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Table of Contents
Budget
Each year the Board is responsible for reviewing the budgets supplied by CLT and COHO, and then adjusting our members' housing charges to align with these budgets.
Timeline
The budget process changes a bit every year, but an example timeline is given below based on a previous year's timeline.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| 7th February | CLT and COHO communicate the budget process for the year, including a timeline of key dates. |
| 5th February - 28th March | CLT budget preparation. |
| 31st March | CLT internally approves their budget. |
| 1st - 4th April | Budget packages sent to COHO management company in preparation of budget meeting with each individual co-op. Budget presentation meeting invitation will be sent. |
| 15th - 18th April | COHO management company completes each co-op budget and sends draft to CLT for review and comment. |
| 21st - 28th April | CLT to provide final comments and recommendations for co-op boards to approve budget. |
| 5th - 9th May | Budget presentation from CLT and COHO to co-op boards. |
| 12th - 16th May | Co-ops to provide a copy and confirmation of approved budget to CLT. |
| 23rd May | CLT to send out rent schedules. |
Our financial year begins in August. We aim to give members two months notice for changes to their housing charge, and therefore the budget process must complete before the end of May.
Our Role
The Board works with COHO to draft the Co-op's budget.
Drafting the budget involves:
- Reviewing CLT's and COHO's budgets. We identify changes in the budget by comparing it to the previous year's budget, and then consult with CLT and COHO to understand the changes.
- Performing Annual Income Verification so that we understand which units have housing charges that are fixed and what those charges are.
- Adjusting members' housing charges so that the Co-op has enough income to pay for the year's upcoming charges as outlined in the CLT and COHO budgets. On the budget, this means that the COHO budget's total revenue needs to match onto the “rent” in CLT's budget.
- Note that we can also adjust other sources of income like charges for parking spaces and storage lockers, but adjustments to housing charges make up the lions share of our income.
The budget should be an accurate reflection of what we expect to happen in the year. So we may request tweaks to the budget, not to save money, but to bring the budget in line with realities.
This draft budget is sent to CLT, and includes the following information:
- The details of Annual Income Verification.
- Recommended rent roll for housing charges to take effect 1st August.
- Anything else that is specific to the project.
Understanding the CLT and COHO Budgets
The budgets have three columns:
- This year: What the budget was for this year.
- Projections: The end of year cost will be for this year. This is calculated based on where we are in the year, projected to the end of the year. For example, if the budget was written when we are 7 months into the financial year, the projection would be calculated as:
(current cost) / 7 x 12 - Next year: The budget for next year. We can compare this with the “this year” column to identify changes in charges.
Note that losses due to vacancies (a unit being empty for a month and therefore there being no rent charge for that unit that month) are tracked as losses in the budgets to make them more visible. We aim to have less than $15,000 of vacancy losses in a year.