I just read Derek's FAQ. What a joke. $50 for a design review application and $250 for an achitecture review? Uh, isn't that part of why we're paying their salaries? And we have 25 lifeguards on staff? Seriously??? How about a couple of $10 signs "No Lifeguard on Duty" and a bit of parental responsibility instead? That might save a few bucks. Or what if we dropped the stupid sweatheart deal Kennecott made with Qwest where the homeowners have to SUBSIDIZE internet service for vacant homes or those who choose not to pay their assessments? Novel concept, but it might be nice if we could choose the service provider that best suits OUR needs rather than those of Kennecott Land and the HOA. Wouldn't want to treat homeowners like adults, though. Kennecott knows best. The HOA is *only* thinking of the residents. And purple unicorns and the Easter Bunny will be along shortly to help anyone who is already struggling to make ends meet pry a few more dollars from their wallents so the HOA staff gets a pay raise and a double-digit increase in management fees.

Ironically, flyingace, there are signs that say "no lifeguard on duty" at the pool. We noticed them this year and couldn't figure it out!
Also, I'm extremely irritated that we are subsidizing vacant and delinquent homes! Such a joke... what motivation is there for those 300+ homes to pay their fees when they get a service for free!

I’ve been holding back my comments on this topic until I heard what other folks had to say before jumping in the fray. I generally get my head handed to me for being too controversial.
So many issues, so little time, such bad management. All of the current issues are well rooted in the past years of poor management. CCMC was hired as they are “professional with extraordinary experience in community management”, that’s Kennecott’s story and they have stuck to it like glue. Frankly, I’ve not experienced the skill set CCMC was hired on.
Unfortunately, Kennecott’s insistence on retaining CCMC has allowed the community to pile up 5 years of mistakes that must be addressed.
Fees have been increased each year since 2005. Reasoning has been the same each year, we need more money to run the community. We need to establish a contingency fund. If you want professional staff you have to pay professional salary, we need professional firms to run our pools, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.
Each year they have added additional staff and given existing staff raises. Our level of service declines with the increases. We have paid for a study for creating a contingency fund for two years, but still do not have a cent in the fund. Last year both the HOA and the community council had to take a loan from Kennecott to make ends meet, and that’s after a fee increase and a budget the HOA staff slaved over for months to insure it was good. We are repaying that loan now and through next budget year. Oh, FYI, this years budget doesn’t put a cent in the fund, again.
As for the folks that aren’t paying their dues, it’s a mishmash of circumstances. Some are experiencing temporary setbacks and do catch up when they can. Some have sold and just didn’t pay so we have to spend money with an attorney to recover. Some are short sales, and others foreclosure. Money can be recouped from all except the foreclosures, that money is gone. Problem is, the budget is showing an income line for recovered fees that include foreclosed homes. Therefore the budget already has a hole in the projections as we won’t recover the majority of that line item. I suggest we ask for a line item to buy spines for our HOA staff so they start going after fees and fines before attorneys get involved.
As for Qwest, I won’t even go there except to say the contract is up for negotiation next year. Kennecott says they got RAVE REVIEWS on the service from residents on their recent survey. I’m sure those rave reviewers didn’t realize they have to pay for the community slackers that don’t pay fees.
Derek said we have to pay a fee for review for landscape and design because our community is growing and the process is taking a lot more time for the staff and volunteers. AND, that’s what other communities do. I don’t agree with the fee as it’s not clear how it would roll up into the budget. Whether it would benefit the community or pay for the staff Christmas party. My next issue with this is they don’t enforce standards now, why should I sign up to pay money for them not to do their job again.
One question I didn’t get to ask was why can’t CCMC provide more recent numbers than July 09 to work their budget projections from. I’ve never worked for a company that can’t pull up their cost breakdowns to the prior day. Then maybe I’ve worked for more professional/progressive companies and I’m expecting way too much.