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Maine Alliance for Road Associations

Contingecies fund? / director vs officer?/ imposing impact fee?/ prop.-land owners?

  • 28 Jun 2011 11:06 AM
    Message # 633564
    Deleted user
    Hi all!
    We are in the process of changing from a non-profit to a statutory road association.  We are adjusting the Maine sample bylaws to better suit our needs. 
    Question 1: Can we have a separate contingencies fund that can carry over from year to year?

    Question 2: What is the difference between an officer and a director.

    Question 3: Has anyone ever imposed a one time impact fee for new construction on a piece of property to offset the damage caused  by heavy machinery to the road?

    Question 4: This is tricky for us.  Some people own multiple lots on the road and rent them out.  Some people own one home while others own one or more pieces of property on the road without homes.  What is the most fair way of assessing fees?  should we use the word dwelling in our bylaws? Should some people be double assessed? Should land owners pay less than home owners?
    * Thank you for your help :)
  • 14 Jul 2011 6:11 AM
    Reply # 654451 on 633564
    Deleted user

    Hi. We are a statutory road association formed about 1995 which then incoporated as a non-profit. We have 79 lots and about 49 different owners on a road 8000 ft mostly along a lake shore. This year we made major changes to our by-laws to fix some issues and to bring us up to date with the current statutes. To answer your questions:

    1. Our budget this year stated we  would keep $500 for contingency.

    2. We have 2 officers (president/commissioner and secretary/treasurer) and 3 directors. This makes up our Board of Directors and is the minimum required for a non-profit.

    3. I don't know, I suggest you look at the statutes governing your road association type (statutory or non-profit).

    4. We used to charge the same for all owners regardless of dwellings or not or how many lots they owned. This year we changed our by-laws to charge based on  the City's tax parcel valuation. We felt this would be the most "fair and equitable" method. We then set a rate every year. This year it is 0.0002. We want to do things right in case we decide, in the future, to take civil action for non-payment. (We have lost in the past at small claims on 2 cases because we didn't assess "in proportion to the owner's interest" which is  how the law was worded back then. We also have a by-law that says no civil action will be taken without 2/3 approval of members attending the annual meeting. This is to prevent one officer or director from arbitrarily taking action against someone and helps spread responsibility. However, delquent owners cannot vote at any meetings.

    Hope this helps.

  • 19 Jul 2011 5:07 PM
    Reply # 658886 on 633564
    Deleted user
    David Mann wrote:Hi all!
    We are in the process of changing from a non-profit to a statutory road association.  We are adjusting the Maine sample bylaws to better suit our needs. 
    Question 1: Can we have a separate contingencies fund that can carry over from year to year?

    Question 2: What is the difference between an officer and a director.

    Question 3: Has anyone ever imposed a one time impact fee for new construction on a piece of property to offset the damage caused  by heavy machinery to the road?

    Question 4: This is tricky for us.  Some people own multiple lots on the road and rent them out.  Some people own one home while others own one or more pieces of property on the road without homes.  What is the most fair way of assessing fees?  should we use the word dwelling in our bylaws? Should some people be double assessed? Should land owners pay less than home owners?
    * Thank you for your help :)

    Thanks:)

                            The Maine Alliance for Road Associations


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