Special Assessment Letter from HOA

In the Broadlands Community News there's a letter stating that we are having a one time fee of $148.50 for snow removal and bad debt expenses.

I understand having to help pay for the snow removal because this past winter was crazy insane. However, why am I now responsible for "bad debt expenses related to delinquent accounts" of other homeowners?

How did delinquent accounts become my problem/responsibility? I thought that is why the HOA takes homeowners to court and makes that individual pay for the costs. At least that is what the letter warns the homeowner.

 

You can't take people who have been foreclosed on or banks to court for HOA fee's. They just don't pay, and the expense is passed onto the current residence. It's happening all over the country in lots of HOA's. There are numerous homes here in Broadlands that are empty or not paying HOA fees for one reason or another. Sorry, but them's the breaks.

 

I received a bill from the HOA for $20. I did not see in the newsletter anything about a charge, and I have already thrown it away. Is this bill part of that charge, or am I missing something? There was no explanation on the bill. I am in a SF. I was getting ready to call Armstrong tomorrow for an explanation. Anyone out there get the same thing?

 

Was there a difference assessment for single family homes and townhouses? Just asking as most of the snow removal costs were for townhouses.

 

Every year there is a line item in the budget that covers bad debt. In a normal year that number is less then 2% of the total budget. For 2009, because of the down turn in the economy, that anticipated, and therefore budgeted amount was far less then needed. Because of this, as well as the excessive snow fall this past winter, the board decided to include both in a special assessment. Had we not had the snow, this bad debt would have been added to the 2011 budget which would have produced at a minimum an increased monthly fee of over a $1 per household/month rather then just a 1 time charge.

Also the $148 fee is for Townhouse owners or those that own single family homes on private streets. If you are NOT a townhouse or a single family private street your fee is $38. All homeowners pay the $38 as this is the fee for the bad debt, the snow plowing of common areas, and the needed repair work caused by the snow. The $110 difference is that on private streets the HOA's contractor is responsible for plowing the street curb to curb and not VDOT.

If you still have questions please feel free to contact the HOA office or one of the board members and we will be happy to discuss any questions you have.

Staci

 

This is not part of the special assessment you will need to call Armstrong but the bill should have stated what it was for.

Staci

 

If the bad debt is "only" in regards to foreclosed homes I think that should have been stated in the letter.

Delinquent accounts can mean anything from foreclosure to not paying the fees for not keeping up your backyard and putting your trashcan away. For the latter, I do not believe I should have to pay for those individuals not paying their fees. These are hard times for all of us, myself included.

For education purposes, what happens to the snow budget money when we have a winter with no snow? Just curious.

 

. The letter says bad debt - not delinquent accounts. Bad debt is anything the HOA has to legally write off. This can be for a multitude of reasons but in this case mostly foreclosures.

The money budgeted for snow removal is part of the general fund for all HOA expenses. In a year where there is little to no snow we often have other maintenance items that are high (such a tree removal from wind storms, turf maintenance from drought, etc) and the money is fluid and thus moved to where it is needed. In general the HOA is a non profit entity and thus we run into taxing issues if we carry money year after year other then our reserves funds (building, pool, tot lot replacement funds). Snow removal is considered general maintenance and thus can not be part of our reserves in a normal sense. The current board is looking into how we can create a "snow reserve fund" so that in the future money that is budgeted for snow removal is used only for snow and thus can build up year after year so when we have a big year like this we will not need a special assessment. We just need to find the balance so we are not hit with added taxes and penalties.

Staci

 

The notice in the newsletter talked about a special coupon for making payment. There was no coupon in the newsletter. When can we expect to receive them?

 

I was going to ask the same thing as surfboarder--we did not get a coupon in the newsletter.

 

The letter in the newsletter is a copy of what is being mailed to everyone's home. Letters and coupons were mailed Monday with the expectation that the newsletter would be at peoples homes this weekend. Because of our wonderful staff, the newsletter this month got to homes earlier then expected otherwise you would have received the letter and coupon 1st.

Staci

 

Thank you!

 

At least in our section of Southern Walk, it almost seems like the snow plowing this past winter was overkill. Yes we had a couple of massive storms, but even so, the plows doing laps around the neighborhood plowing practically every 1/2 inch of snowfall seemed a bit over-the-top. I think we heard them go down our street every hour or so. The post-storm snow cleanup with the heavy-duty construction equipment also seemed to be a bit much. Many of the quieter streets would have functioned just fine with one, solid clear lane plowed through the middle rather than having every last flake of snow cleared from the streets.

I understand the need for the special assessment and it's not a huge deal, but I'm just wondering if there was a variance throughout Broadlands of some sections getting plowed excessively while others weren't paid enough attention. There were a few people on this forum complaining about how poorly their streets were plowed, whereas we saw the total opposite here. The first large storm we had, we thought the plowing company did a great job, but there were some especially vocal complaints among some, so I'm wondering if we overreacted (and over-plowed) during the second blizzard? If that is the case, this next winter it may make sense to respond to complaints by telling people that yes, we can do an even better job of plowing, but it's going to cost us. I'm not sure if everybody was making the connection that better plowing = larger special assessment.

What is the fee structure of the HOA's agreement with the plowing company? Is it possible that there was financial incentive for them to plow round-the-clock for a few days straight when we probably could have gotten by just as well with half the plowing? (in other words, were they charging us by the number of man-hours plowed or the quantity of snowfall, etc?)

 

My experience has been that the complaints about poor snow removal service have been from people who live on VDOT streets. For the most part those on private streets were happy with the snow removal efforts of our contractor. Our contract is for curb to curb removal which is necessary on the narrower private streets and in the townhouse communities to provide access for emergency vehicles.

 

Curious - Are some of these bad debt folks still living in the neighborhood or are most of these folks foreclosures or empty homes?
Seems like an awful lot of bad debt? ($38x the # of homes here?) Wow.
I hope these same folks are not at the pool or taking advantage of the other amenities Broadlands offers though not sure how this really could be policed? Not pleasant but perhaps there is some sort of "bad check" list at the pools so guards can turn those people away/take away their pool passes if they are many months overdue? Sorry.

 

It is not $38 times the number of homes. The bad debt write off was less than $55k. The $38 was bad debt as well as common area snow related expenses (snow removal, sod, concrete and trail repair plus tree removal)Bad debt is primarly forclosures, bankruptcies and abandoned properties, not some one who is late paying their bill.
Pool privledges are electronically "turned off" for association members who are not in good standing.