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New Assessment Rate for 2008 |
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Written by Sharon Adams
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Monday, 17 December 2007 |
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Each year the Board of Directors for both homeowner associations that make up Steiner Ranch, the Steiner Ranch Master Association (SRMA) and the Steiner Ranch Residential Owners Association (SRROA), painstakingly crunch numbers to come up with an approved budget for the upcoming year. Even with the gas prices jumping up and nearly all products and service providers following suit for the last two years, both Boards have been able to hold the Association assessments at the same rate during that period.
This year, however, the SRMA needed to increase the assessment rate to keep up with rising costs and to maintain the new Bella Mar Community Center. The SRROA also had to keep up with their increased expenses. The increase for each Association is $30.00 annually or $2.50 a month. That’s less then the cost of one gallon of gas or one cup of Starbucks coffee once a month. Not too bad considering all the increases the Association has encountered the past two years. In regards to gated communities, only the UT Golf Community (UTGC) sub-association assessment had to be increased. As with the SRMA, a build-out budget was completed to determine if the assessment rate would be adequate when the UTGC is built out. Increases from service providers and a detailed accounting of reserve fund items, such as the eventual replacement of the antique street lights, required the increase. The UTGC increase is $120 annually or $10.00 a month. As a side note, the development company, Taylor Woodrow Communities, is deficit funding the SRMA and all sub-associations. In other words, throughout the year as expenses are not met simply due to that fact that all the homes in our community are not built yet and providing assessments, the development company covers the expenses they would be covering. In the case of the UTGC alone, that amount has been nearly $200,000 for 2007. In a few years all the homes will be built and the assessments collected will cover the expenses. Semi-annual assessments for January - June 2008 were due on January 1, 2008. Statements were mailed to each homeowner at the mailing address on file in mid-December. If you did not receive a statement, please contact the Community Associations Office at 512-266-7553. You are not exempt from paying assessments or late fees even if you do not receive a statement. Payments received after January 31, 2008 for any reason are subject to an initial $40.00 late fee per association, and a $15.00 late fee for each additional month that the assessment remains unpaid. Please note that the assessment must be received by January 31st, not simply postmarked by January 31st. Your escrow account does not pay your assessments.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 January 2008 )
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