During
our recent vote and discussion on whether to increase our HOA fees, many
passionate ideas were voiced, ranging from shutting the HOA down to making the
most of the land by investing in it. During this meeting it confirmed to us the
need to gather feedback from you and to be better at communicating your desires
to each other. We want to let you know that we are listening and that your
opinions are valued. We are confident
that as we gather feedback, explore your ideas, discuss the ideas with the city
for approval, and share our findings, we will do something great together.
To
accomplish this we are working on a few different things. First, we have been
organizing volunteers from the neighborhood who have offered to act as block
captains for different areas of the neighborhood. They will be contacting the
homeowners in their vicinity to gather insights on what each of you expect
regarding standards for our neighborhood, vision for our land, and plans for
moving forward. We hope to be able to take this feedback and synthesize it into
a vision for what the common consensus is for our neighborhood. We realize it
will take time to determine what we all want as a community. Thank you for your
continued feedback and support.
Additionally,
we have been working on putting down in writing the answers to frequently asked
questions. You can expect to receive those explanations in a series of emails
over the next few weeks. We will also compile them into one online location for
future reference.
In
the meantime, unfortunately, as we discussed with those who were able to attend
our recent meetings, the balance of our available funds is running dangerously
low. With the expenses that we foresee for the remainder of the year, we have
limited options. In the spirit of full transparency, our balance at the
beginning of this year was $585. Dues payments came in during January and February.
After paying expenses for the year to this point, our checking account
currently has a balance of $2599. Upcoming expenses are projected to be as
follows:
Watering
Detention basin: $1000
Lawn
treatments for Detention basin @ $120 each for 2 more treatments: $240
Mowing
Detention basin @ $60 each week with 16 weeks remaining (through October):$960
Liability
and HOA Insurance: $1600
Snow
removal for sidewalk along detention basin and pathway @ $78 per occurrence
estimated at $500
Bookkeeping
fees estimated at $800
Property
taxes estimated at $200
10%
reserve fund as required by law: $1000
As you can see, that leaves us
with a deficiency of funds in the amount of $3701. We understand that this is
not fun news. It is certainly not fun sharing it. Unfortunately, it is our
current reality.
Our
By-Laws include a provision for special assessments when appropriate: Subject to
the restrictions set forth in the Declaration, if any, the Board of Trustees
shall determine the amount of the annual assessment and special assessments of
the members (Article II, Section 9). It is the opinion of the Board that it has
become necessary to put in place a special assessment of $45 per lot to cover
our expenses for the remainder of 2014. We cannot ignore the true costs
associated with homeownership in our neighborhood. Please send your payment of
$45 by August 31. You may send it to our P.O. Box, deliver it to a board member,
or use the button on the right to pay via Paypal.
This is of course only a
temporary fix. We will need your input in order to find a better long term
solution that is appropriate for our neighborhood. We appreciate your help as
we work through these issues as neighbors. Again, we feel strongly that as we
reach out to each of you via our block captains and come up with a shared
vision for our land, whatever it may be, we will all be proud of what we decide
together.
