The Sun City Home Owners Association provides services to the residents of Sun City. The SCHOA recently posted a survey online to improve the organization. Please go to SCHOA to take the survey. I did. If link does not work, google SCHOA. Thank you. More surveys will be conducted in the future.
You've got to love SCHOA; where else in America can you be a member of the HOA on a voluntary basis, pay $20 for the year and get the added services they provide? Be aware...the CC&R's are not voluntary...they are mandatory.
I just took the survey. We do get quite a bit of service for only $20 a year. I think Sun City should become a model for new 55+ developments in the future.
SCHOA is certainly moving in the right direction soliciting input from us via the survey. Hope many will participate and make helpful suggestions for making it even better and bringing in more members. It is a shame the membership is not mandatory as so much more good work could be done.
Spot on Fiona. As we look to the future, several of us see Sun City as the model that should be morn the norm rather than the exception. The problem is most developers would/will never do what they did when Sun City was first built. The simple truth is they can make far more money if they build it by ignoring the things that made Sun City unique. In today's model, the HOA is built into the governance of the community in a single organization. The smaller sized community become far easier to manage yet the cost to manage them, because of the scale always increases the per capita costs to the owner. The builder allocates less space for amenities, churches, shopping centers and while you get more green space, you also end up having to travel further to get those services. We are in the process of rebuilding the Sun City Foundation and one of the "experts" we brought in to facilitate the exercise said those same words: "If you do this right, there are all kinds of grants available for organizations who are looking to the future and could become models others could follow in their footsteps." I love the past and would never ignore the remarkable traditions and values we have, but the eye always has to be to the future and the potential to make it even better.
Did you see the issues with The Villages Florida retirement community and the ruling the IRS came down against the developers with? Here is a link: http://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/i-r-s-rules-against-villages-79362/
Interesting article Ken. I have to admit, I just don't get the deal with the Villages. My understanding is it began 40 years ago as mostly a mobile home park and has been growing ever since. It covers three counties and has an amazing number of communities, The family that owns it sounds like a piece of work; maybe i'll post some of the stories i've read about them. If i read between the lines in the article, they've been playing games with bonds in buying and selling property and avoiding perhaps taxes they should be paying. That's no reflection on the community itself, I know people that buy there most often love it. They do a good job marketing the place, hence it's popularity. It is the largest age restricted community in the country and not comparable to anything else given some of it's nuances.
We're most assuredly stepping on this thread Ken, but here is more on the Village's IRS ruling from Wikipedia: IRS Audit of CDD Bonds In January 2008, the Village Center CDD was notified by the Internal Revenue Service of the IRS' intent to audit several recreational bonds issued in 2003 to determine compliance with tax regulations (mainly due to their status as municipal bonds which are exempt from Federal income tax). The IRS sent three "Notices of Proposed Issues" in January 2009 challenging the tax-exempt status of the bonds on three grounds: 1.the Issuer does not qualify as a political subdivision or "on behalf of the issuer" of tax-exempt bonds pursuant to Section 1.103-I(b) of the Internal Revenue Code regulations, 2.the opinions of value do not support the price paid by the Issuer to the developer for the Series 2003 Facilities and the payment of the sales price for the facilities to the developer by the Issuer is not a governmental use of the proceeds of the Bonds, and 3.the Bonds are private activity bonds the interest on which is not excludable under IRS Section 103. The position stems in large part from the interrelationship between VCCDD and The Villages developers (since VCCDD has no residents, the Board of Supervisors consists solely of individuals who work for or have an affiliation with The Villages developers, and VCCDD's infrastructure was purchased by the developers-controlled board from the developers). Essentially, the IRS position is that the VCCDD is an "alter ego" for the developers. After an IRS settlement offer was rejected by VCCDD, the IRS further expanded its audit in July 2009 to include all recreational and utility revenue bonds issued by VCCDD as well as similar bonds issued by Sumter Landing CDD, on the basis that Sumter Landing CDD is also an "alter ego" of the developers. However, the 10 district CDD's were not included in the expanded audit, since as shown above the District CDD's Boards are elected by the residents. VCCDD opposes the position taken by the IRS, and in January 2010 it formally requested technical advice from the IRS as to the position it has taken. On June 14, 2011, VCCDD (after discussions with the IRS) submitted its final Request for Technical Advice, outlining its position on the matter. In June of 2013, the IRS ruled that $426 million in bonds were not tax free since the bureaucracy running The Villages could not be considered a real government. The IRS found that the bureaucracy was not structured to represent the residents. It appears the Morse family that owns the majority (61%) of the Villages was using the bonds as a loophole to avoid taxes by claiming to be a type of city government. Further, they control a good portion of the local media to help influence the community and its residents as a whole. Interesting arrangement and for sure not my cup of tea.
To try and bring this back on track, imagine if some 50 years after Sun City was founded by Del Webb, it was still owned by the corporation. You have to picture the idea that little in the West Valley developed and they kept buying up land, continued to own all the amenities and controlled everything within the ever growing walls. I've written in the past The Villages is wholly different. It doesn't make it bad, just nothing like the vast majority of age restricted communities where the developer at the point of build out gives the amenities to the residents to own and run. The neat thing is Sun City was not only the first, but the most extensively constructed of it's kind. Ultimately that plays out so well when the residents are willing to roll up their sleeves and help shape it. We know nothing in life stays the same, so the challenge is to keep reinventing ourselves to keep pace with both the competition and the needs of those coming behind us. SCHOA is the perfect example. Back some 8 years ago, they were struggling. The status quo had stagnated the organization and residents were unhappy with what it had become. A handful of us got elected and involved and today it is 100% different. The strength of Sun City is we all own it. It is our responsibility is to care for it like we would our own homes. How much better can it get than that?
