Road Report

In two consecutive years, the Road Committee advanced proposals to increase annual assessments to provide additional funding for road maintenance and improvements and in both cases the proposals were defeated. In a third and most recent attempt in 2010, a unique restructuring of the assessment system was proposed -- one that acknowledged the difficult position of large landowners who cannot subdivide and also offered a secure financial future for the community. It, too, failed to pass.

The initial five miles of paved road is now more than 10 years old. Subsequent maintenance and repairs held it together fairly well though about its first six or seven years. Then came the double whammy of the torrential rains of the winter of 2004-05 and the beginning of a sharp escalation in asphalt prices. Our roads began to deteriorate in more places and faster and the rising prices made it impossible for our assessment dollars to keep up.

Today, our $200 per benefit unit annual assessments provide revenues of approximately $54,000. After insurance, weed abatement, accounting, gate operations and other administrative costs, there is a little over $40,000 available for road maintenance and all other needs. Not only is this negligible in light of the amount necessary to bring our roads back to a reasonable standard, it places the Committee in the position of negotiating small jobs at higher prices.

The reality is that our roads are likely to get worse before they get better.

Given the present reality, the Committee has committed to: