The following memo was mailed to all members by the Association Secretary on January 9, 2017. Edits/additions by webmaster shown in italics, most of the enclosures to the memo are available as links.
To: Morning Star Ranch Lot Owners
From: Steve Thomas
Date: January 9, 2017
Re: 2017 Annual Meeting and Dues and Water Invoice
Enclosed you will find:
The notice of the 2017 annual meeting. As usual, it will be held on Friday, February 10, during the Tubac Festival of the Arts. The location will be 1265 Morning Star Drive (Lot 28), where it has been held a couple of times. Lunch will be provided after the meeting.
- The invoice for the 2017 Adjusted Regular Annual Assessment. Based on a small increase in the CPI, the amount went up by $24 per lot over last year’s Assessment. The Assessment is not due until fifteen days after it is postmarked, with a 30-day grace period before any late charges and interest accrue.
- The Community Association’s 2017 Annual Budget. If you want to submit any questions prior to the annual meeting, you can submit them through David or me, or directly to Frank Bille; you can also submit questions as Comments to this post (below). The 2016 Budget Report and tax returns have not been finalized, but they should be available at the annual meeting (this material is included under the 2017 Annual Budget link above).
- The draft minutes of the 2016 annual meeting. These have already been circulated to everyone who was at the meeting (as well as posted), with all proposed revisions incorporated, but they remain subject to correction at the 2017 meeting.
- For those of you who are connected to the water system, your dues invoice will also include your first quarterly installment of estimated operating expenses for the coming year. This is due at the same time as the Regular Annual Assessment. You will also have two additional enclosures (link contains combined enclosures). The first begins with the 2016 budgeted versus actual expenses comparison, followed by an itemization of the 2016 Water System Expenses Details. It shows that there was an overpayment of $135 per meter, which has been credited against the 2017 first quarterly installment. The second enclosure shows how the 2016 actual expenses have been used to create the budget and calculate the quarterly installments for 2017. This may be the last invoice you receive for water system expenses based solely on the number of meters connected to the system. The Board is in the process of working on rules that will permit some of the expenses, primarily the cost of water purchased from Liberty, to be allocated on the basis of the amount of water used, as determined by the meters. We had hoped to avoid this option, but the continuing difficulties encountered in having Liberty expand its certificated area to include the Ranch have made it the only fair thing to do.