I hope everyone enjoyed the winter that “wasn’t”. I have lived in this area a long time and have never experienced such a mild and snowless winter. Personally, my family and I enjoy the season by taking advantage of the activities that include snow and ice. The ski areas were still able to operate with their snowmaking abilities, however, even they had a difficult time dealing with the above-normal temperatures, and without natural snow on the ground, many people were not motivated to go skiing.

There were some advantages to the warmer-than-normal temperatures and lack of snow for individuals and WLE; we all saved money on heating and snow removal. The past winter was easy on our roads, which will not take much to get them back into shape. Money that would normally go to roads will be allocated to maintaining the shoulders of the road and drainage ditches. This type of work is necessary to keep our roads in good shape for longer periods of time. We plan to start scalping shoulders and opening up drainage ditches shortly. There are a couple of things that you may notice with this type of work. First is that the scalping of shoulders will remove an average of three feet of sod from the side of the roads. Therefore, a lawn that goes right to the road will be noticed more than places where a decent shoulder already exists. Second is driveways that should have culvert pipes and do not will have ditching ending above the driveway. In these situations, we will need to work with the property owners to install a culvert pipe. Once installed, we will then continue the ditch to and away from the pipe. On our survey of roads and drainage, we have noted many property owners’ culvert pipes are blocked and are in need of maintenance. The above upkeep is important to allow the water to be able to get to the ditches and travel them until it empties out to a reservoir.

My article is being written the end of March and the trees in front of the office are already budding. Maintenance has started sweeping roads and doing their spring cleaning around the amenities. Fishing docks are in at the interior lakes and the docks at the marina will be started this week. This weather has allowed us to get a jump on routine maintenance that would not usually be started until later in April.

We do not have any big projects planned for 2012. Our capital budget reflects mostly items and projects to maintain existing assets or established maintenance programs; such as roads, trash compactor, and wood chipper. We will also be addressing some of the parking lots for resurfacing. Another area of concentration is the mandated EPA testing of our water system. Other than this past winter’s weather, another first for many of us is dealing with such a poor economy. We know personally that it has affected many of our property owners, which naturally affects the POA. Normally, we have a collection rate in the high 90’s, and the last couple of years it has fallen to the mid 90’s. This may not sound like much of a difference, but when you operate with a close budget, it does have an effect, especially when you add in less revenue for building. For years, building permits brought in sizable revenue that is now no longer there. The Board has been and is focusing on this situation for both short and long-term.

Short-term - We have cut back on some staffing and relocated our Building Compliance Officer to assist the Sewer and Water Department. Also, working with an insurance broker, we were able to save a considerable amount on employees’ health insurance and the employees are also paying more of their premium. We are always seeking cost savings through our vendors and our daily operations. We also continue to stay on top of collections; our Collection Administrator Janet Havet is doing a good job of working with property owners who are having difficult times to get their accounts paid. We will always do all we can to work with members, but members must take responsibility to pay their assessment when due and not ignore our letters. Once we institute legal action, it becomes more difficult and costly for property owners. A certain percentage of property owners are making late payments and this has had a negative effect on us, especially in the 4^th quarter when we do not get the money in until the following year. It is understandable, especially a person who pays every quarter may feel if they are late with their payment, how much can it really hurt, but when you get enough late payments, it can affect our cash flow. When this happens, especially in the 4^th quarter, it affects how we budget for the following year.

Long-term - We are considering all factors, such as our yearly operating budget, contribution to reserves, and how we will meet future sewer and water funding with the current sewer and water special assessment ending in 2016. We have also changed our investment brokerage firm this year and the strategy of investing to maximize interest, but insure the principal. This will be the challenge of the new Board of Directors, Management and the Finance Committee.

In closing, to emphasize the importance of the above, not too long ago a property owner had his house appraised for refinancing. The appraiser mentioned to him that through this period of a bad economy causing houses to lose value, that WLE, and he mentioned one other community located in the Pocono Region, maintained their values better than most communities. He attributed it to the upkeep of the facilities and infrastructure. All property owners have a vested interest in WLE, and to maintain and increase property values we must continue to maintain and enhance the facilities. POA’s are a unique concept that many share the cost of what individuals may not be able to afford by themselves. Hopefully, that is why you bought into a POA, and not just because you got a good deal on a home or you are really not interested in the amenities but rather just need a place to live. With all WLE has to offer, and the dues including sewer and water, you would be hard pressed to find a better situation than WLE.

Due to conservative budgeting, the years’ dues increases have lagged behind our actual expenses and it is catching up to us now. Over the next year the Board will be working on how we can increase revenue and we will always work on cutting expenses, but it does get to the point where it is difficult to keep cutting expenses without cutting on services.

Please feel free to contact me with any concern you may have or to discuss in further detail anything in my report.