Introduction

To: The Columbia Association Board of Directors
From: Phil Nelson, President/CEO
Subject: 2013-2104 Budget Planning Element
Date: January 5, 2012

Staff is pleased to present Volumes I and II of the two-year budget for fiscal years 2013 and 2014. Volume I is the Planning Element of the budget and is based on four platforms of sustainability. The platforms are: Economic; Societal, external and internal; Environmental; and, Relational, again, both external and internal.

Volume I will provide a policy basis and will be divided into two parts. The first section of Volume I will be an interactive element that provides readers with graphic and pictorial connections to the various functions that CA performs. The second part will show the Board Strategic Plan policy documents that are the basis for budget formulation.

Instead of providing page after page of written content, the first section of Volume I will utilize technology to show annual charge payers and users of CA programs and facilities with graphic detail what CA offers, and what they get for their annual investment or their program charges and fees. Since most people are visual, the plan is to provide either pictures or videos or data tables of what CA does to show the level of service of each function and to show how the money that residents and program users pay is used to add value to life and/or property.

The second section of Volume I will reiterate CA’s Strategic Plan and include: Vision and Mission Statement, organizational strategic goals, a listing of CA’s Key Strategic Issues and the Strategic Sketches for those key issues. Volume II contains the supporting documentation and lists the budget totals for each function of CA.

There are many elements to being a complete community. Safety and other services such as infrastructure construction and maintenance are the responsibility of Howard County.

When Columbia was founded, much of the quality of life functions were built in. Each Village was constructed to provide retail and services to people living in the Villages. The concept was developed to provide a different atmosphere away from the larger metropolitan areas. Obviously, the zeitgeist was perfect for the place in time as Columbia flourished and transformed into the style and spirit of today. These principles also act as the completion of the equation that makes Columbia a complete community. However when one looks at the benefits or ills of societal or resource change the outlook for Columbia and the Columbia Association could very well be based on significant changes in demographics and the supply of natural resources.