LETTERS EDITOR TO THE
Impulse spending
I was somewhat disappointed when our last assessment increase was turned down. Now, however, seeing the frivolous spending that is taking place, I think it was a good thing that we did not approve that increase.
All of a sudden we seem to have a boundless surplus funds that provides unlimited money to do anything that comes to mind. For example, our board of directors just voted to spend $2.6 million on a boondoggle idea of purchasing 14 parcels of land located throughout the city.
Just to give you an idea, one of these parcels is the three acres below the Loch Lomond dam that is now a dog park and softball diamond. They bought these three acres for $250,000. We are currently leasing this land from Cooper Communities until 2018, when our lease runs out. At that time we will lease the land for $1 per year. The argument is that Cooper could sell this land to someone else and they could then do whatever they want with it. Who else in this whole world will buy those three acres for $250,000? And, where did this value come from? I would really question the appraised value of this land. What comparable property was used and how was market value determined — there is no one else who would buy this land.
A developer could not afford to pay that much for three acres. Cooper could possibly build townhouses there, but that could only be done if the city would rezone the property. The city might do that if what they just did on Kingsland Road is any indication. This is another great argument for having our POA under the auspices of the city.
A couple more examples: They bought 3.3 acres of land and maintenance building on the Berksdale Golf Course. Why spend $470,000 for 3.3 acres and a maintenance building on the Berksdale Golf Course when you are talking about closing the course?
They bought seven acres behind the Scotsdale Clubhouse between the ninth and 18th green for $28,600 per acre. No one else would buy that land and, if they did, they couldn’t get to it. It’s land locked!
The four acre golf cart parking lot at Scotsdale was purchased for $8,000 per acre. That is just insane.
These are just several examples of the money spent on a whim. If these properties are so important to the future of our community, why were they not included in the justification for the last assessment increase? With this $2.65 million and the overages on the Lake Point project, we have spent almost $3 million that just magically appeared since we were told after the last assessment increase failure that we had no money.
With this kind of impulse spending on the part of our new manager and yes-men board of directors, I don’t think I will be voting for an increase in assessments for a very long time. Larry Blech Bella Vista