Inflation, insurance affect budget
GRF DIRECTOR COLUMN
by Marla Hamblin
GRF Director
Our new GRF Treasurer Nick Massetti’s well-written article on Feb. 12 regarding the GRF budget process was important and informative. The more we as shareholders know, the more we will understand how the GRF Board functions.
For example, my first job paid 35 cents an hour. Coming from an impoverished family of six, I was so proud to be earning money. Many years later, my first job as an attorney paid $26,500 a year. Pre-COVID hourly pay of $8 is a distant memory compared to the post-COVID competitive wages of many at $25 an hour we must pay now. GRF employs a large number of necessary personnel: electricians, plumbers, clerical staff, highly skilled IT and management, in so many departments (e.g. Recreation, Security, Stock Transfer, Service Maintenance to name a few).
Inflation is also a factor in budgeting within the narrow framework of limitations on the income capacity for a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, such as Leisure World Seal Beach. Obviously GRF has no control over the global inflation we are all subject to. Then, aside from the wage increases, inflation has affected insurance premiums and the cost of consumer goods in numbers no one could have predicted.
Last year’s payouts for the fires in northern California forced several big name insurers to stop writing policies, leaving the remaining companies to increase the price for necessary coverage, due to supply and demand. Who knows how high this year’s claims for southern California fire payouts will reach?
It’s not just eggs, but how much more do we all pay for gas, services, food and all necessities. Where will those prices go from here? GRF Directors work hard to uphold the obligations of our corporate structure, while allocating as little as possible to keep the high standards of our amenities and services. The more we know, the more we understand. It’s no longer a matter of excess spending, it’s a matter of spending in the real world of 2025 Southern California.
