SUN CITY – It appears as though the accounting outsourcing issue in Sun City is settling down and improving.
An ad-hoc committee of Sun City governing leaders has revealed that, after nearly a year of operating accounting and financial reporting activities at First Service residential (FSR, the community association’s management company), the project is reportedly working properly. They say the project has achieved anticipated cost-savings and they recommend that the outsourcing continue for at least one more year in 2016.
After the first year of outsourcing started last January, the ad hoc committee was formed to evaluate the project this year and make recommendations to the board as to whether or not it should be continued.
According to the discussion of the matter at the Board of Directors’ November 4 Committee of the Whole meeting, here is where this matter stands:
The ad hoc committee, made up primarily of members of the board and the Finance Advisory Committee, says that the outsourcing activity has reduced Sun City accounting and financial reporting expenses by about $150,000 in 2015.
This is partially offset, however, by the $110,000 that the association has paid to FSR to conduct the outsourcing, which was revealed at one of the November 3 public meetings on the 2016 budget attended by residents. This number is reported as a general operating expense in the proposed 2016 Sun City budget, identified as a “financial addendum.” It is proposed as an expense for 2016 and described as a “budget actual” in 2015, the committee said.
The committee has also recommended that the outsourcing at FSR be continued for at least one more year.
It was further been recommended that a new sub-committee be formed to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) document to be used to solicit competitive outsourcing proposals from FSR and other organizations in the future.
No formal board approvals of any of these recommendations were made on November 4, which was a workshop meeting for discussion only. The board may take up this issue again at its Committee of the Whole and regular meetings on December 2.
