Road and beach assessments

To: Appletree Point Shoreowners Association members
Subject: Road and beach assessments
From: Rolfe Eastman
Date: June 12, 2006


At a Point Association board meeting last week, much of our discussion focused on financial issues related to the costs of beach and road maintenance. Christine Campbell and I agreed to pull together some financial history to help determine whether, in light of our current account balance of around $6,700, it would be appropriate for the board to recommend a change in our thinking about dues and assessments.

Over the last six years, since the association voted to purchase a tractor to deal with the then significant weed problem on the beach, bills to the membership have included $25 for general association dues for every property and special assessments of $1 a front foot for properties on the beach and $50 or $75 a property for those on the gravel road. Until last year the income from the road assessment approximately equaled the expenses of road maintenance. But last year, the collapse of a culvert and extra required maintenance produced costs of nearly $2,200, which the association agreed to finance with the understanding that the “road people” would repay the amount from future assessments. This understanding is similar to that with the tractor, where part of the assessment collected has covered annual out-of-pocket operating costs and part has gone toward repayment of the original cost of the tractor.

So far, $8,445 has been paid in beach assessments. The out-of-pocket operating costs for the tractor have been $5,073, leaving $3,372 to be credited toward the $6,000 cost of the tractor. An additional $2,668, then, would mean that the “beach people” had completely repaid the association for the tractor. This amount is almost identical to the total owed to the association by the “road people” if we add to the nearly $2,200 another $377 earlier paid for roadwork by the association but not reimbursed by assessment.

Collecting these two amounts totaling about $5,200 would raise the association’s bank balance to nearly $12,000. Christine and I believe there is no foreseeable reason to continue on a path that will result in a treasury of that magnitude, and that because the two capital balances outstanding are almost exactly equal, it would be appropriate and fair to each group to choose not to collect them. If the association so decided, the road assessment this year could be $75, while $.50 a front foot, or $50 for a 100 foot property, would about cover the annual out-of-pocket tractor costs for insurance, storage, maintenance, and pick-up and delivery, which total about $1,000.

When we were exploring possible solutions to the beach weed problem before we decided on the tractor purchase, the City Parks Department had offered us the services of their beach cleaning machine. At that time the cost would have been on the order of $500 to $700 a season for each beach property owner, and there was some question whether the city’s equipment was appropriate to do the job required. Now, thanks to the success of Don Conlin’s work with the tractor over the past few years, which has left the beach in a very much improved condition, it may be timely for the beach committee to revisit the options for beach maintenance.

We hope the above information will help in your consideration of association dues and assessments, on which we’ll vote at the upcoming annual meeting. We all can make our treasurer’s life easier if we bring our checkbooks and take care of dues/assessments at the meeting.