WINDWARD
| Volume 78, Issue 4 | Internet Edition | October 2004 |
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Thank you for the outstanding response to the $50 assessment. The checks have been coming in so fast that I have had to make almost daily runs to the bank to deposit them. I would hope that the rest come in before the school tax bill arrives.
At the annual meeting in January the membership voted to allow the board to go into debt up to $75,000. That included the current debt ($38,750 on January 1, 2004) plus expected expenditures for replacing the roof, repairing the seawall on the north side of the mole and repairs to the culvert on the south property line. The estimate for replacing the roof was $17,500, seawall repairs up to $17,000 and the culvert up to $10,000. We were totally surprised when the insurance company sent us a check for $16,100 for the roof. The seawall repairs cost us $900 and the repairs to the culvert less than $100 thus eliminating the need to borrow any additional funds. Also part of the debt authorization was the refinancing of the current debt, which carried an interest rate of 8.5% to a new rate of 5%. We gave all bondholders the option of increasing their bond to $5000, remaining at the repayment level of their current bond or cashing in their bond. We gave the rest of the membership the chance to purchase new bonds up to $5000 at the new rate. Only one person purchased a new bond and two of the bondholders increased theirs to the $5000 limit. However 4 bondholders cashed their bonds in to the sum of $16,625. The board is still out as to whether we should seek new bondholders or lower our capital fund reserve to cover the withdrawals. Our debt now (September 6, 2004) stands at $23,950 and our capital fund will be below $10,000, the figure the Board feels is a minimum for that account.
To bring everyone up to date on the assessment issue, especially those who were not at the general meeting on August 7, the Board hired Doan Appraisal Consultants to do an appraisal of our property and they arrived at a price of $590,000. This information was presented to the Town of Owasco Assessment Review Board and they lowered our assessment from $908,600 to $ 868,000 but left the land value the same at $689,300. The Board feels that the land value is definitely out of line and has engaged the firm of Karpinski, Stapelton, Galbato and Tehan to present our position in court. David Tehan will be representing the Owasco Yacht Club. All of the necessary paperwork has been completed and filed and now all we can do is wait and see what happens. The last I heard, the referee will be Earl Thurston but I do not know when the court date will be.
As was mentioned in the letter that accompanied the special assessment bill, the increased tax bill is definitely going to affect the dues and fee structure for 2005. When I included the increase in the County and Town tax for 2005 I only figured the County tax and neglected to include the effect the new assessment would have on the seven other tax categories included on the County and Town tax bill. Instead of the $4300 increase stated in that letter it will be more like $7000. (I adjusted last years tax rates based on the increased assessment of the Town to arrive at the tax rates for this year and included a 20% increase in the County tax rate.) The $8640 increase in school taxes and the $6996 increase in the County & Town tax amounts to an increase of $75.90 per membership over this past year. It is a given that everyone’s dues will increase by at least $50 and how we come up with the other $25.90 is still to be decided. Do you have any suggestions?
In case we do not get any relief on the assessment I would ask every member to share with the Board any suggestions that you may have on increasing revenues. Any change in the dues structure must be approved by the membership at a general meeting. The annual meeting, usually held in January, is when we will have to make that decision.
If you don’t mind I would like to throw out some questions that you might think about. What can our dues structure stand before we drive members out? Are our mooring, hoist and boat storage fees where they should be? (The assessor suggested that we charge fees similar to those charged on the Owasco River [outlet.]) Our membership this year topped out at 206 memberships, the highest number the Club has ever experienced to my knowledge. Is 206 memberships too many? What is the limit of the Club? Can it go higher? What are your thoughts? As it stands today we need to do something about parking and boat storage to accommodate the 206 members that we already have. Do you have any suggestions? Are there other ways to legally increase revenues? If so, how and who will be involved? Can we reduce labor and still provide the service members want? Are we spending too much, too little, just right on our social budget? Are there other ways to fund social events? Each year it is more and more difficult to find members who are willing and able to volunteer the time and effort needed to be a Board Member. Do we ask too much of our Board members? If the Owasco Yacht Club is to continue as the 'best kept secret on Owasco Lake' then we need to ask serious questions and get serious answers.
Please help.
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We had a wide range of events this year, as always we try to include something for everyone. Do you have any comments? If so we would love to hear from you. We have already been thinking about next year and will soon be busy scheduling another fun filled summer. We have one more big event scheduled for this year that you won’t want to miss ~ Clean Up Day! This will be held on October 16th, with a rain date set for October 17th. Even if you can just come for a short time it would be greatly appreciated.
Happy Fall! Happy Winter! See you in the spring!
Kris and Adele
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OYC Boatlift Wait List
Peter Whiting deferred 4/27/04
Bob Faynor Jr. deferred 4/27/04
Mike Oster deferred 5/1/04
Ray Rutkowski
Bill Polard
Frank DeOrio
Scott Anderson
Matt Carnicelli
Louis DePaul
Ken Rescott
Steve Carr
Tom Palmer
John Cosachov
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Questions please call Ralph at 253-2935
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See you all at Fall Cleanup on the 16th.
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Last Revision: 10/3/04