Your Vote on the Reinvestment Fee

No. The reinvestment fee is paid at closing by the buyer of a home that sells. It has no effect on monthly dues. If anything, it works the other direction: every dollar the fee brings into reserves is a dollar the board does not need to raise through dues.

The buyer, once, at closing, and only when a home changes hands. If you own your home and never sell, you never pay it. If you sell, your buyer pays it, which is the norm in nearly every neighboring community.

0.50% is the maximum Utah law allows, and it is what 16 of the 23 nearby HOAs we compared already charge (one charges 1% under an older rule). Bear Hollow's 0.25% is the lowest percentage rate in that group. The board modeled a 0.375% compromise too; it works, but with a thinner cushion in exactly the years the retaining wall is being rebuilt. Going to the maximum brings Bear Hollow in line with the market, not above it.

Because the operating budget pays for this year: snow, landscaping, water, insurance, staff. Reserves pay for the thirty-year items: retaining walls, asphalt, the pool, the clubhouse. You can have a balanced operating budget and still be short on reserves, and the 2024 reserve study flagged Bear Hollow as underfunded before the wall bids came in higher than the old schedule assumed.

The retaining wall still has to be rebuilt and the other projects still come due. The money would have to come from current owners through larger dues increases, a special assessment, or deferring work that an engineer has already told us needs doing. The chart above labeled "dues frozen" shows what the reserve balance looks like if nothing changes: it goes negative in 2028 and stays there.

Almost every community a Bear Hollow buyer would also be considering already charges 0.50%, so the fee does not make Bear Hollow unusual; today's 0.25% does. Buyers and their agents expect a reinvestment fee in this market. What does hurt resale is a community with failing retaining walls and a reserve fund near zero.

Yes. The deed-restricted affordable units are exempt today and stay exempt under the amendment, consistent with the community's commitment in Section 10.9 of the CC&Rs.

Owners holding at least 51% of all votes in the Association have to vote yes. That is measured against every home in the neighborhood, not just the ballots we receive, so a ballot that never comes back has the same effect as a no vote. Whichever way you vote, please return it.

No, one ballot per home, any method. Online is fastest and gives you an instant confirmation, but a signed paper ballot by email, mail or drop-off counts exactly the same.

Not upward. 0.50% is the legal ceiling, and raising it in the future would take another owner vote. The amendment does let the fee drop automatically if the state ever lowers the maximum, so the Association never has to vote again just to stay legal.

We can explain how the amendment works and what the numbers say, and we are happy to do that for as long as you like. Neither the board nor the Association's attorney will tell you how to vote.