Dear Blackhawk Ranch Property Owners (BHRPOA),
The Blackhawk Ranch (BHR) is a special place for all of us to experience. Some of us live here, some are weekenders, some visit when they can. In any case, we are all part of this evolving community. Some serve as board members, some as committee members, and others as volunteers.
The BHRPOA, among its many responsibilities, has two primary duties.
1. Maintaining the roads during the summer and winter months
2. Maintaining an Emergency Management Committee (EMC) to help us all stay safe.
The BHRPOA must plan for future costs for the following activities:
a. Road maintenance (i.e. grading, culvert replacement, ditching, road repairs).
b. Snow removal
c. Emergency Management Committee
d. Fire Mitigation
Maintaining the BHR is made possible through annual property owner dues. Our last increase was in 2019 when dues were raised from $370 to the current $450 (They had remained at $370 from 2005 to 2019). As you can see, the dues remained at $370 for 14 years, while prices of products and services continued to rise.
Value of $1 from 2005 to 2024 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
$1 in 2005 is equivalent to 61 cents in 2024.
We, as a community, have reached a point where dues must be increased or services will be reduced. So that everyone can understand more clearly, this need to increase dues, here are a couple of inflation real world examples that have affected the BHR. The BHR has 35 miles of roads that it maintains.
Road Base: Road Base has doubled in price over the past 3 years. It lasts approximately 12-15 years. Projected 2025 costs below.
Road Grading labor for 20 miles @$600/mile: $12,000
Road base for 2 miles @ $28,000 per mile: $56,000
Culverts - Clean 20 culverts per year @ $300 ea. $6,000
If it can’t be cleaned, it must be replaced @ $2000 ea.
We have 180 culverts in the BHR
Snow Removal: Majority of BHR Roads. $20,000 =
Current 2024 Road & Snow Budget - $60,000
Recommended 2025 Road & Snow Budget - $94,000 $94,000
Our proposed dues increase is $50, bringing the new dues for 2026 to $500 per year. We are also discussing methods to increase dues incrementally based on the cost of services and supplies (i.e. Road Base, Culverts, etc.). This incremental increase will help the BHR stay solvent, while maintaining minimal increases over time for the BHR property owners. We are also considering an option for residents to pay their dues in two payments – January and July. Lastly, we have added online payments to our BHR website as a method of paying dues and other invoices.
To help us navigate through this challenge, we would like you to complete a survey, which will help us understand your point of view.
The survey will be available to complete until Nov 15th 2024.
To complete the survey, please click here
Sincerely,
BHR POA Board of Directors
Thank you for the information on roads. We had two major road projects last year. We still underspent and did not need to use reserves. Can you be more specific on projected expenses on roads next year? Can you be more specific on EMC projected expenses too? Given the current economy everyone has had to cut back to make ends meet.
No where to confirm email address.