[alwann]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Over the last few months there has been more clarity brought to this situation and the inclusion of the trail fee in the priority membership.

First, the inclusion of the executive course trail fee was for the priority membership holder only, if the rest of the household wanted the executive course trail fee it was sold at 75% of the normal rate.

The inclusion of the executive course trail fee with the priority membership was a holdover from the days when the developer owned all the courses - championship and executive, the majority of executive courses are now owned by the SLCDD and the VCCDD.

The inclusion of the executive course trail fee with the priority membership derived no benefit to the budgets that maintain the executive courses. No revenue was received from the developer for these included trail fees. For lack of a better term, they were a gift from the VCCDD and the SLCDD to the developer and the residents who purchased the priority membership. The only time there is revenue received related to the priority membership is when the reduced trail fee is paid for the remainder of the household.

The only people who are benefiting from the current agreement are the minority that are receiving the "free" trail fee, the remainder, the rest of the residents, are having to (unjustly?) carry their costs associated with executive course play.

Since the developer is not paying for the inclusion of the executive course trail fee with the priority membership, there will not be a change in the priority membership rate, they have made that perfectly clear. They are not profiting from either the current or proposed Trail Fee policy.

The SLCDD and VCCDD are governmental bodies, there is no justification or requirement to provide preferential treatment to any one resident, group of residents, or business entity.

If the AAC wants to have additional public discussion on this topic, all of the information should be made crystal clear before the few who are benefiting from the current agreement start to vent their rage. If the AAC decides not to change the current policy as proposed, they should then be ready to justify and explain to the rest of the non-priority membership residents that are paying a trail fee 1) why they should continue to give this service away 2) why the non-priory residents should continue to cover the costs and 3) why non-priority resident should not also receive either free or a discounted trail fee. There is no reasonable justification for any of these.

Executive golf is still free, if you walk the course, with or without your own hand cart, you pay nothing to play. The trail fee is a convenience fee to allow you to use your own cart on the course and cover the additional wear and tear on the course these carts bring. The costs associated with cart wear are significant and were part of the justification of the change a year ago in the Reasonable Accommodations policy.

With respect to the rest of the proposed agreement, these are needed changes. Revenue sharing of trail fees is now clearly defined. The cost of providing the on-line service will now be shared based on a benefit received based calculation method - the developer will pay a higher percentage of the actual costs. The ability to pay your trail fee and/or priority membership fees on-line will finally be available. An avenue will now be available to make changes to the on-line reservation system - perhaps we can now move into the 21 centry and have a phone app to make reservations instead of having to rely on a web page. Trail fees will include a CPI adjustment to help cover the continued increasing costs of the additional course maintenance.

Appreciate the explanation, but remain confused about who the trail fee covers. I read the trail fee under the current policy covers up to 4 people per household. Asking another way, I am a priority member who plays executives once or twice a month at most with spouse. Currently she pays the $4 fee each time. (She doesn't play often enough to break even on paying the trail fee at the annual rate, nor would I.) So, if I also want to pay at the course going forward instead an annual fee, is it $4 or $8 for us? This isn't about the money. I'm merely confused about what "covers to 4" really means.