[Board] FW: Cherry Hills North Metropolitan District

[Marcus McAskin]

Request to HOA for support has been sent

From: Marcus McAskin
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 2:20 PM
To: 'Jennifer Niederhauser'
Subject: Cherry Hills North Metropolitan District

Jennifer Niederhauser
President of Cherry Hills North HOA

Dear Jennifer:

I am writing to you in my capacity as one of the Board members of the Cherry Hill North Metropolitan District to ask for the HOA's official support of the District's planned November 2014 ballot issue.

The District serves only the Cherry Hills North subdivision and provides sanitary sewer service to the neighborhood.   Over the past 7+ years, District revenues have decreased due to multiple factors including substantially reduced investment income.  Current annual District expenditures exceed annual revenues, which has resulted in a substantial reduction in the District's cash reserves.  The District held an election last year (in November of 2013) to increase taxes (which question also asked voters to grant the Board significant flexibility to raise and lower the District's mill levy as the needs of the District change in the future).  As you know, the election failed.

Part of the reason that the election failed is that the Board members (including yours truly) did not do a good enough job of educating the neighborhood in advance of the election.

This time around, we're doing a much better job regarding neighborhood education.  The District has held four community meetings to date (April 29, May 28, June 26 and July 29) to explain why the District needs to increase taxes.

The District is currently planning an election in November of 2014.  At the November 2014 election, the District Board will ask residents to support a modest tax increase of between 2.000 and 4.000 mills, from the current District levy of 4.281 mills to 6.281 - 8.281 mills.  Approval of this minor tax increase will cost the average homeowner between $135 and $270 per year, or between $11 - $22 per month.

The District Board is waiting on final engineering reports detailing the capital expenses that the District may need to incur over the next five years prior to making a final decision on the amount of tax increase that will be asked for.  The decision will be made by the Board at its September 5th special meeting.   The proposed tax increase will be designed to ensure that the District is able to meet annual expenditures with annual revenues and also allow the District to begin building up its cash reserves again.

I would appreciate it if you would:


(1)    Forward this email to the HOA Board; and

(2)    Let me know the date of the next HOA meeting.

I am happy to attend the next HOA meeting to discuss this issue in additional detail.

The District is formally asking the HOA to support the District's November 2014 ballot issue by: (1) adopting a resolution in support of the ballot issue, and (2) following up with an email to the neighborhood informing the CHN residents that the HOA supports the District ballot issue.

The members of the District Board include me and:

Keith Bierman          keith.bierman at chnorthmetro.us<mailto:keith.bierman at chnorthmetro.us?subject=website%20inquiry>
Daniel Conway        daniel.conway at chnorthmetro.us<mailto:daniel.conway at chnorthmetro.us?subject=website%20inquiry>
Geoff Landry            geoff.landry at chnorthmetro.us<mailto:geoff.landry at chnorthmetro.us?subject=website%20inquiry>
Harold Roberts        harold.roberts at chnorthmetro.us<mailto:harold.roberts at chnorthmetro.us?subject=website%20inquiry>
The proposed ballot issue this year (2014) will be substantially in accordance with the following (highlighted text subject to change following review of engineering recommendations).

SHALL CHERRY HILLS NORTH METROPOLITAN DISTRICT TAXES BE INCREASED $19,800 ANNUALLY OVER THE AMOUNT COLLECTED BY THE DISTRICT IN 2014, OR BY SUCH LESSER ANNUAL AMOUNT AS MAY BE NECESSARY TO PAY THE DISTRICT'S OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND OTHER EXPENSES; SUCH TAXES TO CONSIST OF AN AD VALOREM MILL LEVY OF 6.281 MILLS (REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 2.000 MILLS OVER THE DISTRICT'S EXISTING MILL LEVY OF 4.281 MILLS) OR SUCH MILL LEVY SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE THE ANNUAL INCREASE SET FORTH ABOVE; AND  SHALL THE PROCEEDS OF SUCH TAXES AND INVESTMENT INCOME THEREON CONSTITUTE A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE IN 2015 AND EACH YEAR THEREAFTER WITHOUT REGARD TO ANY SPENDING, REVENUE-RAISING, OR OTHER LIMITATION CONTAINED WITHIN ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION, SECTION 29-1-301, COLORADO REVISED STATUTES, OR OTHER LAW?

Thanks in advance for forwarding this to the HOA Board.  Also, please let the HOA Board members know that I will be attending Sunday's neighborhood party and that if there are any questions (from anyone!) regarding this issue, that I'm happy to visit with them to provide additional background and details.

Regards,

Marcus A. McAskin
Widner Michow & Cox LLP
13133 E. Arapahoe Rd, Suite 100
Centennial, CO 80112
Direct: 303-754-3393
Fax: 303-754-3395
Email: mmcaskin at wmcattorneys.com<mailto:mmcaskin at wmcattorneys.com>
http://www.wmcattorneys.com<http://www.wmcattorneys.com/>

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