08/05/2014
SSA Update:
In light of the recent mailing that you all received from the City of Batavia concerning the Special Service Assessment (“SSA”) for Tanglewood, the Board wanted to provide the following information:
Current Status of SSA: Tanglewood’s Board is currently negotiating with the City of Batavia concerning the SSA. As the City’s mailing indicates, there are currently SSAs in place for Units 1, 2 and 4. The City attempted to put an SSA in place for Unit 3 but 51% of the residents in Unit 3 signed a petition objecting to same and the SSA for Unit 3 therefore failed. To date, the City has not exercised its taxing authority under any of the SSAs that are currently in place for Tanglewood.
The current SSAs for Units 1, 2 and 4 are written in a manner very favorable to the City in that the City is vested with broad discretion to determine what events might trigger the SSA. For example, if the City were to disagree with the manner in which the HOA was to managing the open spaces and/or landscaping, the City could elect to take over those services and impose the tax. We are also concerned that the current SSA could allow the City to pass through to Tanglewood residents charges for issues that are responsibility of the City such as stormwater management and other similar maintenance/improvement issues. The existing SSAs were put in place at a time when Oliver Hoffman was in charge of the subdivision and Oliver Hoffman does not appear to have been concerned about the future implications of the SSA on Tanglewood residents.
As such, the Board is negotiating with the City in an effort to include language in the SSA that would provide very limited, specific triggers for activation. There would have to be a specific violation of the HOA’s obligations under the annexation agreement with the City of Batavia and the HOA would need to be provided with an opportunity to cure any alleged violation before the SSA could be triggered. We believe that such a modification would ensure to the benefit of the subdivision as a whole in that it would allow the existing SSA for Units 1, 2 and 4 to be rescinded and a new SSA that covers the entire subdivision with the limiting language could be put into place.
We understand that certain homeowners within the subdivision are currently circulating a petition objecting to the City’s efforts to impose an SSA on Tanglewood. While each homeowner will need to make its own decision, the petition does provide the Board with some leverage in its ongoing discussions with the City.
We are happy to answer any specific questions anyone might have with respect to the SSA. I can be contacted at [email protected]. Please also feel free to reach out to any Board member to further discuss these issues.
Thank you.
