Budget Issues

Pamat,

PLEASE encourage those who are dealing with road issues to come to the meeting. We need to hold this board and the community manager accountable to their inaction.

pamat wrote:First of all the police work for the city of Charles Town. Last time I looked at my address it says Charles Town. That means that if there is a need they respond. That means that we are under their jurisdiction. I am against paying any alternate revenue to a police force that already responds when needed. What does a "presence" mean? Too vague to warrant a revenue stream. As far as road repairs, yes the proper people have already been notified. Several months have passed and so far no results. This issue of street repairs does not effect me personally, but the people who have to be careful backing out of their driveway so they don't bottom out have been pursuing this for a while. Last time I looked at the budget there was a category for street repairs. No I am not going to lose sleep over these issues but we should not just have the attitude that "Oh well our dues have not gone up".

We are not in Charles Town police jurisdiction. We ARE in the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department jurisdiction however. If you were to call 911, a sheriff's deputy would respond to your call, not a Charles Town cop (since we are out of city limits). There are only 25 sheriffs deputies on their force for the entire county (about 300 square miles!). Not all 25 are working at any given time. Typically there are only about 7 deputies out on the roads at all times during busy times. So, if you do that math on that one....well, you see where I am getting at. IF police presence happens in our community, it will be the Sheriffs Departments' off duty deputies patrolling. And I think you can figure out the amount of presence that will be seen with a nominal $3600. Diddle-le-squat!

As for the road repair issues....if it has been addressed to the community manager, then the problem should be getting fixed soon. We DO have the funds in our road reserves for repairs, it is just a matter of a Board of Directors' vote to have it fixed and by whom.

Does this mean that we will see you at the Budget meeting on Monday?

Can someone please advise if the letter I received in the mail today from Carolyn, the president I guess, was paid for by the board. I find it very unprofessional for the board to send out a letter at cost of the home owners association to get us to vote on the budget. I figure it is to challenge the other paper we got on the mailbox but still think it is a very very unprofessional thing to do. I'm fairly new to this neighborhood and hope that the board really doesn't run this way. All I can say is that if this is how the board runs then I will vote NO NO NO to not only this budget but to whatever else comes my way.

When my alarm went off the Charles Town Police responded. If they did not have jurisdiction they would not have responded. Unless the jurisdictions has changed Charles Town police along with State police have jurisdiction over this "private community". So to pay an alternate fee to have them do their job is ludicrous and does not pass a common sense test. What more is there to understand. If some want a private police force that is a totally different issue. Dial 911 and see who responds. The police and the ambulance that came to my house were based in Charles Town. This has been the facts as I see them for 8 years. Why do we need a "presence". Where are the increased crime statistics that can be independently verified.