UNA Budgets

The UNA prepares operating and capital budgets for each fiscal year (April 1 to March 31). The budgets are financial plans that serve to ensure that the UNA’s expenses are commensurate with its projected revenue and other sources of funds.

The operating budget is applicable with respect to the day-to-day functioning of the UNA. The primary source of revenue for this budget is the portion of the Neighbours Levy that is paid by UBC to the UNA. Another substantial source of revenue is the fees paid for community centre programs and fitness memberships.

The capital budget is the UNA’s plan for the acquisition, improvement, and major repairs of capital assets. Capital assets are most assets that have an expected useful life of more than one year. Examples include computer hardware and software, office equipment, and gym equipment. The primary source of funds for capital expenditures is the UNA’s capital reserve.

Budget Process

The development of the budgets goes through many steps, as shown in this diagram:

For purposes of the public consultation, the UNA prepares an information package that includes the UNA Strategic Plan, an overview of the budget process, and the draft operating and capital budgets.

Pursuant to the Neighbours Agreement between UBC and the UNA, the UNA must submit its budgets to UBC for approval. UBC can require changes only if any budgeted expenditures are not consistent with the purposes for which UBC receives the Neighbours Levy.

2024-2025 UNA Budget

The UNA’s 2024-2025 operating and capital budgets were approved by the Board of Directors on February 20, 2024.

Thank you to all UNA members who provided feedback during the consultation period.

View Budget

Operating and Capital Budgets

Financial Statements

The UNA prepares financial statements after each fiscal year showing its revenue and expenses for the year, its assets and liabilities at the end of the year, and other amounts. The financial statements are audited by an independent auditor.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How does the UNA ensure that the operating budget is centred around the needs and priorities of the community?

    The UNA operating budget is built around priorities identified by the elected UNA Board of Directors in the UNA Strategic Plan 2023-25. The Strategic Plan is reviewed every few years and is the outcome of extensive planning sessions, preparation, and discussion. The core purpose of the UNA Strategic Plans is to address the ongoing and changing needs of UNA residents. Strategic Plans are driven by the UNA Directors, the elected representatives of residents. The priorities underpin the service expectations for the UNA and the annual budgeting process.

    The UNA also engages residents and stakeholders in multiple ways on an ongoing basis. An example of a recent and major community consultation that drove this year’s staff work plan was the UNA Recreation Review conducted in the spring of 2023. The Recreation Review identified multiple resident groups and demographics and conducted focus groups with multiple language support. Other ways we collect information and feedback include surveys related to UNA services (e.g., parking services and recreation programs) and community engagement (e.g., the Community Engagement Advisory Committee survey from Spring 2022).

    Ongoing feedback, information collection and community engagements are an important part of the daily work of the UNA and underpin the annual budget process aligning resources with service needs and expectations.

  • What is the current process for creating the operating and capital budgets and who oversees it?

    The budgeting process starts annually with a staff-level departmental review, where front-line staff are consulted by managers about current departmental needs based on operational requirements, existing organizational plans, results from engagement initiatives through the previous year, and other feedback from the community. Next, a management review is undertaken where these needs are reviewed through the lens of prioritizing them against the organizational perspective, how they relate to progressing the UNA Strategic Plan 2023-25, and feedback received from the community through community engagement initiatives. A draft of the budgets is then developed and presented to the UNA Finance & Audit Committee for review.

    Following these three stages of review, the draft budgets, supported by recommendation by the UNA Finance & Audit Committee, are reviewed and considered at the Board level before being approved for public consultation, where residents are invited to submit their feedback on the drafts. All feedback received is presented to the UNA Finance & Audit Committee, where changes are fully considered before the final draft budgets return to the full UNA Board for final consideration and approval.

    The process and timeline for developing the annual budgets are established at the outset of the process and included in several reports in public sessions of UNA Board meetings. The contents of the reports and the minutes of the meetings are available for the public on the UNA website.

  • Why do the UNA's revenues and expenditure keep increasing? How are the increases allocated?

    The revenue that the UNA receives from UBC is based on the UBC services levy and the UBC general municipal services levy (the GMSL). The services levy is paid by owners of residential property in the neighbourhoods. The GMSL is paid by UBC Properties Trust and by certain other owners of buildings. These service levy amounts, and hence the UNA’s revenue, have increased over the years as more buildings are constructed. (There are other reasons as well for the increase.) Part of the UNA’s budgeting process is to allocate the increasing revenue to allow us to scale up and, at the same time, maintain the quality of our service to the growing population.

    The UNA also funds new projects, programs, and services to meet our growing community needs, using available financial and service data. For example, the UNA’s Recreation team tracks various metrics: the renewal and purchase of UNA parking passes; community-wide programs; community-wide events; field bookings; birthday parties; social gathering opportunities; volunteer-led programming opportunities; and youth programs. Since 2021, we have measured an annual growth in the number of projects across all areas of 12%. In addition, program areas like group fitness, program drop-ins, community-based programs, and parking passes have grown by 15%.

  • Can you tell us more about the UNA’s landscaping costs?

    Under the Neighbours’ Agreement 2020 between the UNA and UBC, the UNA is responsible for delivering specific levels of landscaping services to the neighbourhoods. Landscaping includes not only the maintenance of plants, but also the maintenance of common areas, garbage collection, cleaning, the maintenance of trees, and more.

    The budgeted amount for landscaping for 2024/25 is $1.5 million, which is about 3-1/2 times the actual amount of landscaping costs for 2022/23. However, because of a change that occurred on April 1, 2023, this is not a valid comparison.

    Prior to April 1, 2023, UBC Properties Trust (UBCPT) managed the engagement and payment of landscaping and maintenance contractors on behalf of the UNA. UBCPT billed its costs to the UNA together with a management fee, but provided a partial credit that reduced the amounts payable by the UNA. This arrangement ceased on April 1, 2023. Since then, the UNA has engaged the contractors directly and incurred the full cost. To replace the credit, UBCPT agreed to provide annual financial support to the UNA in the form of cash payments. These payments are shown in the operating budget as “Common Area Maintenance Support (UBCPT).” To compare landscaping costs before and after the change, it is necessary to subtract the UBCPT payments. For 2024/25, the payments will be $690,000, giving net landscaping costs of $771,000. While this is still a significant increase over the actual costs for 2022/23, it can be explained, in part, by the inclusion of a tree maintenance study and a substantial increase in irrigation maintenance and water costs.

    The UNA is committed to continue improving its landscaping practices. In 2023, the UNA created a Landscape Management Plan that provides a road map to better manage our public spaces by implementing maintenance practices that are consistent, cost-effective, and sustainable. One current example of an initiative that moves this plan forward is a pilot project that will help evolve our landscaping approach to one that increases the resilience of our common areas to the impacts of climate change and requires less maintenance in the long term.

  • How many staff members does the UNA have and how much are they paid?

    The UNA has 25 full-time employees and 33 part-time employees. Salary and wage information is confidential. Staff compensation complies with the UNA Compensation Policy. All UNA employee salaries fall well within their respective salary bands commensurate with their skills and experience. UNA wage rates and salaries are reviewed regularly, and the salary bands established are based on Vancouver market rates. Information regarding management salaries is included as a note in the annual financial statements, as required by law.

  • Is the UNA operating budget prepared based on last year’s actual amounts or last year’s budgeted amounts?

    When the operating budget is being developed, several past years of actual data are reviewed, as well as budgeted amounts. Reasons why actual amounts differed from budgeted amounts are considered in preparing the current operating budget.