We need your input for planning Robin Meadows’ financial future.
Robin Meadows Home Owners,
The purpose of this letter is to solicit your response and input regarding the financial issues confronting the Robin Meadows Homeowners and the Homeowners Association.
We are currently confronted with a shortfall in the funding necessary to cover planned and required maintenance over the next several years. The original CC&Rs and bylaws require the association (which is all of us) to provide general maintenance and periodic large-scale repairs to many of the external features of the individual houses and condominiums. These periodic repairs include roofs, gutters, siding and roads, tree trimming, etc.
The CC&Rs also require us to do periodic professional studies to evaluate our general maintenance and reserve budgets so that we can properly fund the ongoing monthly maintenance and the large-scale periodic projects. The Board has posted the financial details on the Robin Meadows Home Page for you to review and links to the financial spreadsheets are below.
To summarize the situation for those who don’t wish to go through the details of the financials – Our current HOA monthly dues are not sufficient to cover the general maintenance budget and large-scale projects that we will be facing in the years to come.
Fortunately, we were able to cover the major roofing project and fascia/soffit painting with funds that were in the reserve budget with no special assessment cost to the homeowners. (We dodged a bullet.)
So, how do we handle the financial shortfall? We want your response and input so that we can make a decision moving forward. Many of the things that the board is considering at this time are as follows:
- Raise the monthly dues by at least 10% for the foreseeable future.
- Partially fund major projects as they come due and issuing special assessments to the homeowners to cover the shortfall.
- Homeowners to initiate their own projects with some support from the HOA when possible. However, if you choose to take on projects involving the exterior of your home, any changes must comply with the CC&Rs specifications – including aspects such as color, dimensions, material, etc. ARC forms are available on the HOA website and should be submitted to the board for approval before starting any work.
- A fresh look at the responsibilities of the HOA. This would require a possible rewrite of the CC&Rs and Bylaws involving our attorney and the State of Oregon. This would also require a vote from the homeowners that would include a 75% majority vote in favor. One suggestion would be that the HOA would not be responsible in the future for major projects like roofs and siding and would only do road maintenance with special assessments. The HOA would continue to provide roof moss treatment, siding pressure washing, and yard maintenance.
- Create a sub-HOA consisting of the triplexes and duplex. This three-member board consisting of owners from the triplexes and duplex would manage its own reserve budget and schedule exterior work. The triplexes and duplex owners would pay higher dues than the single-family homes as all exterior maintenance would be removed from the single-family homes. The master HOA would still be responsible for road and pathway maintenance, landscaping, tree trimming, etc. Gutter cleaning once a year, roof moss out once a year, and power washing every four years would be covered for all homes in the HOA under the master HOA. HOA insurance, the HOA’s number one maintenance expense that goes up 20% each year, could be reduced leading to additional savings.
- The HOA acts as a COOP for seeking bids for projects, utilizing the scale of multiple owners to reduce cost.
These are a few ideas but we need your input.
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