StacyH (NC)
Posts: 19
Posts: 19
Posted:
Hi All,
New member here. I've lived in my subdivision (115 condo & town home units) for almost 20 years. Our Association was on the verge of bankruptcy about 7 years ago and, while that was avoided, our HOA has suffered under terrible mismanagement by past boards and property managers. I'm now president of the HOA and we have a good board in place and are trying to get things back on track. Dues have not increased commensurate with costs and we have one huge project in particular that has been punted for years. Our subdivision is not part of our city and they do not maintain our roads. They are in deplorable shape. You have to dodge huge potholes just to drive down the street (the HOA has already spent a fortune patching them over the years) and it makes our subdivision look very poorly maintained. The city refused to incorporate us many years ago (even before I purchased my home) after residents refused to allow a through street to be built connecting us to another neighborhood. We're now looking at an cost of $250-300k to repave. The Board is clear that this can't be put off any longer and are prepared to do a special assessment.
My question is: If you are or have been part of a board that has dealt with this issue, how did you manage the residents' response to it? Dues were raised this year (after we discovered they'd been miscalculated since our community was built in the early 80's) by $20-30 and people went nuts. They keep asking why not get incorporated into the city? The city has been approached a few times over the years and has, of course, refused to incorporate us. This makes perfect sense to me because why would they take on a neighborhood that is going to cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the game when it currently costs them nothing? Plus, I'm not convinced that even IF they did that they wouldn't still require the Association to pay for the initial costs of getting the roads up to par. Thanks in advance for any insight!
New member here. I've lived in my subdivision (115 condo & town home units) for almost 20 years. Our Association was on the verge of bankruptcy about 7 years ago and, while that was avoided, our HOA has suffered under terrible mismanagement by past boards and property managers. I'm now president of the HOA and we have a good board in place and are trying to get things back on track. Dues have not increased commensurate with costs and we have one huge project in particular that has been punted for years. Our subdivision is not part of our city and they do not maintain our roads. They are in deplorable shape. You have to dodge huge potholes just to drive down the street (the HOA has already spent a fortune patching them over the years) and it makes our subdivision look very poorly maintained. The city refused to incorporate us many years ago (even before I purchased my home) after residents refused to allow a through street to be built connecting us to another neighborhood. We're now looking at an cost of $250-300k to repave. The Board is clear that this can't be put off any longer and are prepared to do a special assessment.
My question is: If you are or have been part of a board that has dealt with this issue, how did you manage the residents' response to it? Dues were raised this year (after we discovered they'd been miscalculated since our community was built in the early 80's) by $20-30 and people went nuts. They keep asking why not get incorporated into the city? The city has been approached a few times over the years and has, of course, refused to incorporate us. This makes perfect sense to me because why would they take on a neighborhood that is going to cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the game when it currently costs them nothing? Plus, I'm not convinced that even IF they did that they wouldn't still require the Association to pay for the initial costs of getting the roads up to par. Thanks in advance for any insight!
