STATE OF GRAYFOX’S WATER SERVICE

First and foremost, the board wants to thank you, the homeowners, for your patience and understanding of the water service interruptions over the last several months. The Board met recently and heard an update from Jeff Soldner and below is a recap of that discussion along with next steps that will impact the association.

WHAT HAPPENED?

    •    A couple of months ago, Cinereal Court experienced a break in the line leading to the flush valve.  The expense of this was approximately $6,000 and required a full day crew to replace the line.

    •    For 10 days, during late July, there were issues in Well #2 Meter Pit.  This pit along with Well #1 have meters and plumbing that feeds to the well house’s variable feed devices (VFDs) which feeds water to your homes.  A spigot in this well meter pit broke and leaked water.  In the course of this repair, the input pipe at the ground level had disintegrated.  Because we have 2 wells and a bypass system, we were able to seal off Well #2 and use only Well #1 in the short term.  This required a plumber to be present for nearly a week.  The total cost for this repair was $3,500.

    •    Whenever the water is turned off to repair causes the water pressure to drop, thus the association is required to monitor via testing to ensure that our water remains safe.  Two tests are required, 24 hours apart.  Until the results of those test are approved, a water boil advisory was issued.  Good results of tests allowed the boil advisory to be lifted.   

    •    Currently the “health” of our water supply appears to be intact, however we know because of the age of the plumbing in the well pits and the lines that feed to your homes and the flush valves, additional unexpected interruptions may continue to inconvenience the association.  The age of our water system infrastructure varies from 22-36 years based on when installation was for the section your home is located.

IMPACT ON GRAYFOX’S FINANCES?

    •    The water system’s 2024 total budget is set at $13,058.  This includes electricity, maintenance, repairs, testing, monitoring and state fees.  As of 8/6/24 the total costs for water service is approximately $13,847 with $12,000 in maintenance and repairs alone.  The total annual costs for water service to each homeowner is $288.50 ($41.00 per month) for the seven months ending 8/6/24.

    •    The board approved an increase of $100 per homeowners to dues for 2024 budget to increase the savings to $20,000 to cover for any unexpected expenses. It appears the association will be drawing on some of its savings to cover the additional cost for the repairs performed recently for our water system. 

FUTURE STATE OF GRAYFOX WATER SYSTEM?

    •    At the board meeting this week, there was a lengthy discussion regarding the future needs of the water system.  A plan is being prepared to share with the Community that will include:  Budget, Infrastructure, Maintenance Plan, and Potential Future Testing Risks.  Our objective is to give as much information and awareness.  It is understood that water service is precious to you and we want to have the best possible service to your home.

    •    One of the immediate changes that will be happening is that Jeff Soldner will be transitioning out of the testing role in the near future and that role will need to be a paid position, resulting in an additional $100 per homeowner per year.  This will be a topic for the 2025 Annual Meeting. 

    •    The Board is also collecting other information on equipment and other maintenance items to propose to the Association with a short and mid term plan.   It is very important that homeowners attend future meetings for healthy discussion and awareness of potential risks.

    •    Since 2018 the cost of water service for Grayfox has increased 31%.  As many of us have experienced in our personal finances with groceries, gas, utility costs and repair costs, increase costs has become the norm of our lives.  Thus as the board looks to the future in budget costs, raising of dues are going may be a normal part of the budget planning.  Some of the discussions has been to raise our savings account to cover unexpected expenses.  One option being discussed is to raise $35,000 in savings over a three year period.

Hope this is helpful and any questions can be directed to any board members.