HOA Fees being raised unfairly (IMO)

Budget aside, what do the CC&R's say as to how assessments are to be set and spent?

Ron:
I agree with the above posters. Look at the section in your governing documents where it says what portion of the expenses will be assessed to each category.
Jeanne

Are the townhouses and houses in the same HOA? Or two different HOA's?

The townhomes are in the same HOA. I have tried to find, in our Covenants, the breakdown of assessments and it only states that assessments can only be increased a maximum of 10% a year without vote of 2/3 of all homeowners.

I use the snow removal as an example. The townhouses have their snow removed by private contractor. If you add up all the income from the TH increased assessments of 2.88 percent it does not come close to paying the projected snow removal budget. For 2012 the budget for snow removal was $3000 for 2013 the budget for snow removal is $15,000. This is an increase of $12,000, yet the total additional income brought in by the new assessment for the TH is only $5368. Someone has to make up the additional $9632.

And yes, the HOA president did make those statements. Unfortunately, the HOA Board has more TH owners on it then SF. And it has been inferred to me by other board members that some of those board members want to eventually have all SF and TH paying the exact same assessment. One of the TH board members told me that the TH’s have paid almost 100% of the reserve funds and that the SF homes are the ones incurring additional cost due to replanting of dead trees. Mind you, he failed to mention that in 2010 the HOA paid out $33,000 in snow removal for the TH or the fact that the TH’s had their streets and parking lots resealed. I will be asking for a review of all the finances for the past 3 years.

Ron,

Your concern is neither new nor unique. My association consists of 36-acre and larger parcels and we have about 300 miles of dirt roads to maintain. Those who have parcels closer to the main roads argue that they should pay less than those who live at the far end of the roads. The part-time residents argue that they should pay less because they do not drive on the roads as much as the full-timers. Those of us who visit only a few times a year argue we should get a break. Some owners have split their parcels and the rest of us think they should pay more because now there is more traffic on the roads. The arguments never end.

My tongue-in-cheek suggestion was that we install toll booths on each road to collect payment from every user. We will need to man each booth 24/7 to collect and safeguard the money. Of course, we have to build the toll booths, run electricity to each booth (several miles in many cases), install some form of running water, flush toilets, and septic tanks. Maybe some scales for charging heavier vehicles more. This will ensure that each user pays a fair price based on his use of the roads. Our current assessment run about $130 a year for a 40 acre parcel. To fund construction of these fair toll booths, we will need each owner to chip in, say, $10,000 each. Then after that we will all pay a "fair" price to use the roads. Or we could just save ourselves a lot of aggravation and resources and continue with our current unfair assessments.

Ron, you really need to read your documents closer including the Articles of Incorporation. I find it mind boggling that the percentages of ownership are not clearly spelled out, including how assessments are to be based. Of course I also find it mind boggling that someone would purchase in a mixed use development without understanding how assessments were decided before signing on the dotted line.