Two members of new assessment panel quit, cite absence of facts
August 15, 2014 – The campaign to establish two-tier assessments in
Hot Springs Village and increase dues for homeowners by 77 percent has
taken a surprising turn.
Two highly respected members of the committee created to sell the assessment plan quit yesterday, saying the process leading to the proposal was flawed and the fledgling campaign to sell it is not transparent.
Katherine Winslow, chairman of the ad-hoc Assessment Committee, and member Lee Ann Branch sent their resignations to board president Keith Keck and COO/GM David Twiggs.
They acted less than 48 hours after Keck, Twiggs and board members Harv Shelton and Bobbie Bateman met behind closed doors to review an analysis challenging the Future Financial Task Force’s basic assertion that the POA would have a $22-million cash shortfall in 2020.
“Here’s my conclusion from that meeting,” Winslow wrote. “Village property owners will be asked to vote for a higher assessment fee on improved lots with virtually no plan of how the extra money will be spent.”
Branch had similar concerns.
“The (assessment) committee has asked each week for an itemized, prioritized list of the ‘infrastructure’ items, the rolling inventory, and on and on,” she wrote. “We are told it’s all on the website.
“That’s not how the residents are expecting to get that information. It shouldn’t be the residents’ job to search through all the documents to find the information. I feel it should be the board’s job to present the list and tell everyone what the plans are for the money.
“It frightens me there really isn’t a plan and I have no answer for the residents who are asking me each day; ‘What’s the plan?’”
Keck said the Tuesday meeting was another attempt to identify POA spending needs in the coming years. He and others promised all questions would be answered in the upcoming campaign.
Several weeks ago, Winslow asked her husband, Steve, to review the task force’s working spreadsheets and conclusions. Steve Winslow is a member of the Public-Works Committee and is known for his computer and management skills.
“What he came up with were serious questions about the need for an increase and whether the Village was really going to be out of money by 2020,” Katherine Winslow wrote.
Concerned, the Winslows felt they should share their finding with the POA board and staff. They contacted Keck last Saturday and he set up the Tuesday meeting.
Using the task force’s base case as a foundation, Steve Winslow added in all the plans Twiggs outlined at two public hearings last month, the golf subsidy reduction schedule identified by FFTF (but not included in their base case), removed the golf course renovation costs, and added in cost figures for several critical infrastructure needs identified by the public-works department.
Included were $180,000 to replace the Cortez Fire Station roof and funding to fix water and sewer lines and culverts, more road paving and all scheduled rolling stock. He did not include $2.7 million to renovate the Balboa Golf Course or $2.2 million for the Coronado Golf Course, but included $1.5 million for the DeSoto Club next year and $1 million for the DeSoto Pool in 2017.
Finally, he ran the numbers without assessments going to $65 a month for improved lots. Instead of ending up with a $22.5-million cash shortfall in 2020, Winslow’s analysis showed a $4.2-million surplus. Every year would have positive cash flow except 2015, his numbers showed.
However, these calculations were disregarded. In addition, the Winslows learned there was no stated plan for how an assessment increase would be spent.
The continued lack of credible information with which to answer numerous concerns raised by Village homeowners – and thus support a valid marketing campaign – prompted Katherine Winslow to resign as chairman of the assessment committee..
“Our committee’s search for answers to Villager questions has produced nothing concrete that we can share, and we’re being expected to create and implement a marketing communications campaign that will convince Village property owners to vote yes, with nothing to back it up,” she wrote.
“Villagers are not buying the idea that they just need to have blind faith in what’s being proposed and vote for an increase without a plan.”
Branch, former president of the Village Rotary Club and former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, also cited the trust issue.
“There are verbal exchanges in the committee meetings that sound like ‘shorthand’ or inside information” Branch wrote. “I feel I am on the outside looking in.
“Many times emails from concerned citizens and (newspaper letters) have spoken of TRUST and the lack thereof.
“I feel many of the ideas passed along to us through the emails and the editorials have been valid, well written and have shown a true love and concern for HSV. I just don’t always feel we are taking stock in their messages and taking into consideration their feelings.
“It’s more about rushing to get the vote passed. I don’t feel this attitude will help with the trust factor.”
Other members of the Assessment Committee are Cindi Erickson, Joe Moreau, John Tidquist, John Weidert and Rolland White. Advisors are Dick Breckon, Mike Misch and Tom Arwood.
The board’s agenda next Wednesday calls for asking for member approval of a two-tiered assessment plan. If the ballot measure – scheduled to be mailed in October – is approved, assessments for property owners with water meters would rise to $65 a month on Jan. 1. Those with unimproved lots would continue to pay $36.68 a month.
Proponents believe the changes would:
• Remedy the inequity of unimproved lots subsidizing improved lots by placing more of the cost of routine services and maintenance on the members who use them most.
• Reduce the incentive for owners of unimproved lots to abandon them.
