Vote Yes on
assessment plan
I have read some preposterous assertions in letters to the editor recently about the proposed assessment increase that is before us as POA members.
Let me give you some real numbers. While visiting friends and relatives in Arizona during February and much of March, my wife and I had the opportunity to see seven active amenities communities.
The HOA dues in these communities ranged from $115 to $500 per month. Most were around $130 per month, or approximately $90 per month less than what is being proposed by our board. For someone to even suggest that it would be hard to sell a home in Bella Vista because the POA dues would be $39 per month by 2017 is ludicrous.
People are looking for amenities-oriented communities.
Mr. Cooper realized he made a mistake when he did not make provisions for the POA Board to make minor dues adjustments to keep up with the cost of living in the development of Bella Vista. He corrected that error in his later planned community developments.
Now it is our opportunity to make an adjustment for his early mistake so that our community will continue to thrive. Our POA Board has proposed a reasonable dues increase to raise our dues to approximately the level they would already have been had Cooper Communities Inc. not made this gross error.
And unlike some boards in the past, our current board has listened to us and shown they are serious about protecting and improving Bella Vista in a fiscally responsible way. This year alone they cut more than $900,000 from last year's budget.
Now, let's do the math.
If we do not pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, we no doubt will see downgrading of our amenities and a decrease in everyone's home values. So then the real argument becomes, do we pay a little now or a whole lot later?
The decrease in home values could be as much as 10 to 20 percent if amenities start closing. Hypothetically, let's say your home is now worth $125,000. Many here are worth much more. A decrease in that value even at a modest 10 percent, as a result of decaying amenities, would cost you $12,500.
At an increase of $13 per month in 2015, graduating only to $15 by 2017, as currently proposed, you could sell your home 10 years from now and only be out $1,764. By passing the assessment increase, you just saved yourself $10,736.
Even if property values only were to go down 5 percent, you would still have saved $4,486. This is pretty much a no-brainer. These side issues about fee structures that pit one group against another are simply distractions and minutia.
Vote "yes" for the proposed assessment increase and we'll all do better.
Ralph Patterson
Bella Vista
Editorial on 04/09/2014