On Dec.3, the banquet room at the Lakepoint Event Center was filled with POA members who support an increase in the POA assessment fee. With well over 100 members in attendance, only two spoke in opposition to the plan. Several spoke in favor.
"It's the amenities that bring people into Bella Vista," Dave Armstrong said. He identified himself as a realtor and said improved amenities will improve property values.
"It's just common sense," he said.
According to governing documents, a POA assessment increase must be approved by 51 percent of voters in an election. The quorum for the election is 50 percent of the total membership, with each lot that is up to date on the monthly assessment payments given one vote. In November, an election to raise the assessment drew 18,521 votes -- 52.9 percent of all eligible voters. There were 9,192 votes in favor of the increase, but that represented only 50.07 percent of the votes cast, so the assessment did not pass.
Two days later, at the regular board meeting, a new assessment effort was announced. The new proposal raises the fee for an improved property by $13 to $37 a month. Unimproved lots will not be affected and their fees remain $16 a month.
The revised 2020 plan, like the plan considered in November, comes with a fee schedule that lowers most user fees for members and limits the use of amenities by nonmembers. The board pledged that the new fees will remain in effect for three years.
Last week's meeting was organized by members as a "grassroots effort," COO Tom Judson said.
He was in the audience, along with a few board members. Answering a question from Bob Kronner, who acted as moderator, Judson said there is no prohibition in the governing documents to stop a second election on the heels of a failed vote. If the November increase had passed, the board would have had to wait three years before proposing another increase.
Several members read statements supporting the plan.
"We want to make it better than we found it," Katie Hinkle said. She and her husband moved to Bella Vista to golf, but they play less golf now that they are older. But they still want to support all the amenities.
Kronner said residents in favor of the increase need to take action. He encouraged members of the audience to volunteer to make calls from the POA call center to encourage other members to vote. They should also talk to their friends and neighbors and point out the importance of keeping the amenities current.
Linda Loyd, a member of the city council, spoke to the common misconception that the city could take over POA amenities. It can not happen, she said.
POA amenities pay property taxes which the city needs, she said. Those taxes cannot be replaced by assessment fees. The city is not allowed to collect assessment fees. It would be impossible to raise taxes enough to allow the city to run the amenities, she explained.
The amenities were never designed to make a profit, Kronner said. A city the size of Bella Vista cannot afford the type of amenities that residents now enjoy.
Charlie Teal, a former board member who helped organize the meeting, provided some history of assessments. In the last 38 years, there have been only two increases -- including the one that introduced the two-tier system for improved and unimproved lots. That was the last increase in 2001.
"Assessments were meant to pay for amenities," he said. User fees were added when assessments couldn't provide enough income.
"We are a recreation community," he said, "This is who we are."
One member complained that the new assessment proposal is discriminating against improved property owners since the owners of unimproved lots will not see an increase.
According to the POA website, bellavistapoa.com/2020plan, there are 20,500 unimproved lots in good standing compared to 14,000 improved lots.
"Only 9% of unimproved property owners used the amenities at least once over the last 12 months" the website reads.
When the meeting ended, organizers collected sign-up lists of people willing to make calls.
Ballots will be sent on Dec. 12 and voting ends on Jan. 16, 2020. A general meeting is scheduled at Riordan Hall on at 6 p.m. on Jan. 16 to announce the results of the election.
General News on 12/11/2019