POASI BOD Proposes Dues Increase

The current BOD has chosen not to engage the membership in the decision-making processes. Use your vote in the upcoming election to elect members that will be Good Stewards of the community and provide openness and transparency.

At the May Board meeting, there was a discussion of a dues increase, apparently to be voted on at the June meeting. Although the topic was not on the agenda, proposals were put forward to increase dues to fund the five-year plan. It was difficult on Zoom to get the exact criteria of each plan, but, fortunately, the board has posted the May minutes.

They plan to sell lots to raise at least $50,000. They will raise $50,000 by increasing dues starting in 2021 by $40 per household for three years. They will use $100,000 from reserves.

The proposed sources do not include funding by increasing other fees, such as building fees, rental fees, kayak rack fees, or dock fees. Nor did the notion of paring down the five-year plan come up.

The idea of selling inventory lots is always troublesome as, unlike common property, those are assets that we can borrow against and keep for a true emergency. It would hopefully be up to the community to determine if funding a five-year wish list - that we did not participate in developing - is an emergency.

Additionally, those inventory lots provide green space and selling them results in an increase to our infrastructure and more congestion at the beach.

The five-year plan was approved earlier this spring without any member input - members were not allowed speak at the meeting when the list was adopted. Likewise, the membership will have no voice in the decision to increase their dues to pay for projects they did not have a voice in approving.

It will take Good Stewardship to guide Suissevale through these challenging and uncertain economic times. There should be concern and consideration given for all Suissevale owners until this COVID19 cloud passes.

During the BOD meeting it was mentioned that the cost of “porta potties” at the beach had tripled because of the current state of things to $28,000! The full effects and fallout of what is going on will continue to unfold over the coming months. It is hard to believe that the projects (that none of the members had any input into) can’t be put on hold for a few months until the economic uncertainty clears. Moving forward with these projects and charging the members assessments is just downright irresponsible and out of touch!

Please vote for LoveSuissevale candidates. They are: Karen Crusco, Mark DeJon, Jim Graham, Tom Keddy, Peter Mullarky, and Joe Sastre. Their bios can be found here.

LoveSuissevale Committee