• Allow time to increase other revenue sources.
• Keep the assessment rates for all members below those of similar communities.
Two highly respected members of the committee created to sell the assessment plan quit yesterday, saying the process leading to the proposal was flawed and the fledgling campaign to sell it is not transparent.
Katherine Winslow, chairman of the ad-hoc Assessment Committee, and member Lee Ann Branch sent their resignations to board president Keith Keck and COO/GM David Twiggs.
They acted less than 48 hours after Keck, Twiggs and board members Harv Shelton and Bobbie Bateman met behind closed doors to review an analysis challenging the Future Financial Task Force’s basic assertion that the POA would have a $22-million cash shortfall in 2020.
“Here’s my conclusion from that meeting,” Winslow wrote. “Village property owners will be asked to vote for a higher assessment fee on improved lots with virtually no plan of how the extra money will be spent.”
Branch had similar concerns.
“The (assessment) committee has asked each week for an itemized, prioritized list of the ‘infrastructure’ items, the rolling inventory, and on and on,” she wrote. “We are told it’s all on the website.
“That’s not how the residents are expecting to get that information. It shouldn’t be the residents’ job to search through all the documents to find the information. I feel it should be the board’s job to present the list and tell everyone what the plans are for the money.
“It frightens me there really isn’t a plan and I have no answer for the residents who are asking me each day; ‘What’s the plan?’”
Keck said the Tuesday meeting was another attempt to identify POA spending needs in the coming years. He and others promised all questions would be answered in the upcoming campaign.
Several weeks ago, Winslow asked her husband, Steve, to review the task force’s working spreadsheets and conclusions. Steve Winslow is a member of the Public-Works Committee and is known for his computer and management skills.
“What he came up with were serious questions about the need for an increase and whether the Village was really going to be out of money by 2020,” Katherine Winslow wrote.
Concerned, the Winslows felt they should share their finding with the POA board and staff. They contacted Keck last Saturday and he set up the Tuesday meeting.
Using the task force’s base case as a foundation, Steve Winslow added in all the plans Twiggs outlined at two public hearings last month, the golf subsidy reduction schedule identified by FFTF (but not included in their base case), removed the golf course renovation costs, and added in cost figures for several critical infrastructure needs identified by the public-works department.
Included were $180,000 to replace the Cortez Fire Station roof and funding to fix water and sewer lines and culverts, more road paving and all scheduled rolling stock. He did not include $2.7 million to renovate the Balboa Golf Course or $2.2 million for the Coronado Golf Course, but included $1.5 million for the DeSoto Club next year and $1 million for the DeSoto Pool in 2017.
Finally, he ran the numbers without assessments going to $65 a month for improved lots. Instead of ending up with a $22.5-million cash shortfall in 2020, Winslow’s analysis showed a $4.2-million surplus. Every year would have positive cash flow except 2015, his numbers showed.
However, these calculations were disregarded. In addition, the Winslows learned there was no stated plan for how an assessment increase would be spent.
The continued lack of credible information with which to answer numerous concerns raised by Village homeowners – and thus support a valid marketing campaign – prompted Katherine Winslow to resign as chairman of the assessment committee..
“Our committee’s search for answers to Villager questions has produced nothing concrete that we can share, and we’re being expected to create and implement a marketing communications campaign that will convince Village property owners to vote yes, with nothing to back it up,” she wrote.
“Villagers are not buying the idea that they just need to have blind faith in what’s being proposed and vote for an increase without a plan.”
Branch, former president of the Village Rotary Club and former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, also cited the trust issue.
“There are verbal exchanges in the committee meetings that sound like ‘shorthand’ or inside information” Branch wrote. “I feel I am on the outside looking in.
“Many times emails from concerned citizens and (newspaper letters) have spoken of TRUST and the lack thereof.
“I feel many of the ideas passed along to us through the emails and the editorials have been valid, well written and have shown a true love and concern for HSV. I just don’t always feel we are taking stock in their messages and taking into consideration their feelings.
“It’s more about rushing to get the vote passed. I don’t feel this attitude will help with the trust factor.”
Other members of the Assessment Committee are Cindi Erickson, Joe Moreau, John Tidquist, John Weidert and Rolland White. Advisors are Dick Breckon, Mike Misch and Tom Arwood.
The board’s agenda next Wednesday calls for asking for member approval of a two-tiered assessment plan. If the ballot measure – scheduled to be mailed in October – is approved, assessments for property owners with water meters would rise to $65 a month on Jan. 1. Those with unimproved lots would continue to pay $36.68 a month.
Proponents believe the changes would:
• Remedy the inequity of unimproved lots subsidizing improved lots by placing more of the cost of routine services and maintenance on the members who use them most.
• Reduce the incentive for owners of unimproved lots to abandon them.
• Allow time to increase other revenue sources.
• Keep the assessment rates for all members below those of similar communities.
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