As you
know, our annual meeting was held on Saturday, May 17th. The main item of
business was tabled due to the lack of a quorum required to vote on the motion,
in this case to change the annual assessment amount to $200.
The procedure outlined in our current By-Laws requires that when
a quorum is not present, the members may call a follow-up meeting for the
purpose of voting on the motion. Homeowners must be given 30 days written
notice regarding this follow-up meeting. We have scheduled this second meeting
for the afternoon of Saturday, June 28th at 3:00 p.m.
In our neighborhood there are 83 lots, making our current
maximum income $8300 per year. This amount was set more than a decade ago when
our neighborhood was being developed, and the cost of insuring and maintaining
the properties has steadily increased and will continue to do so. Our expenses for
the year 2013 came to $8042.24. Our liability insurance is billed each January,
and in January of this year we nearly had our insurance cancelled because we
had insufficient funds to cover the amount of the bill. Board members had to
quickly round up checks from nearby neighbors, and some even paid dues in
advance in order to make the payment.
The maintenance of our retention basin on 300 North uses up the
largest portion of our budget. Our current landscapers have done a great job,
and our weeds are much less prominent while the grass is more green and
pleasant. As a result, many have noticed an increase in “visitors” from other
areas frequenting the field to run their dogs, sunbathe, etc. We need to
address the fact that it is private property by posting signs and possibly
enclosing the area in some way. Ideally, we would like to be able to install a
walking path around the perimeter where homeowners can exercise. These actions
will all require additional funds.
With the current funds, we have no budget money available to
address snow removal on our sidewalks, which the city expects us to do. Every
property owner is responsible for clearing the snow on sidewalks adjacent to
their property. With the new church building being added to the south of our
neighborhood, traffic on our sidewalks and pathway will only increase, and we
cannot continue to neglect this area. The land around the pathway needs to be
re-graded, landscaped and maintained. Our lowest bid for this project comes
just under $6000, but only to lay down weed barriers and rocks or mulch.
Running our HOA with virtually no reserve funds and scarcely
covering the bare minimum of operating expenses does not contribute to
maintaining the standard of our neighborhood. Additionally, this gives us zero
budget for much needed improvements which were left undone by the developer.
For these reasons, we are proposing to increase the annual assessment.
The
motion to be voted on is as follows: To increase the amount of the annual
assessment to two hundred dollars ($200), effective immediately.
In accordance
with the By-Laws, the quorum for this subsequent meeting is 25 members. An
increase in dues requires an affirmative vote of 67% of those present at the
meeting.
Those who
are not able to attend the meeting in person may vote by proxy.
Members
expecting to cast their vote must also have all dues paid prior to voting.
