Each Owner of any Lot or Living Unit in Tipton Lakes is responsible for paying to the Association assessments on his respective property to help fund the Association’s operations. Assessments are a charge on the Lot or Living Unit, are a continuing lien upon the property, and are the personal obligation of the Owner.
The Annual General Assessment is applied uniformly to all Lots or Living Units. The General Assessment funds the administration of the Association and the maintenance and operation of the Common Areas and recreational amenities which all Tipton Lakes residents enjoy.
Annual Cluster Assessments are established for each Cluster to provide for services and maintenance of Cluster Common Areas and facilities unique to the particular Cluster.
Initial Maximum Allowable Annual Assessments for the general fund and for the Clusters are determined through detailed budget projections and established in the Declaration and Supplementary Declarations. The maximum allowable assessments are adjusted each year by the Consumer Price Index, and in any given year the Board may not set an actual assessment greater than the adjusted maximum allowable without a vote of the homeowners.
Annual assessments not only fund ongoing operations, but are reserved, to pay for long-term major repairs and replacements of certain Common Areas and facilities, such as lake dredging and tree replacements, or in some Clusters re-roofing and building painting. The amounts set aside are calculated to ensure that adequate funds will be available when the work needs to be done.
Such things as emergency lake repairs, operating emergencies, or capital improvements desired by the Association not otherwise covered by operating funds, reserves or insurance may create the need for Special Assessments, but only if certain voting procedures are followed and limits observed.
Tipton Lakes Company also helps fund the Association’s operations through payment of a Developer Assessment calculated on the basis of a formula designed to phase the assessment out gradually as the land at Tipton Lakes is developed and the Association grows. This formula is illustrated on each year’s budget.