Welcome to 2021

Here is hoping that Covid will be brought under control with everyone gradually getting vaccinated, and the world returning to normal.

By now everyone will have received the first installment of their 2021 Suissevale HOA fees. In case you did not notice, the fee has increased for an annualized increase of $40 for 2021. In the big picture this rate increase flies under most people’s radar. It is not until you do a little bit of research that you come to realize that there really should not be any increase, and that yearly HOA member fees per household could be much less than they currently are. We have both a revenue problem as well as a spending problem in Suissevale. For example, we did not really need to spend $25,000 +/- on a garage that is located on the beautiful waterfront, blocking what used to be gorgeous views of the lake. See our blog on this. This comes at a time where the BOD is actively trying to preserve green space and discourage building, yet they placed a structure on the most valuable of Suissevale’s assets: the waterfront.

On the revenue side, numerous requests have been made to the BOD over the past several months requesting that the marina slip fees be reviewed and increased to generate additional revenue, instead of raising HOA fees for all members. The latest request coming at the November 2020 BOD meeting:

Taken from the November meeting minutes:

Member Question - Rather than increase dues, can we use the money from the docks?

Answer - We already use money from the docks, the cost of the new docks has been $30K a year over the last 3 years. The docks bring in $60K a year and $30K of that goes into the general fund, so the money from the docks does get used.

Member Question - Can we increase boat dock fee to market rate?

Answer - This has already been investigated, we are on the high end of other HOA dock fees, what we pay for the docks is quite fair.

The BOD is currently made up of 11 board members that have docks. I guess it is not surprising that they all feel the current rates are fair. We think it is safe to say that the members that pay Suissevale $1,000.00 for a slip vs. members that pay Ambrose Cove $3,750+ for in water docks or $2,595 - $2,995 for Valet Service might disagree with the rates being fair. When you add in the fact that the BOD has changed the rules to allow the dock holders to pass their docks on to immediate family members, keeping the docks in the family for generations; fairness is not on display.

For the record, there are 120+ people on the dock waiting list and the current turnover rate is 1 dock every 1.8 years.

Best Regards,

LoveSuissevale Committee