Special Meetings
Announcement
July 29, 2010, 7:30pm, MKL Clubhouse
Dear
MKL Resident,
In
January 2009 The Financial Committee (FC) of the MKL Association was
commissioned to study and make recommendations on future long term,
capital-intensive maintenance projects at MKL. After much research and
extensive community outreach, the FC has now concluded its study and made its
final recommendations to the boards of the Lakeshore Company and MKL
Association. The boards believe these proposals are in
the best interests of the MKL community
and have accepted these recommendations in full.
Summary
The Problem:
Long
term, large-scale maintenance projects for the lake, water service and roads
will cost MKL residents roughly $650,000 per decade (about $650 per-household
per-year). The FC has proposed several
methods to ensure funding is available to meet these projected maintenance
costs. These proposals include no new dues increases
and reduce the need for future dues increases
for capital-intensive projects.
The Proposal:
1.
Establish a Membership Fee
for new property owners at MKL. This fee would be 1% of the sale price of the
property, would be paid by the buyer at closing, and would go into effect on July 31, 2011.
It would not be applicable to persons moving within the community, or to new
owners receiving property via inheritance. This fee is estimated to affect
about 4 property transfers per year, and generate $300,000 per decade and thus
would effectively reduce
residents’ future dues increases
for infrastructure projects by about $300 per-household per-year.
2.
Because the FC believes
that the MKL community is unlikely to sell all of it real estate holdings, to
continue paying taxes on all of them is unnecessary. It therefore proposes to reduce property taxes
paid by the Lakeshore Company by approximately 50%, by putting some of the lots
it owns into a permanent conservation easement and tax-abated status and to put
the saved taxes into Reserve Funds.
Conserved status would render the lots un-developable, and thus un-sellable, in
return for paying no taxes on them. The FC proposes retaining six valuable lots
in unabated (and thus sellable) status in the event of an unseen catastrophe.
Because of MKL’s extensive insurance, the FC believes
that the likelihood of ever selling any of these six lots in an emergency is
remote. This proposal should generate about $180,000 per decade and thus would
effectively reduce
residents’ future dues increases
for infrastructure projects by about $180 per-household per-year.
3.
Put these accumulated
funds into separately, and conservatively (e.g. no stocks) managed Reserve Funds.
Oversight of these funds would rest in 3 non-board community members.
Without increasing dues or
assessments, these measures,
together with a portion of the current contributions towards roads repairs,
should generate about $696,000 for the 2011-2020 decade, roughly the dollar
requirement needed to meet the large-scale maintenance projects.
Because
these proposals affect both the MKL Association and Lakeshore Companies it is
necessary to have two Special Meetings to vote on the FC’s proposals. These
meetings will be held sequentially on July 29th, 2010,
starting at 7:30pm
at the MKL Clubhouse.
Attached Documents
For
the MKL Association Special Meeting:
1.
Two proxies per household
for those households having two voting Association members. Single adult
households only have one vote. For those attending the meeting these proxies
will serve as ballots. Those not attending the meeting but wishing to vote can
submit their vote in advance by completing and tendering proxies to Austin
Godfrey, 32 Lake Trail West. These proxies contain a simplified ballot question
presenting a supporting (yes) vote or a rejecting (no) vote.
2.
The text of proposed
Association bylaw changes used to codify the proposal.
For
the Lakeshore Company Special Meeting:
3.
One proxy per household.
For those attending the meeting these proxies will serve as ballots. Those not
attending the meeting but wishing to vote can submit their vote in advance by
completing and tendering these proxies to Austin Godfrey, 32
4.
The text of proposed
Lakeshore bylaw changes used to codify the proposal.
5.
A list of Lakeshore lots
which are proposed to be tax-abated. A list of Lakeshore lots whose status will
remain unchanged.
6.
A map of Lakeshore lots
showing the lots to be tax-abated and those to remain unchanged.
Because
of the extensive community outreach over the past year, only a very brief
description of the proposal will be made at the Special Meetings. Extensive documentation of the FC proposal
can be found on the MKL website. If you wish to discuss any aspect of these
proposals in advance of the meeting, please contact Austin Godfrey at
973-425-6491. We urge you to attend these meetings or vote by proxy.
We
strongly urge you to submit proxies to Austin Godfrey before the meeting even
if you intend to go to the meeting, because a) we need as many proxies as
possible in advance of the meeting to be sure we have a quorum, and b)
something may come up and prevent you from attending the meeting. If you do
attend the meeting you can always revoke your proxy and change your vote at the
meeting.
The
Board of the Lakeshore Company
The
Board of the MKL Association