Fall Clean-up Day for Association members is Saturday, November 4th. Bring your leaves, small brush and tree limbs (no larger than 4” diameter) to the Martin Property inside Gate 6 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If this is your first visit in a while, please keep in mind the entrance has been moved to the east. By now you’ve received your ballots for the 2018 budget. Vote them at the meeting on November 14th or bring them to the office before noon on November 11th. This year we are voting on three separate ballots for each property: a ballot for the overall budget (yellow,) a ballot for the Capital Improvement Fund Special Assessment (blue) and a ballot for the new “transfer fee” (purple.) The transfer fee failed to pass last year by very a small margin, so the Budget Committee decided to try it with a smaller, less painful amount ($500 for a house on a lot and $250 for a vacant lot) with a sliding schedule for partial lots and tracts. It will be collected at closing from the buyer when a property is sold. This fee helps pay for all of the improvements that the current property owners have been paying for the dam, the roads and the dredge program. The funds collected will go into one of our “reserve” funds (like the Roads Fund or the Capital Improvements Fund) and will help to pay for expensive future projects. Had the fee passed last year, the Capital Improvement Fund Special Assessment this year would have been $50 less for everyone. One objection that I heard was “what was going to stop the board from raising the fee once it is established.” Like all fees that the Association charges, the full membership will get to vote on it every year. I will also point out that dues will be going up 5% after three years of staying level. We will be presenting the budget in detail at the Annual Budget Meeting at the Church of Jesus Christ Colbern Road Restoration Branch inside Gate 2 at 7:30 on Tuesday Night November 14th. We hope to see everybody there. The days have gotten shorter and Daylight Saving time is coming to an end. It will be dark on our roads when most of us are driving home from work. A gentle reminder about safe driving is always appropriate this time of year. Kids playing after dark combined with speeding cars is a recipe for disaster. During the day our crew will be out with the leaf vacuum cleaning the ditches. Please take it slow.
Submitted by: Jan T. Olson – Executive Director If you need to reach me for anything, please email me at janolson@lakelotawana.net or call the office at 578-4272.