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Residents will pay $354.52 monthly for GRF services/amenities next year

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

 

Wednesday, October 2 (2 p.m.): The GRF Board on Thursday approved a 2025 operating budget of $28,401,490, and with it a monthly GRF coupon amount of $354.52, about 5.9% over the 2024 coupon amount.

That $354.52 includes $59.45 for Comcast cable TV and internet service, a 3.84% increase over 2024.

Thursday’s 6-1 vote came with relatively little discussion – on Thursday, anyway. GRF General Manager Jeff Matheson noted that the budgetary back and forth has unfolded over the past several months. Much of that discussion formed the budget, and by extension the coupon amount, and gelled ahead of a two-day joint hearing Sept. 10 and 11 of the GRF Board and the Finance Committee. The $28,401,490 operations budget amount approved Thursday was slightly higher, by about $17,200, than the preliminary budget first unveiled Sept. 10. The modifications reflect inclusion of three new GRF positions – an assistant golf course superintendent, an application support specialist (in Recreation) and a custodian.

The Board and Finance Committee signaled support after the two-day meetings on the condition that a good chunk of the $324,000 be taken from other parts of the proposed budget. And all but about $17,200 was indeed found in other parts of the operational budget, including converting the current golf course superintendent position from a full-time job to a three-quarter- time one; eliminating an off-site GRF Board retreat; cutting by half proposed travel costs of a Board trip to the Laguna Woods community in Southern California; and increasing the Facilities Use Fee (FUF) from $70 to $112.

The FUF is paid by residents living in a Rossmoor manor they lease from its owner. The fee, applying to each person living in a leased manor, pays for their prospective use of Rossmoor amenities in the way resident owners pay for amenities through the monthly coupon.

The largest individual department budgets for 2025 were general services (and unallocated), at $4,908,315, about 0.8% less than in 2024: public safety/Securitas, $2,454,776, up about 0.9%; Custodial Services, $2,000,261, up almost 1%; Recreation, $1,368,458, up 0.56%; and the golf courses, $1,349,886, down about 0.22% from 2024.

The GRF operations budget is distinct from GRF’s capital projects budget, which will be determined later this year or in early 2025. That budget includes major construction projects and related expenses.

With the setting of the 2025 GRF portion of the monthly coupon, each Rossmoor Mutual board will now work in earnest to craft the Mutuals’ share of the monthly coupon. Those should all be established before the end of December.

MOD budget approval

The Mutual Operations Department (MOD), its budgets in past years approved on a different timeline from that of the GRF operating budget, has changed its cycle to align with the operating budget finalization. And so it was that on Thursday, the GRF Board unanimously approved a $13,060,439 MOD budget for 2025, 3.8% less than the 2024 budget.

“This budget represents what it takes to deliver the services the Mutuals need on an ongoing basis,” Matheson told the Board Thursday. He said the approved MOD budget is essentially a break-even budget.

Different kind of transit study The Board on Thursday approved up to $15,000 for a Short-Range Transit Plan study aimed at helping determine what kind of GRF-operated bus service residents want. It’s likely going to be a different kind of report from the one Board members thought they would see when, several months ago, they approved spending up to $40,000 for such a study.

Matheson said that when GRF issued a request for proposals to consulting firms for such a study, and only one firm even replied, it was time to reevaluate what that study should be. He envisions the work now as more of an overview of “microtransit” in general, which he hopes can provide a better plan of what steps to take next, considering that demand for Rossmoor buses has remained significantly down from pre-COVID times. Matheson said he hopes that study will be available to the GRF Planning Committee in January. Generator replacement

Also Thursday, the Board approved spending $60,000 for replacement of the emergency generator near the entry gate, and the needed excavation work to install it.

During recent power outages affecting the Entrance Control Facility (entry gate), the generator has failed to start automatically, rendering gate personnel unable to communicate with, or be reached by, residents for extended periods of time.

Separately, a staff report says, the generator has experienced more frequent failures, and neither GRF crews nor outside vendors have been able to fully repair it.

“This (MOD) budget represents what it takes to deliver the services the Mutuals need on an ongoing basis.”

– General Manager Jeff Matheson