Rancho Santa Fe Association board to review financial stats monthly with new flash report

By Karen Billing

The Rancho Santa Fe Association is developing a new “flash report”, which is a new way to see “in real time from a bird’s eye view” where the Association stands financially on a monthly basis.

RSF Association President Philip Wilkinson said the flash report is a great step forward as they continue the process of introducing best practices to effectively run the business of the Association.

Fred Wasserman, a finance committee member, gave the board an overview of all the flash report entails — including expenses such as legal and litigation, home sales numbers, expenses of the Community Enhancement Fund, and RSF Tennis Club and Golf Club numbers from memberships to food and beverage revenue.

The flash report also includes Covenant Design Review Committee applications submitted and approved. RSF Association Director Jerry Yahr requested more information in that item so RSF Association directors can see the success rate — such as applications submitted, deferred, withdrawn and approved in both new homes and remodels.

The board will also have a flash report on the unrestrictive reserves — essentially the amount of cash the board has available to spend. Currently that reserve is in the $1.7 million range.

RSF Association Treasurer Larry Spitcaufsky said the report reminded him that the board probably carries too much money in free reserves and the board should consider moving about $300,000 to another fund.

Wilkinson said that kind of discussion is just one demonstration of how valuable a tool the report can be.

The flash report continues to be a work in progress as far as what and how much information gets included — Wasserman said the hope is for the report to be just one page a month. In the long term, the board also hopes to give members access to the monthly reports via a password-protected page on the RSF Association website.