Is This True?

The December 2024 Summit Scoop includes a letter from the President of the HOA, Danny Trapp. It reads, in part,

"This budget does not include any increases, although there are the few that suggested an increase. The near future may require a modest increase, but the present outlook indicates the opposite. Considerations will always be inclusive of everybody's ability to afford an increase."

Let's break this down.

Is it true that the budget does not include any increases? Yes and no. In a closed, private, board meeting certain members of the board (then, an even number of six, due to a six-month vacancy on the board) indicated they would not approve a dues increase.

But the budget does include increases. Landscaping (Line 6020) went up $50,578, and On-Site Staff (Line 6005) went up $35,000.

Why was that done in private, instead of in a public monthly board meeting as required in the Governing Documents?

Is it true that Finance Committee (8 or 9 members, depending on whether Vicki McCarthy really is a member of the Finance Committee) was in favor of a $50 dues increase for 2025 and recommended it?

(If you think I'm being snarky here, you should have been at the December 2024 or the December 2023 meetings of the Finance Committee. I tried to attend both to ask important financial questions, but I wasn't allowed to.)

For a dues increase to be recommended by the Finance Committee, a majority of the members would have supported it. There are supposed to be Minutes of all Budget meetings (PRM, Art. III, §C, ¶4(h)). Any HOA member can inspect those Minutes (Art. VI, §4(a)). Are those Minutes kept at the HOA office?

Is it true that "there are the few [emphasis added] that suggested an increase"? Or did the Finance Committee (a majority of the members) recommend an increase and have solid, business reasons for doing so?

Is it true that "The near future may require a modest increase"? If so, then why not now? When is the "near future"? Isn't the Budget addressed only once a year? The "near future" is now.

Is it true that the Finance Committee recommended a $50 annual increase (9.8%) in dues? The maximum increase allowed without approval of the Voting Members is 10%. There is only one legitimate Voting Member,so there is no possibility that the Voting Members would or could approve an increase.

A close examination of the 2025 Budget reveals many holes: 

Bad Debt Expense (Line 5020) is Zero (the 2024 Budget included $100,000 on Line 5020).

Contribution to Reserves (Line 8000) is only $3,000 (in 2020 the contribution was $163,965).

DEI got a pat on the back with this statement: "Considerations will always be inclusive of everybody's ability to afford an increase." Except that isn't how a business works; at least, not one that plans to stay in business.

The Budget sub-committee (of the Finance Committee) is supposed to work from the bottom up by first determining the reasonable expected expenses of the HOA. Then it develops the Income side of the budget. That's why a $50 increase in Assessment was recommended.

If the two new directors had informed themselves before voting on a reasonable, "good" 2025 Budget, the vote for an increase in dues might have been 5-2 or at least 4-3.

In six years no Board has ever revealed how many homeowners are not paying their dues. A homeowner's ability to afford a dues increase does not enter into the equation. Besides, dues have not increased in at least five years! Dues should have gone up a little every year.

Those who do pay their dues are carrying the others. The Collection Activity and the Association's Collection Policies are failures.

The Summit's HOA is a non-profit corporation, but it is not a charity!

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