The Landings Budgeting Process and Priorities

Courtesy of TLA's Board Operations & Financial Planning Task Force

The Board recognizes the importance of budgeting within the approved dollars derived from both our Assessment (homeowners' dues) and non-Assessment dollars. In preparation for TLA’s 2026 budgeting process, the Board established an Operations and Financial Planning Task Force headed by Treasurer Rosemary Mackey and Board Director Don Wurzel and including members of the community. Over the past three months, we have presented articles under the Tuesday Tidbit header, explaining all the critical infrastructure and safety tools we have in place to keep The Landings the paradise we all cherish.

Most of us budget our finances to be sure we don’t spend too much money on the things we might want, which might cause us to run out of money before we pay for the things that we absolutely must have. The Landings Association's Budget is no different. Our annual budgets allocate funding to the necessities before we budget for the niceties. Let’s look at some of them.

Necessities are those things we must pay for to live safely and comfortably on the island – the island we first encountered when we came across the causeway and over the bridge and where we found our new home. Think of our gates, the storm drain infrastructure, our roads that enable us to get to County roads so we can get on and off the island as well as move around within our gates, bridges (both those spanning roadways and lagoons), lagoons we use to manage storm water runoff to avoid localized flooding, and the sprayfields we use to safely treat and disperse treated wastewater. Were we to neglect routine maintenance on any of these infrastructure systems, we would all find regular, unacceptable disruptions to our pleasant island lifestyle and, as we all know, maintenance deferred is always more expensive! Essential to our maintenance schedule is the equipment used every day.  We have $60 million in equipment that must also be maintained and replaced as it reaches the end of its useful life. We manage these assets in our Capital Asset Management Plan (CAMP).

Niceties are those things that contribute to our enjoyment of life in The Landings but are not essential to living here. Think of the amenities we enjoy – the Marinas, Athletic Fields, Marsh Tower, Playground, Dog Park, RV Storage Yard, and common area landscaping. Each of these amenities offer residents a welcomed additional benefit to life in The Landings, but the loss of any of these amenities would not significantly threaten our ability to live safely on the island.

So, in developing our annual budgets and projecting our CAMP we prioritize necessities over niceties. 

Starting in January, as we develop the financial models that will be used to define our proposed Assessments over the next three years (2027-2029), we will continue our Tuesday Tidbits with information related to our budgeting process and the priorities we identify, based in part on what you have told us in surveys, are important to you. These will detail the work required to meet our necessities and affordable niceties. We will welcome your feedback as these are presented to you.