Dear Fellow Owners,
I hope this letter finds you all well. Preparations are now underway for phase #3 of our redesign which is refinishing the remaining wood floors in all units, fixing the hot tub, and replacing many of the electrical outlets and switches.
Voting Ballots Coming Friday
I want to let everyone know that our voting documents will be emailed to you on Friday.
A few things you should know:
1) They are being mailed to you from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com Make sure your system is set to receive from this email address.
2) You can only vote through the link sent to you by this.
3) If you have not received the ballot by Saturday 10/26/24, check with other family members first, then reach out to Kenny Mostern at kenny@mkelections.com to ask him to send another ballot to you.
4) The ballot you receive will count for all of your fractions.
5) If you own fractions through different corporations or trusts you may receive several ballots (one for each entity).
6) You have two weeks to complete the process.
Voting Items
1) Three candidates to serve two-year terms starting on Nov 15, 2024 (there are 7 owners running).
2) Approval of the 2025 budget (you only need to vote if you are opposed to it).
2025 Budget Background
For the last few years, you have seen higher assessments due to a number of factors; mainly legal issues, a complete redesign, and property infrastructure replacement and repairs.
With our building being eighteen years old, it became evident repairs needed to be made to our many parts of our key infrastructure. This plus the costs for the redesign project were higher than what was budgeted from prior years, putting pressure on our reserve fund. We had kept our maintenance increases low for the 15 years prior. The reality is the $10MM in reserve which seemed like so much money to many, turned out not to be. We should have put aside more money for our reserve fund over the years.
This resulted in a few years of special assessments to cover the costs. The reality was there was no way around it. We need to keep our property operating at the highest levels possible. We now have a completely redesigned property and are working towards a vastly improved infrastructure which will last us many years into the future.
We have increased our annual reserve funding to cover future maintenance and refurbishing needs. Looking forward with proper planning, slight annual increases in our maintenance charges should cover our needs. With all that the 2025 budget represents a significant reduction vs what was charged the last two years and in-line with where we were 3 years ago.
More good budget news
1) Through tight financial management and utilizing alternative vendor options we were able to come in more than $1MM under our revised budget for the refurbishment. This means instead of starting 2025 with approximately $1MM in reserve we will have close to $3MM
2) We are also significantly under budget for 2024 and should be able to put approx. and extra $1MM in overages into our reserve fund
3) We have one fractional unit to sell for approx. $110K. Proceeds from that sales will also be put into reserve
4) Our successful tax protest has resulted in approx. $400K in annual While we are very happy with that result, you can expect the board to also protest next year’s tax bill as the reductions were still not to the level we think they should be.
We need to keep up with asset replacement and we need to have our fingers on the pulse of what future amenities will increase our values and attract new owners. Keep in mind we still have a few big items coming up in the next few years which need to be replaced including elevators, our AC system, and a redo of both bathrooms and kitchen cabinetry. This is why we need to keep putting aside enough to cover all of that so we don’t have a need for future assessments.
Development of Lot 6
I feel one of our biggest opportunities is some type of development on Lot #6 (ice rink square block). If developed in conjunction with both the town and our owner’s needs, I see the potential for it to become an income annuity which will lower our association maintenance costs for many years to come.
We have just started the initial idea generation of what that land could become and how we could draw income from it. We need to understand what the town wants from the property and if they still want an ice rink in that location. At some point when we know a bit more, the board will certainly report back to and want to hear from owners. Any development would require partnerships for building and raising capital and owner approval.
Annual Owners Meeting
Meeting date is November 15th at 11 am – 1 pm EST time.
An invitation to the webinar has already been sent to all owners.
I hope to talk with you then!
Sincerely,
Al Kenney
President, The Aspen Mountain Residences HOA Board
860-354-7979
al@bluewaterfractionals.com
Board Members and Owner Director Contact Information:
Joe Ferguson – jferguson@rjrcapital.com
Tim Hall – timhl9999@gmail.com
Tom Kaplan – tkaplan@kkladvisors.com
Peter Wells – petercwells@yahoo.com
Bruce Clay – bjc2115@gmail.com
Trust – Appointed Member to the Board:
Jami Champagne – Jami.Champagne@vacationclub.com
