Technology Fees

No one likes to hear the words, “dues increase,” any more than one likes to hear “co-pay increased,” or “tax increase,” or any other “fee increase.” However, fee increases are a part of life, and once one understands the basis for the increase, one usually accepts the increase and moves on. We are not raising the fees arbitrarily or without diligent thought and planning. The reasons are described below. The Homeowner Dues of other similar HOA Associations is not the basis of the increase, but may serve to lessen the angst. We have examined the HOA dues structure of most of the other like properties in Cache Valley for which we could find information and learned that the average of the dues of the 9 HOA properties researched is $86.00 with a range of from $80.00 per month to $124.00. Bridgerland Meadows Homeowner Association dues are currently $55.00 per month and will increase on January 1, 2009 to $65.00 per month, by far still the lowest in the valley.

So you might ask, why the increase? Basically the increase is to continue to develop, install, serve, and maintain the infrastructure for the distribution of technology to current and future residents. We made a strategic decision to bring Comcast into the development to provide a wide array of technology services delivered by a nationally recognized company, with capability of full technological support. In order to entice Comcast to come into the development, which again we believe to be a sound business decision (further explanation below), given the recession we are currently in, required we allow them to use our existing infrastructure and delivery system at no charge to them. They were not willing to pay us for the use of our delivery system or to provide an ongoing maintenance fund for us to expand the system to new homes or to maintain the existing system. Still, we felt it important enough to bring them into the development as a fundamental and foundational technology company, we were willing to agree to their demands. Having Comcast in the development will provide a long term consistent technology option for all residents. Without Comcast, we would have been limited to satellite options for television, and Qwest or other local options for Internet. And who can guess what technology delivery will look like even 10 years into the future. With Comcast, we are pretty much guaranteed they will deliver the latest technology to the development. We would not have this assurance without them.

Our plan, once Comcast is firmly in place, is to open up the development to other technology providers. We are currently talking with Qwest and are in hopes that next summer will see them in all phases of the development. Qwest is currently available to Phase I residents only. Once Qwest is tied into our infrastructure, we will consider other options, including satellite. By providing several technology options, we believe the residents will benefit with lower pricing (competition), better service, and eventually several delivery options which hopefully will satisfy individual desires and needs. For these reasons, we believe we have made a sound business decision, especially for our residents.