2024 Dues Proposal

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• Current State
  • In our recently released 2023 budget we are in deficit (see the Agenda and Mtg Mins tab for that approved budget). This is a result of 1) dues being static since 2015, and 2) continually increasing costs.
  • Our options as a community will be to either 1) maintain the current dues but decrease services (we would have to decrease road grading from twice per year to once per year), or we need to 2)  increase dues in some form starting in the 2024 calendar year to meet these increased costs and to build up a reserve fund for the future.
• Goals
  • Maintain the necessary levels of services within ISLA for our owned assets (road maintenance, snow plow truck, Station 3 building, etc) as required by our Covenants and By Laws
  • Ensure adequate operating capital
  • Build a reserve fund (as required by the State as well as ISLA Policies and Guidelines) in case of unforeseen expenditures (like the recent Emergency Road Repair that required Special Assessments to address)
  • Completion of the Station 3 building to full service
• The Timeline
  • January: Proposal details is posted to the Indian Springs website
  • February: Proposal is directly mailed / emailed to all community members
  • March: Town Hall (Cotopaxi school and via Zoom call for remote attendees) to discuss alternatives and poll community members on which two of the three options to ultimately put to a vote in the annual meeting
  • April: Optional Town Hall in case the March Town Hall is not sufficient
  • May: Proposal with final two options are mailed / emailed to community members for the pending vote in the Annual Meeting
  • June: Annual Meeting where proposals are voted on
  • July / August: Subsequent meetings to achieve quorum if unable to do so in June, previous votes are 'rolled over' to complete voting
• The Plan
  • The Board of Directors has discussed a number of alternatives, and has consolidated that into the following options (described in greater detail later).
    • Status Quo with Changes: No increase in dues; decrease in services
    • Initial Increase Plus Annual Increase: Standard level increase in dues initially, then small increments automatically updated annually to keep pace with inflation (averaging 2.6% from 2002 - 2022
    • Large Static Increase: Large static increase in dues to achieve above stated goals
  • Of the increase options, they will be reviewed in the March town hall and per community input reduced to the most favored 'increase' options for voting along with the "Status Quo" option at the annual meeting
• The Proposals in are detailed  below

 Summary: Dues remain at $140 annually. Road grading is reduced from twice a year to once a year. Road conditions are expected to degrade from their current conditions, and will have to be evaluated annually by the BoD with input from emergency personnel in regards to safety and accessibility to set a new road maintenance standard for evaluation. If emergency personnel determine they can no longer safely navigate the community roadways, the BoD will be required by bylaws to take an action (raise dues as required to maintain the roads in a usable state) if that should occur. In this scenario a reserve fund is met but Station 3 completion will not have necessary funding.

Summary: Dues increase to $185 effective 2024, and then increase $5 per year ($190 in 2025, etc). This allows fulfilling the needs of a reserve fund, completing Station 3, and increasing investment in the road maintenance activities..

Summary: Dues increase to $215 effective 2024 and remain static. This allows fulfilling the needs of a reserve fund, completing Station 3, and increasing investment in the road maintenance activities. This proposal accomplishes these goals in a quicker timeframe with overall less cost, but higher initial cost compared to the "Initial Increase Plus Annual Increase" alternative.