Centennial Committee – The board approved forming a Centennial Committee to plan next year’s celebration. We’re seeking a volunteer Chair (for a 4-5 member team), who will recruit members and serve as the BoD’s main contact. The committee will coordinate with community activity groups, propose unique celebration ideas, and aim to publish a full-year calendar for event awareness. The Committee will keep the BoD updated and work with the President and Association on support and funding. If you’re interested, please call.
Revenue from Fees – at our annual meetings, we typically present a high-level overview of financials and budget plans. However, the figures don’t reflect the considerable underlying detail, particularly regarding fee revenue. Some fee revenues—such as dock fees, storage property fees, and watercraft registration—are highly predictable, based on prior years’ data. Others, including construction permits, road impact fees, and transfer fees, fluctuate annually depending on transaction volumes. Specifically, road impact fee revenue is influenced by the range of projects, which can vary from deck replacements to new house constructions.
As we see the primary construction season coming I thought it would be good to share some detail on the topic. Each construction permit application has a submission fee by type, so the mix of permit application type can impact the revenue for the year. Over the past five years we have averaged 298 construction permits. Dock Construction permit applications have been the largest category at an annual average of 106. New Home or Additions have averaged 16 a year combined, with the balance of applications falling into a varied mix of projects ranging from roof replacement, driveway or hard landscaping to steps or seawalls and everything in between.
When in question always assume you need to get a permit for any construction project and call the office. If not required for your particular project they will let you know. Also, don’t forget the City of Lake Lotawana requires building permits with their own set of criteria. They now have a Compliance Officer so ignoring the permit requirement could end up in fines from the City along with Association fines and citations (pts.).
Road impact fees are in addition to the Permit Application fee and have a variety of calculations. This fee captures revenue earmarked directly to the Road Reserve for future repairs. This would be a Use Fee based on the type of construction and impact to the roads (heavy equipment, trucks, gravel, sand, landscape material, etc.).
The Transfer fee collects revenue from the Real Estate transactions on the lake with the money earmarked for the Capital Reserve. In 2021 we collected $31,500, which doubled in 2023-2024 to $60,000. 2025 saw the number increase again to $98,000. As discussed in the Annual Budget Meeting we expect the new approved fee calculation to grow by ~$50,000 in 2026 to $140,000. Even with this change the fund will be underfunded as we have a minimum target of $250,000. This will be a topic in the budget process this year, because we continue to underfund and rely on end of year monies for capital purchases.
Annual registration fees (dock, watercraft, storage and golf cart) are flat fees per item that go into the general operating budget. These fees are predictable year after year.
Permit Policy and Fee Structure – an objective for this year is to document a formal permit policy and associated standard operating procedures including the revised fee structure the board has been working on. Once these documents are completed they will go through the board review process and approval and then be published to the members. This is all part of our efforts to better document our policies and procedures and make them more available to the membership along with the Rules and Regulations.
Frozen Lake – I didn’t think it would happen but the lake froze over completely and for a lot longer than you would have expected with our temperatures. This means you will need to inspect your docks for damage and lose components. It is not uncommon to see buoys, floats, toys, wood planks, etc. floating around in the spring. Please help us keep the lake safe with proactive inspections.
Also, for those of you in the back of coves, you may notice a lot of Shad that are on the bottom and or float to the top. When the lake freezes over they tend to congregate in the coves and run out of oxygen. This is a natural event. It helps us manage the Shad population as they were very thick this fall. Shad are bait fish that can grow in population and overwhelm an eco-system. Just another annual nuance to managing a multiuse recreational lake like Lotawana. Never a dull moment.
Courtesy Reminders – annual invoices were sent again as a reminder to those who have not yet paid. The due date is February 28th, so don’t be late. Also, odd-district directors are up for election, so please make sure you send in your ballots if not attending the March 10th annual meeting.
If you have questions or topics, you would like discussed regarding the Association, please feel free to drop me a note at President@lakelotawana.net.
Sincerely,
Jeff Clemow – President