Thanksgiving, late in the month this year will coincide with this edition of the paper delivery in the same week. I’d like to wish everyone in our community and their extended families a safe and fun holiday.
I’m first thankful for my family, friends and the opportunity to be a part of such a great community. Second, I’m thankful to all the members who attended our Annual Budget meeting and contributed with a lot of great questions and the opportunity to address them. I apologize from the start that this article is long as I relay important information regarding the budget, dredging and our future as a community. I really encourage you to stick with the long read to the end.
2025 Budget – for those owners that could not attend the annual meeting, the budget passed with a 403 Yes to 191 No vote. My thanks to the 93 members (signed in) that attended the meeting as we covered a lot of topics with a focus on our Dredging needs. If you would like a copy of the presentation you can download it from the LLA website.
The approved budget includes a 4% increase in the general dues, no increase in the road dues and the addition of the dredge dues to fund a new reserve. This new reserve funding of $250,000 is the major reason for the overall dues increase of around 14%. The other major change for 2025 was the removal of Registration requirements for non-powered watercraft (requires human power) going forward. The revenue loss was spread across several increases in other watercraft annual fee categories. The 2023 and 24 budget revenue and expense category charts below summarize the major changes:
As I prepared this year’s presentation, it struck me that even more than in past years the time had come to reset expectations about how our Association is run and future requirements that drive our annual dues requirement. Hence this lengthy article as our Home Association is much more akin to operating a resort or recreational communities. We are much like a small city from an operations perspective, including the costs that go with it. The past several years we focused on education about our road infrastructure needs and saw that as our biggest cost item. Then we pivoted to looking at our lake management and formed the Dredging Committee. As our planning effort progressed, it was an eye opener to learn that our number one asset is in dire need and would equal or surpass the cost of our roads in the short term. While the long standing goal for the Board of Directors is to keep dues as low as possible; the leadership decided the time had come to rip the band aid off and develop not just a long term list of infrastructure projects, but get serious about the revenue needed to accomplish those projects. Hence this year’s significant budget increase.
Like so many communities, changes we need can impact families in different ways with financing being a big item. For some the increased dues is a hardship, so the LLA does have in place the ability to establish payment plans for those that need help with cash flow. Members can reach out to the LLA Office to discuss and set up anytime.
Last, I get asked a lot when will our dues go back down, especially when the roads are complete. The short answer is I don’t see that ever happening as infrastructure needs require constant investment. We are no longer a rustic small fishing lake in the middle of nowhere. What need to build a sound financial base that helps us avoid assessments, while allowing families to plan for reasonable increases more based on inflation than on an emergency basis.
Did you know – for 2025 the LLA has changed the Registration process for watercraft, golf carts and storage lot agreements. Going forward each of these types of registration will be issued a forever permit sticker with an annual auto-renewal process being implemented. Register the first time and renew every year going forward. That means going forward less forms and once the forever permit sticker is in place no new stickers (unless damaged and needs replaced). The ask in return is that permit stickers be applied by the deadline as well as ensuring your Lot/Blk numbers are on all property. Having your Lot/Blk number on all property even those without permit requirement really helps overall with ensuring it can be found either in the storage lot or out on the water should it somehow get away.
East Shore Road Project ended with the final culvert at Y14 replaced and new surface laid down. Also, you probably noticed quite a few newly asphalted driveways for those who took up the opportunity when our contractor’s equipment was in place. Next year will be focused on the Low-Water Crossing; other major culverts needing replacement and the road surfaces between Gates 3 & 4 along with as much of the West Shore as we can afford to mill and resurface. Did you know asphalt pricing is tied directly to global oil prices, so we need all fingers crossed those prices remain low until all our roads are completed.
Silt Basin #3 & #5 – we are hopeful if weather cooperates that we will be able to finish the dirt removal from both basins by year end. In order to control erosion, we were planning to rent a hydroseed machine to spread a winter wheat seed mixture around both basins, however mother nature did not cooperate. The plan now is to spread the seed we have purchased manually yet this fall as winter wheat is hardy and will come up the fastest whenever weather conditions support its germination.
2025 Dredging Plan – during the annual budget meeting I presented a detailed overview of why dredging is so important to our lake. I highlighted the silt migration from the coves over the decades into the main channel and how we continue to lose overall lake depth and see build up at the dam. Did you know – Lake Lotawana is tied to a major watershed area. The depth of our lake is key to managing not only flooding of the lake, but also impacts the dam and downstream infrastructure. Community growth around the lake increases the speed of watershed vs. agricultural land, which means more scrutiny by the State of Missouri regulators going forward especially when it comes to our dam classification (currently Class II). The cost to upgrade the dam to Class I would be a very high short term price to pay, so keeping the silt away from the dam is a key part of our overall silt mitigation plan. Did you know – silt built up at the base of the dam is actually a negative when you think making the dam bigger would be better.
Our lakes’ depth also impacts its health and recreational use beyond the watershed topic. The depths not just in the coves, but the overall lake itself is key. Water levels impact quality for fish, animal populations and our recreational uses. Shallower water means less volume and greater susceptibility to run-off impacts from aquatic vegetation, nutrient balancing, and drought situations. Coupled with our forever Zebra Mussel population we will continue to see water condition situations not seen in the past. Maintaining our lake depths is probably the number one responsibility of the Association and something we have not made sufficient investments. Hence the new dredge reserve in addition to our annual dredge expense line item.
This means our dredging plan going forward has to be more aggressive including larger sections of the lake and increasing frequency. The planning and work this year, while not complete is sufficient to restart dredging operations in 2025 with Quantrall and Waterfall coves. Silt Basin #3 will play a major role and we are confident the necessary upgrade work can be completed in time. Then depending on weather and operation conditions in 2025 we will move to Big Rock in 2026. Buffalo cove will be slated for 2027; however the rebuilding of Silt Basin #4 along with new drain and pump lines will be a determining factor for that timeline. Also, we are exploring ways to operate longer during the year than in the past.
Then there is the major dredging needed for Sunrise, Sunset and Mallard Bays. The LLA is investigating outsourcing the dredging of Sunrise and Sunset bays to a third party as the volume of silt exceeds our operations capacity to complete in a reasonable time. The key to leveraging a third party is the completion of work at Silt Basin #5 and #6. We will need both to be fully operational with increases in capacity for both. Like road projects, the cost of staging equipment is one of the big cost factors for a contractor. This means our Silt Basin infrastructure needs to be complete with upgrades to enable a larger third party operation. The new dredge reserve will be used for the capital improvements we need to for our overall dredge plan. Not to forget Bandit Bay as its depths seem ok, but it too will need dredging.
Last, but not least, we will be working on plans for the smaller coves that need dredging which will include access roads, and creative dredging operations as many will have to be dug out or drag line techniques used verses the dredge. Not an easy task in many cases with the way homes and infrastructure have been built over the decades. We will really need neighborhood support to complete all of these efforts, so a heads up as we will need organizing volunteers to help along the way.
Courtesy Reminders – If you have questions or topics, you would like discussed regarding the lake or the association, please feel free to drop me a note at [email protected]
Sincerely,
Jeff Clemow
President