BY LAURA DOUGLASS, SLI Reporter
Several dues increases in recent years have cushioned the uptick in operating expenses for the Seven Lakes Landowners Association. However, the requested dues, as presented in the proposed budget for the coming year, will ensure a better future for the community and establish parity between all lot owners.
In any given year, the vast majority of homeowners dues revenue is routed to the operating budget for basic expenses like security services, management and maintenance contracts, landscaping and operating community amenities such as the debris site and stables. The SLLA Board of Directors estimates around $650,000 in recommended repairs and replacement work have been deferred over the past five years due to limited funds in the unrestricted reserve account.
“We are asking for an increased amount of dues to go into unrestricted reserves because that is where we are falling behind. We are going downhill in repairs and not uphill in revenue,” said SLLA President Bruce Runyan, during the budget presentation on Jan. 13. “The biggest thing this board wants to present is an understanding of how our finances work. How and why we are having increases going to that bucket.”
The proposed budget revises the dues structure to establish parity — an equal payment — between all property owners, regardless whether an owned lot is built upon or not, or whether an individual owns multiple lots.
If approved, the new budget sets annual dues at $1,250 for each lot. For homeowners, this represents a $58 dues increase over 2021; however, unimproved lot owners and multiple lot owners would see a steeper increase from their previously discounted fees.
“We are going back to how it was at the beginning of this community when a lot was a lot, and all dues were the same,” said SLLA Treasurer Kim Doolittle. “Unimproved lot owners have the same access to events, amenities and community services.”
Residential home values have soared quickly across Moore County, and Seven Lakes is no exception. Doolittle reported that non-waterfront home prices per square foot in Seven Lakes North and South have increased 80 percent since 2016, and waterfront home prices per square foot have increased 50 percent in the same time period. Lot values have also increased at similar rates.
“The median house value in Seven Lakes has increased 19.9 percent year-to-date versus 2020. The key driver is that Seven Lakes is special, it’s a wonderful place to raise a family or retire, and now the world knows it,” Doolittle said.
The recommended 2022 budget would increase the annual contribution to the unrestricted reserve account by nearly 50 percent, a major step forward to help eliminate the backlog of deferred projects on community assets.
“Kicking the can down the road does not solve problems, it makes them worse … We are focusing this year’s (proposed) budget on getting the stuff fixed that really needs to get fixed. Our approach, our objective on all these things is to fix it right — this is not the Band-Aid,” added Doolittle. “Then it becomes easier and cheaper to maintain and these things will last a long time.”
As an example, this past year SLLA funded a new roof for the stables plus additional repairs that tallied up to over $50,000 in expenses. If the roof had been replaced when it was originally recommended a few years back, that cost would have run closer to $22,000.
Budget information, along with ballots for the SLLA Board of Directors elections, will be mailed out to property owners in mid-February. In the packet, the SLLA Board has outlined a short list of services and community amenities that could be eliminated or reduced if the dues increase does not pass. These possible cutbacks run the gamut from reducing security gate hours to reducing the number of days the swimming pool is in operation, closing the debris site and reducing the frequency that common areas, such as roadsides, are mowed.
The proposed budget also includes $266,955, or 13.2 percent of total dues, set aside in a restricted reserve account. Currently, the Association has over $1 million banked in this fund. This money is earmarked primarily for a state-mandated dam improvement. The most recent estimate to complete the project was around $1.5 million.
Ongoing road maintenance is also outpacing restricted reserve funding. Doolittle said the most recent review of assets indicated an annual contribution of $400,000 to the restricted reserve was needed to keep up.
“But the biggest thing is we need to catch up our contribution to the unrestricted reserve,” Doolittle said.
Former SLLA president Rod Ansley spoke in support of the proposed dues increase, and the incremental dues increase approach that previous boards have taken to reach this point versus one big “ask” that could be denied in a member vote.
“If the vote is ‘no,’ we get nothing. What has been happening over a number of years is this education that we see happening right now … We will not get there (deferred maintenance) in one fell stroke, but we are getting there,” said Ansley.
Review the 2022 draft budget presentation on SLLA Association website at sevenlakesnc.org.
Contact Laura Douglass at (910) 693-2475 or laura@thepilot.com.
