The proposal would restructure LPA’s dues over the next five years and provide an additional $747,000 annually.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
At its Aug. 25 meeting, the Lake Panorama Association board of directors approved a proposal for a new funding model for the association. Next steps include informational meetings and a vote by LPA members on the proposal.
Ballots will be mailed to LPA members the week of Sept. 14. Each ballot will come with a numbered envelope to use when returning it to the LPA office.
Two informational meetings for LPA members are scheduled for Monday, Sept. 21, and Tuesday, Sept. 29. Both will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at the Captain’s Pick at Lake Panorama National Resort.
A special meeting will be held Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at The Captain’s Pick at Lake Panorama National Resort. The purpose of the meeting is to officially close the window for ballots to be included, for ballot counters appointed by the LPA board to complete a tally, and announce the results of the vote.
Members can turn in their ballot at the Oct. 13 meeting. Ballots also can be dropped off at the LPA office during business hours or in the drop box in the office parking lot. Those who want to mail their ballots are encouraged to plan ahead for U.S. Postal Service delays, since LPA does not accept late ballots after the ballot window closes.
PROPOSAL
The proposal would restructure LPA’s dues over the next five years. During that time, a fixed dollar step would be implemented in addition to the expected 5% annual increase. By 2031, this would provide an additional $747,000 annually.
Beginning in 2032, the LPA board would be limited to a 5% annual increase from the amounts billed in 2031. The proposal is designed to permanently raise LPA’s dues to a sustainable level, after which the board believes an increase of not more than 5% annually would be sufficient.
USES OF NEW MONEY
One-third of this new funding would be prioritized for road maintenance. LPA maintains 35 miles of roads. Seal-coating one mile currently exceeds $50,000, not including the cost of rock, patch work and LPA labor to prepare for seal coating.
LPA’s goal is to sealcoat 10 miles each year to keep up the maintenance issues, but that has not been possible for several years. Only seven miles are being seal-coated this year, at a cost of about $430,000.
Another one-third of the new funding would be used for the LPA drinking water distribution system. The distribution system includes 45 miles of water main, most of which was installed more than 50 years ago.
The current water main under the lake at Christmas Tree point needs to be replaced at an estimated cost of $1 million. A new water main under the lake at Boulder Beach is needed and would cost about $600,000. An existing stretch of water main on the east side of the lake is notorious for breaks and needs to be replaced, at an estimated cost of $1 million.
The remaining one-third of new funding would fund one-time projects, retire existing debt and increase cash reserves to at least 10% of the annual LPA budget.
One example of a one-time project is removing most of the old marina building, installing a retaining wall to hold back soil now supported by the building, and building new bathrooms for marina users.
CLOSING THE GAP, STREAMLINING CATEGORIES
In addition to raising new money, the proposal restructures LPA’s funding model to gradually bring historically wide gaps between lot categories closer together.
From 1969 until 1977, all classes of LPA membership paid the same amount. This changed in 1978 when LPA added an erosion control assessment to the annual dues. The assessment was $200 for waterfront homes, $150 for homes on a B lot and $100 for homes on a C lot. Undeveloped waterfront properties paid an extra $100, with B lots at $75 and C lots at $50.
LPA later implemented other assessments for things such as roads and general association operations that created additional disparity between lot classes.
Between 1993 and 2005, there was no increase in LPA dues and assessments. In 2005, LPA members voted to give the board of directors the authority to increase dues and assessments by up to 5% annually.
LPA’s current process of adding up to 5% annually is based on the tiered structure that existed in 2005. The result is a continuation of the growing disparity between what waterfront and offshore owners now pay annually for both homes and undeveloped lots.
Since 1978, undeveloped lots have always paid less than homes. The proposal would keep that distinction but narrow the gap by 2031.
Currently, an undeveloped waterfront lot pays 47% of the waterfront home rate, while offshore B and C lots pay about 42% of their comparable home rate. These percentages would reach 60% by 2031.
Also, since 1978, offshore property has always paid less than waterfront property. Again, the proposal would keep that distinction but bring all four offshore categories to one consistent share by 2031.
An offshore B home currently pays 80% of today’s waterfront home rate. An offshore C home currently pays 63% of the waterfront home rate; an offshore B lot currently pays 71% of the waterfront lot rate. An offshore C lot currently pays 57% of the waterfront lot rate. The proposal would bring all four of these offshore categories to 90% of what a corresponding waterfront property would pay by 2031.
Finally, the proposal recommends departing from the A, B and C designations established in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Under the new structure, memberships would be classified based on whether the property is waterfront and whether it has been developed with a home.
The four new membership categories would be waterfront home, offshore home, waterfront undeveloped lot and offshore undeveloped lot.
More information about the new LPA funding model proposal will be included in upcoming issues of the weekly Panorama Prompt and is available in a folder on the private side of the LPA website.
To access the folder, members should go to lakepanorama.org and login under the Resident Sign-In tab in the upper right corner. Choose the Documents tab, then open the “LPA 2026 Funding Model” folder.