I want to thank the POA board and the leadership for their thoughtful and forward-thinking 2020 Plan. They have truly listened to all of us and have proposed a plan that calls for fewer and reduced fees, more benefits in exchange for a fair increase in our monthly assessment.
I also want to applaud them for their openness and transparency in asking for our yes vote for this plan. If you have not visited the POA website recently, everything you need to know is on the site under the Member Services tab at the top of the home page. There is also a comprehensive Q&A at the end.
The question that jumped out at me was what happens if the 2020 Plan is not approved. I agree with the answer given by the POA. While forecasting into the future can be problematic and speculative, if the 2020 Plan is not approved, the POA's financial position will almost certainly deteriorate to a concerning level. You can speculate that in 2022 or 2023 numerous amenities will have to be closed or severely impacted. No amenity will be off-limits from consideration of closure, including restaurants, golf courses, pools, fitness facilities, etc. Additionally, since the POA's current reserves were spent down to put out the Trafalgar fire, if another big emergency occurs in the near term, such as a flood or tornado, the POA's financial position could suddenly worsen and would impact the amenities sooner than expected. The closure of multiple amenities would have a negative impact on the housing values in Bella Vista and would be detrimental to our quality of life as supported by our abundant amenities.
This answer is not meant to be alarmist, but the fact is that without an assessment increase, the math simply no longer works. You can't run a 2020 operation on assessments that were last increased in 2001, and you can't continue to make up the deficit with non-competitive usage fees.
I'm voting yes for the 2020 Plan and I urge every Bella Vista POA member to vote yes also.
Tom Pyatt
Bella Vista
Editorial on 10/16/2019