Employment Costs? … and provide explanations for the seeming discrepancies?
FOR EXAMPLE: How do you get a 14.44% increase in Employee costs, with a 12.2% reduction in Employees, combined with a 12% reduction in Overtime pay, during a period of lockdown and amenity closures??? Are we rotating out lower wage, highly productive and useful everyday labor – with higher wage, lesser productive, bureaucratic minded, report generating, management staff? Is the POA evolving into a top heavy, bloated governmental organization?
And while Employee Labor costs make up a huge percentage of POA expenses, another huge factor is in Service Labor and Materials costs. These costs are exploding, and Property Owners are given no window into understanding the numbers involved. Here is one example, regarding the Lake Petit Dam repairs. Initially, just a little over a year ago, the POA was saying that our $2.8 Million dollar reserve would easily cover the work. Late last year it was reported that the cost would be around $4.5 Million. In a recent Board meeting, Regis stated that the number was now $5.5 Million. FOBC has it on good authority that those numbers are now heading north of $7 Million! And that source is a month old! We could already be at $8 Million for the same scope of work by now – due to the rapidly inflating costs of services and materials. These are mandatory expenses that are coming due – and the community has no idea what the true financial outlook is. And in all of this… the POA is just rolling out new $Million Dollar Plus projects with absolutely no restraint, nor even prior notice – just blatantly blindsiding Property Owners. This is a financial trainwreck happening right before our eyes, and nobody is saying anything!
At what point can Property Owners legitimately say,
“Dear Board and Management,
WE (Members of the POA) see a special circumstance unfolding in the economy, and YOU (POA Leadership) are telling us suddenly that we need almost $18 Million in additional credit lines; we see a sharply escalating curve in our labor costs; and we see exploding special project expenses (+ the unknowns regarding the Lake Petit Dam), and we have a question: Can Property Owners get a special “Open Q&A Financial Town Hall” for the purpose of releasing additional layers of financial transparency – so that Members can get a better idea of our true financial situation.”
As a Member of this non-profit Corporation, the “Big Canoe Property Owners Association”, I have a serious stake in ensuring that this community, MY Community, remains financially solvent, AND that sound financial and directional decisions are being made regarding my interests in this community. At this time I do not feel that this is the case, and I have heard from many other “Members” of the BCPOA that also feel as I do.
Somehow, the “Members” of the BCPOA need to get a handle on this, and find a way to obtain a better understanding of what is going on in our community. Does anyone have any ideas on how to move forward? Property Owners need to be having this discussion, and the Community Facebook Group Admins (such as in N2N) need to stop censoring that discussion. Thank you – this has been your data, and my two cents.
This Article Shareable Online at our FOBC Public News Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FocusonBigCanoeGA
Peace,
– david / publisher
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* a publication of The Mountains Voice
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