BELLA VISTA — The Property Owners Association may enter 2013 without a budget after studying a projection developed by board member Randall Gnant, who has a background as a certified auditor.

At a budget work session Thursday, Gnant compared the association’s problem to a “fiscal cliff” and recommended a strong message needs to go out to membership.

At an earlier work session Nov. 8, he presented the report projecting expenses for maintaining amenities over the next 10 years. According to his report, the association will be broke by 2014. By 2022, the organization will be $60 million in debt, but Gnant warned, no one will loan the organization the money to cover that kind of debt.

The 2013 budget with $15 million in projected expenses and $15 million in income is balanced, General Manager Tommy Bailey said, but it does defer some maintenance expenses. This will be the third year some expenses have been deferred and that may affect the quality of life in Bella Vista in the future, he said.

At the meeting Thursday, board member Tim Hull suggested cutting donations to the animal shelter and the library. The proposed budget includes $30,000 to the library and $15,000 for the shelter.

Bailey reminded him last year when the same suggestion was made, the board decided November was too late to inform the two nonprofit groups they would lose a substantial part of their budget.

“Our problem isn’t a $15,000 problem,” Gnant warned, “It’s a multimillion dollar problem.”

The board discussed a 90-day budget, but no action was taken. Traditionally the association adopts the budget at their December meeting.

The membership will have to help solve the problem, said Chairman Ed Morgan. He said the first step would be to make sure the members understand how serious the problem is.

The board will meet in a work session Monday to discuss the budget. Since the association is a private corporation not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the work session will be closed to the public and press. A committee has already been meeting privately to discuss cost cutting.

In other business, the board passed a first reading of a change to Article VIII of the bylaws, giving the five member election committee three year terms. Previously, the committee was appointed each year at the July meeting. Members of the election committee endorsed the changes.