We want to hear from you: Annual Assessments Increase

Assessments are always a tough topic, and any increase is understandably undesirable. However, the cost of maintaining our community continues to increase every year. If our assessments don't keep pace, the resulting catch-up can be painful.

The community has done a lot of heavy lifting over the last couple of years, and the Board was hopeful that we would be able to take a breather for a couple of years before beginning regular cost-of-living increases. Unfortunately, our recent reserve study did not completely confirm those hopes.

It is understandable when you look at the numbers. The projected cost of roadway replacement alone has increased from approximately $158,000 per mile to $340,000 per mile. With 12 miles of roads to maintain, that represents an increase of more than $2 million in today's dollars for one of our most important community assets.

The HOA will always look for the best return on our investment. Whether that means getting multiple bids, negotiating better pricing, or taking advantage of special expertise or connections within our community, we will continue to do everything we can to stretch the HOA's dollars.

At the same time, the Board has a responsibility to manage the community's finances prudently. Sometimes that means making modest decisions today to avoid much more difficult decisions tomorrow.

The reserve study recommends increasing assessments by approximately $65 per year for the next five years. That would represent roughly a 5% increase this year. Rather than doing nothing and potentially having to make larger increases later, I would like us to consider a compromised approach.

What if we started something simple?

The last thing any of us wants is a $2,000 special assessment, like some of our neighboring communities are now facing. There is no guarantee that we will never need a special assessment, but if we believe we can manage the cost of maintaining our community assets through our regular assessments, wouldn't it make sense to gradually build that into our annual budget?

What if we increased assessments each year by roughly the rate of inflation?

A 2.5% increase would be an average cost of living increase or approximately $35 this year. Each year, the increase would be relatively small. To keep things simple, perhaps we could round the annual increase to the nearest $10 so it is easily divided by quarters. That would mean a $40 increase for each of the next five years.

The goal isn't to continually increase assessments unnecessarily. The goal is to make small, predictable increases that keep pace with rising costs, rather than waiting several years and then facing a much larger increase.

I believe we can do better going forward.

Rather than waiting until rising costs force us into a large increase or special assessment, I believe we should consider keeping pace with the economy while making each year's increase manageable for everyone.

But this isn't just about what the Board thinks. We want to hear from you.

What do you think?

Is a small, predictable annual increase better than waiting and potentially facing a much larger increase down the road?

Do you have other ideas for managing our costs, improving the way we spend our money, or maintaining our community assets more efficiently?

Leave a comment here or email Steve Vogel - HOA Board President at swvogel@yahoo.com or call 314-757-1086

You can also reach the Board at HOA-Board@thespringsathighrock.com.

Reach out with your thoughts, call with your ideas, and let's see if we can't make things easier for all of us.

Thank you for your time—and especially if you've read this far!