Dear Editor,
Perhaps, I can relieve Mr. Mahoney’s amazement, concern and sadness. I have no prejudice against a new theater or any other facility being built in SCC, if it is desired and supported by the majority of our members. However, I have a healthy respect for a membership who took the time to vote or fill out a survey clearly stating their desires not to build infrastructure by financing. Perhaps, there will be another opportunity shortly for our members to express their desires on building any facility by financing, as I suggested to our CA board.
And I think we are all waiting with baited [sic] breath for a thorough presentation of the facts, referenced numerous times by Mr. Mahoney, but not in evidence concerning financing and building a new state-of-the-art theater. I would be flabbergasted if anyone in SCC cast a vote based on my opinion or understanding of the facts, but it’s flattering you think I have this kind of influence.
Finally, if you are going to quote me, then please do it exactly. This is my reply to Mr. Mahoney January 16, 2014 when he reached out to me and others by email: “I’ll give this a pass as I concur with the results of the bought-and-paid for membership survey of last spring which clearly indicated a ‘pay as you go, no borrowing’ approach to enhancing our community infrastructure” (full text of email available upon request).
Kim Droege
Sun City Center
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Dear Editor,
I read Mrs. Droege’s response in the April 23 SCC Observer to the previous letter to the editor from Mr. Collett with amazement and concern.
For a number of years I have been Chairman of the Community Association Budget Committee, and as such, am thoroughly familiar with the CA financial doings. In addition, I helped to secure the potential financing that the community will have an opportunity [to] discuss and decide upon later this year.
Please understand: I am writing this letter as a CA resident, not as an official of the CA. I want your readers to know that I am very familiar with the financial aspects and funding proposals of the CA.
We have managed to secure a proposal for financing that is, in fact, risk free to the community. That FACT is confirmed by the CA’s attorney’s [sic] who have stated in writing that the proposed financing requires no mortgages, no liens, no special assessments and will only be fully repaid by future capital funds fee receipts, not any dues from current members or future residents. It is not a “free lunch” because there would be interest paid on the funds advanced. Over the next six months, details of this proposal and the costs associated with building a new theater and cafe will be laid out to the community in very specific terms.
Once everyone has the FACTS it is my understanding that the community will be asked to vote (probably in October) on the issue of proceeding now by using this financing or waiting many years and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more using “pay as you go.”
What concerns me about Mrs. Droege’s letter is that other residents might vote against the financing based upon her prejudice rather than the facts. It is saddening to me because after we secured the current financing proposal I personally reached out to Mrs. Droege and offered to share an understanding of its terms with her. Her response was: she was going to vote for pay as you go! She did not appear to have a need to understand the proposal.
Hopefully your readers will keep an open mind, take the time to understand the proposal and base their judgment solely on the facts, and their belief that the community must grow or slowly deteriorate.
Jeremiah J. Mahoney
Sun City Center