2017 HOA Dues

We have had several inquiries as to the reason for the increase in HOA Dues. The Memorial Parkway Board Members are homeowners in the subdivision just like you. Their goal is to always have the best interest of the homeowner in mind. They do not want to see cost go up any more than you do, because it also affects their own household expenses.

Due to the age of the neighborhood, the HOA Dues are the lowest around and we hope to keep them that way. Your annual dues go towards many items that you may not realize. The largest expense annually is the Constables Contract. We have three constables that are contracted with Harris County to patrol the subdivision. We feel that the security for the subdivision is well worth the cost to the homeowners. We pay the electricity for the street lights on every street throughout the subdivision. We pay for electricity to the tennis courts, pools, clubhouse, marquee lights of Memorial Parkway. We pay for mowing, water and landscaping of Highland Knolls and Westgreen Esplanades, the Center Point Energy Easement and all the common areas. We have two pools in the subdivision that are maintained by the HOA. We have a pool management cost that include lifeguards, chemicals and cleaning. We have 6 tennis courts, a basketball court and a playground. We are required to keep insurance on all the facilities which is over $30,000 annually. We have a small office that manages the HOA affairs and business which is an annual cost. We have several community events throughout the year that are paid for with your annual dues. We pay to fog the subdivision for mosquitos. We recently paid to have all the curb numbers repainted at a cost of $17,000 to the HOA. Every year we spend a percentage of the dues on capital improvements. These will vary each year depending on what facility projects are scheduled to be maintained. For example, in the 2016-2017 Budget we plan to replaster Highland Knolls Pool at a cost of $26,000.00.

In looking at changes over the last 10 years, we have had a loss of income due to low interest rates. Years ago, when interest rates were high, we were able to offset cost with income from interest on our CD’s.  We are currently getting less than $2,000 a year from interest income. There have been several years where we have been over budget, but rather than pass those cost on to the homeowners, we have pulled monies from savings. The HOA savings has come to a point that we no longer afford to skim money from savings account. We are advised to maintain a savings account balance to cover two years of operating cost. 

We have had to increase the dues two years in a row in order to balance the budget. We have tried to cut cost by going to only two lifeguards at the pools. This has caused some issues but we still feel that it is an effective budget cut. We will continue to look for areas that we can save the homeowners while maintaining the integrity, safety and overall appearance of the neighborhood and common areas.

We would like to make some major improvements to the subdivision such as an additional playground and splash pad. In order to continue to maintain and improve the subdivision we felt that it was best to raise the dues. We hope that we can have your support in keeping Memorial Parkway a great place to live.