Properties are assessed per household. A single person pays the same as a couple. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, a couple usually has double the income of the single person. I'm not complaining. That's just the way it is. But somehow it does not seem fair. I do not think the lawsuit is good. There must have been a better way. Now every household will be affected. Comments welcome.
The house across the street from us has 4 people on the deed(as do many other homes have 3+ deeded owners) yet they pay the same assessment as one couple or a single...A property is a property and the simplest way to assess the annual fees and guaranty a certain level of income for the RCSC. The tricky part comes when determining who should get the annual RCSC Cards or Privilege Cards. This is where some negotiation should take place to make things more equitable when the full property assessment is paid. Steps should be taken to assure that an equivalent to 2 RCSC Cards per household is available. I'm very much angered by the lawsuit and the people involved. This is nothing new with this group's leader that has been trying to stay in the spotlight for attention for over 15 years. They signed contracts willingly and now try to change the terms.:grumpy:
Thanks for jumping in aggie, always a tough subject to tackle. I'm in the process of writing the magazine for the annual membership meeting and as always i go digging through the history of the community. The more i dig, the more i understand Sun City and the stronger i feel about how much our past matters. When Community Center (Oakmont) opened for use in 1960, they had a very small voluntary fee. The majority paid it, a good number didn't. In 1961 with the opening of Town Hall (Fairway), the powers that be understood a fixed fee was essential to Sun City's success. A facilities agreement was drawn up where all new home owners going forward would pay a flat $40 per household yearly fee. Over the next 7 years there was an ongoing battle, often referred to as the mini-Berlin wall. The folks living around Community Center couldn't use Town Hall except for occasional special events. During that time, Town Hall's biggest challenge was finding space for all of the new clubs and events. Community Center's challenge was whether they could afford to keep the center open for the whole year (they had no facilities agreement and consequently their budgets were shot as they grew near year's end). Just as a footnote DEVCO had turned over the two centers to the community and there were separate organizations running them that early on. There's an entire backdrop story to how this was finally resolved, but the end result was in 1968 both centers voted to merge into one organization. The net was all Sun City property owners would sign a facilities agreement and be bound by a flat fee yearly assessment. Obviously significant because by then, John Meeker and DEVCO had decided to cross Grand Ave and expand the community. Over the ensuing years, boards went back and forth on how cards were distributed. One can always argue what's fair or right, but the end product always come back to being able to pay the bills. As aggie pointed out, from a pure budgeting standpoint, being able to know each property will pay a fixed amount is critical. To put it in context, imagine your property taxes being paid on the basis of the number of people living in the house (think about that for more than a minute and one's my begins to reel). It's why in 2003 when the board made the change, they called it a lot assessment. It matters not how many people are on the deed, that's a discussion under a different heading. And for those of you from California you will understand (probably not appreciate) how CA got around their massive tax increases from years back. During a recent lawn bowling tournament i had some folks over and the one bowler had a 2 million dollar home and his property taxes were a fraction of what they should have been. Seems years back they "grandfathered" owners taxes and kept increases at minimal amounts while other owners soared. Fair, no but necessary to pass it and over time all those folks will be gone. Hence as new buyers come along to Sun City, i would hope they do due diligence and come to understand when you buy in Sun City, they are not only paying property taxes to the state but also a lot assessment to the RSCS. The reality is, they don't even have to get their rec cards, they can own here and never pick them up. They can't own here and not pay the lot assessment. It was pointed out in a different thread, some two card owners never use the facilities. From a historical point of view, we've had those folks who never use the facilities argue everything should be based on user fees, not a flat fee for everyone. Those suggestions have been made since the very beginning and have never gotten any traction. It's not how Sun City was built or conceived and frankly to embrace it would only insure our demise as we know it today. Let me just conclude, I get the angst. There will however come a day when every property in Sun City pays the flat rate irrespective of how many owners are on the deed. It is the best way for Sun City to operate. Where there may be changes may come from how owners/residents are able to get their cards. That's a subject i can get my head around and not related to the fact all of us pay a flat rate property assessment (albeit we have some folks grandfathered till they die or move from their current property). Hope that helps make some sense of where we are today.
