I am looking at last year's IJK annual budget for the period January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010. The item that jumps out at me is the Building Maintenance line. The annual 2009 budget for this item was $33,360, the projected actual amount for the year was $54,074 and the 2010 annual budget was $51,192. This item includes Service, Equipment and Supplies. During my four weeks in January and February of 2010 in various units in building I just about every appliance failed, the lights went out and the roof leaked. When the repairmen arrived they were suggesting more things to be repaired for some of the appliances because that meant increased revenue and additional trips for their companies. These were not the on-site maintenance people, but the ones coming from Fort Myers. Our appliances are of the lowest quality and only checked for maintenance when owners arrive and take the time to call housekeeping for repairs. If we do not upgrade the quality of our appliances as they break (and repair the roof as soon as it leaks) our costs of amintenance will continue to skyrocket.

I am on Sanibel now and will be the rest of this week and all of the next. I'll answer the questions that I can.

Yes, we have compared our maintenance fees with the other Hilton managed Associations on Sanibel. FGH is the lowest of the group. When comparing fees, you must be certain to limit yourself to fees and not include taxes. We have no control over the taxes and they vary depending on the weeks you own. Prime weeks, really high, mid weeks lower and summer weeks, lowest.

I have no comparables with other intervals or time shares on Sanibel, but you have to remember that there is a vast difference between interval ownership and time shares.

Another factor of equal or great importance, is reserves. Speaking now for FGH, but I'm fairly certain that the same is true for IJK, we add enough to reserves each year to provide for replacements. Every major item in the units has a scheduled life and our budget has a pro-rated amount set aside every year to pay for that replacement in the scheduled year. For example, if the kitchen appliances are scheduled for replacement in 2013, we include enough in reserves that the money will be there to pay for the replacements in 2013. If the items are still servicable at that time, the reserves are carried over until they are replaced.

By maintaining the reserves, we avoid making assessments. I was not on the board at that time, but an assessment was needed after Hurricane Charly's visit and I believe one was made years before that to pay for microwaves in Building F and maybe H, to keep those buildings current with G which had them installed during construction.

If you still want to compare our fees with other, nonn-Hilton resorts on Sanibel, ask yourself these questions:

a. Where is there another 50 meter pool?
b. Where is another resort that has a pool side bar like Coconuts?
c. Where is there another resort that has a first class restaurant overlooking the Gulf?
d. What other resort has so much beach front?
e. Who else has maintenance service so many hours of the day?
f..What other resort has front desk service 24/7?

As to the Board spending days working on the budget, we have a volunteer board of directors, but we are paid our travel expense, lodging and food costs while meeting. How many days do you want to pay the expenses of 7 really good people, but not necessarily experts in the proparation of budgets? Spend a buck, save a penny? Speaking for myself, I'm cheap, I usually own the weeks of the meeting and no one gets charged for that and I'm too lazy most of the time to send in the expense form, so I think I have been compensated for travel expense and meals and about a third of the time. (Its fine with me, but my wife wants to kill me for it.)

I'm sure this doesn't answer all of your questions, but you have my e-mail address and can respond on this thread.

Lynn

Lynn, I do have some questions.

Regarding taxes, why do they vary from week to week? When I purchased my weeks (51 and 52), I paid a premium vs. nearly all the other weeks, but I don’t see why my taxes, which are based on the value of the real estate (which shouldn’t vary week to week), should be higher than others.

From a maintenance fee standpoint, what is the difference between Intervals and Time Shares?

The Coconuts bar and Thistle Lodge restaurant should be self funding. Why do our maintenance fees support these enterprises?

Why should the amount of beach front (which was the primary driver of our decision to buy) increase our maintenance fees? This should be reflected in the purchase price and property taxes only.

Regarding points e. and f., I really don’t know which resorts have these amenities, but I would be surprised if none did. I agree that they do drive higher maintenance fees.

A full answer to your question will be forthcoming, probably next week. I'm at Casa Ybel now and we had the budget meeting on Tuesday, setting the maintenance fees for the coming year. I will also give you, when I answer the amount of your taxes for the coming year, together with an explanation of how they are calculated.

Lynn

You should know why your fees are less in other countries than in the United States. Check to see how much they pay the people who work there. That should be the answer by itself. Please send me the information on the USA resort, whether it is a time share or an interval ownership and an accounting of their reserves, then a meaningful comparison can be made.

Respectifully

Lynn