Mandated Dues Increase
On February 2, 2016 the Ocean Sands Property Owners Board met. There were four outcomes from the meeting.
Initially there were discussions concerning the 2015 budget shortfall and the proposed 2016 budget. A number of the line items were dissected and challenged by the owner representatives as being inappropriate, not expenses of the POA. Coastland strongly insisted on a substantial dues increase primarily because of cost overruns in 2015. Seaside Management surmises there will not be enough operating funds to cover necessary expenses.
The following 4 part motion was made by Rick Kinner, with the intent that the dues increase be contingent upon the other three components of the motion.
a) Formal Reserve study to be completed by Miller Dodson prior to the Annual Meeting.
b) A $38 dues increase (10% increase) to be made part of the 2016 invoice.
c) The amount of dues increase to be allocated $19 to the Emergency Reserve fund and the other $19 allocated to road capital projects.
d) 2016 budget be amended to remove $82,178 from the soft costs to generate surplus; the other $19 allocated to road capital projects.
1) Reduce line item for Legal Fees to $3,000 from $14,000
2) Drop $12,000 for Stormwater analysis, these are costs developed by Coastland to create and defend the Coastland position.
3) Remove $25,600 of Seaside management item, addressing Coastland needs.
4) Remove $31,178 GAW engineering work, not ready to spend at this point.
This motion was voted down 3/2 with Sara Duling, Bob DeFazio and Jeanne Marchinco voting nay and Al Marzetti and Rick Kinner voting yes.
The next motion was made by Sara Duling.
Motion to increase dues by $100, (26.4% increase) allocating the additional funds to $19 for the Road projects, $19 for Emergency Reserve and $62 for the operating accounts.
This motion passed, 3/2 with Coastland employees voting for it and owner reps voting no! There was a total disregard of the objections to the line items described in our motion.
Owner Representatives then made this motion which was amended in discussion as follows:
A formal Reserve Study to be completed by Miller Dodson prior to the annual meeting, costs not to exceed $4,000.
Motion was passed 4/1, with Jeanne Marchinco seeking to review the contract.
The last item decided was the date of the 2016 Annual Meeting. Coastland employees stated that the April date was only a trial for one year and that with only 65 attendees they wanted to go back to May. It turns out that several weeks ago Mr. DeFazio arranged the May 14 date with the Fire Department. The only consolation is that this is not Mother’s Day weekend.
Please mark your calendar and make every effort to attend the 5/14 meeting, we need your input. Meeting starts at 9 AM and lasts about two and half hours. As usual it will be at the Firehouse in Whalehead – 827 Whalehead Drive (at the intersection with Dolphin Street) in Corolla.
For more information about our Ocean Sands community please visit our web site, www.oshoa.org.
I have one home and one empty lot and pay dues on both. Should Coastland pay dues on their lots?
Thank you to Rick and Al for their communication and work on our behalf.
How is Coastland tied to us? Is a dissolution of the relationship possible? It appears Coastland has the majority stake in our POA governance and can (practically) make unilateral decisions (to hire management companies and increase fees among other things) irrespective of actual property owners positions on these matters. I can certainly understand making up for budget shortfalls in previous years, but funding “operating” accounts to cover $25,600 of Seaside management and $31,178 for GAW engineering work (not required at this time) doesn’t make any sense. I also really want to know what exactly $82,178 in “soft costs” is. Is this akin to a contingency reserve? If so, what has been our budgeted vs. actual cost for this in years past? Finally, who controls the operating accounts? Are they audited? How many of the cost or expenses in that operating account are due to Coastland unilateral decisions? Really would like to know more as a relatively new owner of this community. Thanks.
I also would love a reply on this.
To say the least when we got our dues bill we were shocked. Nothing was mention at the last meeting regarding an increase especially to this extent. It seems this should have been a discussion at meeting prior to this being initiated. Appears we have no say in the matter. Also, we did not receive any e-mails regarding this information even though we have provided our e-mail address more than once. Appreciate the work of the board just upset that dues could be jacked up to that extent without any justification.
Website is great It provides much needed info. Can you make the next meeting a webex so all can attend?
A request for web- or call-in access to this year’s annual meeting. The owner representatives are awaiting a response from Coastland.
Please review latest post, May 13, for information about how to access the live audio of the annual meeting.
Thanks for all the efforts to keep us updated! I just received the invoice for the OSPOA dues with the increase due March 30. Given the concern about the large increase, do we pay this? I do support the efforts of the Stormwater Committee and road improvement. The Coastland litigation costs should be paid by Coastland.
Al and Rick, Thanks for all your hard work! The information you have provided us with has been outstanding. The $100 increase in our HOA fees is unheard of!
Many, many thanks for this posting- as it is giving homeowners much more insight and transparency into the board and governance and decision processes, in addition to the separate communications we have received.