Residents

This year our assessment has increased to $615. Your 5 member Board struggled over this for several months trying to hold the assessment to lasts year’s amount but found we could not. We made cuts in several areas but still could not keep it down. If you look back, you will see we kept the annual dues flat for several years when we probably should have increased them a little each year. Over the past 10 years the assessments have increased an average of 3% per year. In addition, our community is over 10 years old and as it ages there are repairs and maintenance items that must be addressed. 

The budget is composed of two components: Operating Fund and Replacement Fund (or Reserves). The Operating Fund is used for the day-to-day operations of the Association during the year. The Replacement Fund is a savings account used for major repairs and replacement of Association structures and facilities.

Some of the items that have caused the increase are: (1) the pool will be open longer because of a decreased school year in 2012. Therefore the expenses related to the pool have increased, (2) the drought that has hit us all has caused an increase in water bills, (3) insurance premiums have increased, (4) increased routine maintenance to the community due to age (sprinkler system, play structures, gazebos, landscaping, etc.), and (5) increase in the savings for the replacement fund.

A couple of years ago we had a company come out and analyze all of our structures (pool, monuments, bridge, walls, etc.) to determine if we were already saving enough each year for future major repairs and / or replacement. Their analysis indicated we needed to increase our rate of saving due to the age of the community so we would have the necessary money available when the work needed to be done. To pay for these items, we have a choice of saving a smaller amount of money each year or having a much larger “special assessment” in the year the work needs to be done. Our community was set up to save some money each year into the “reserves” account. One of the communities near us did not have a reserves account and had to make major repairs to their wall because it was falling down. This required a “special assessment” of $1,000 per resident to pay for the repairs. This was in addition to their yearly assessment.  We are trying our best to not put the residents of Autumn Creek in this situation so we are setting money aside for the future repairs. A recent example for Autumn Creek was the re-plastering of the pool and resurfacing of the pool deck. Anyone with a pool knows this task needs to be done about every 10 years depending on use. About two years ago we had to do this to our community pool. Because of our savings for events of this nature (replacement fund) we were able to perform this maintenance without requiring a special assessment from each home owner.

We understand an assessment increase during these economic times is not something we want to deal with. This affects our personal budgets. Your 5 member board worked on this budget and determined this was required to keep the community maintained and prepare for future needs. We appreciate your understanding.