Dear Fellow Owners,
I hope this message finds you well. On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude for everyone’s continued support and patience throughout our legal resolution and major redesign project. We are happy those are both behind us now. Thank you.
Here are the latest updates:
Next of KIN
We recently had one of the fractional units go into foreclosure due to the owner passing away, and no one is claiming the unit and paying the annual dues. In hopes this does not happen again, we are allowing owners to put another contact on their contact sheet. If you would like to add another key contact to your file to be used in extreme cases where you can’t be reached, please reach out to our reservations department: aspenres@eastwest.com
TAMR Tax Protest
Early this year we began interviewing law firms and tax appeal companies to appeal our real property taxes. Generally, these firms wanted an upfront retainer and 30% of any savings. One of the firms we interviewed, we had used in 2019 and they did have some success in garnering us a 10% reduction in the assessment (7% Net after fee). However, we were not impressed with the level of knowledge regarding our particular fractional values and the understanding of the arguments we wanted to present. As a result, the Board voted to have our Tax Appeal Committee prepare and file the protests. The Board’s Tax Protest, filed with the Pitkin County Tax Assessors office, was denied without any adjustment. The Board subsequently appealed to the Pitkin County Board of Equalization (CBOE). A copy of both appeals is posted on the website. On July 25th, we presented our case to the hearing officer at the CBOE and the Assessor’s office presented a counterargument.
We are happy to report that the hearing officer was receptive to our arguments and our tax assessment was lowered by 46.67%. We were asking for more, but are pleased with the result.
The final millage rates for the City of Aspen and Pitkin County for 2024 have not yet been set, but based upon the 2023 millage rates, the new assessments result in a savings of approximately $375,000 in tax. Because we prepared and presented the appeal in house, no fee is due so the entire tax savings will go to the Association.
Because Pitkin County assesses every two years, they have a process where we can go back and request an abatement of the 2023 taxes we paid, recalculated based upon this new adjusted assessment. The 2023 Abatement provision was filed last week.
In case you are curious, You can find our protest presentation here.
Litigation
As discussed in our last board meeting, we have been sued by an owner with regards to an alleged infringement of the owner’s civil rights due to our association prohibiting the owner from bringing the owner’s animal onto the premises and into the owner’s unit during the owner’s fractional period. While we had hoped that the litigation with Weisman et.al would be the end of our litigation, we have been unsuccessful in our settlement efforts with this owner and the litigation and its expense continues.
Board Elections Coming Soon
Just a reminder we have three two-year positions coming open on the board in November. We have two members not returning because they either “termed out” or for other personal reasons so we will need new board members. With our legal case, and property refurbishment now behind us, board activities should be getting back to a more normal pace.
I know from speaking with many of you over the past six years we have a very esteemed and competent group of owners many of which would make great board members. If you would like to run for the board this year, please fill out the candidate profile form by the submission date.
You can find our board submission form for our board election here.
The submission due date is October 7th. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me or any of the below board members.
Best,
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