At the January 2023 Board meeting, the Directors approved a motion to increase the Association’s Membership Fee. This fee (at times referred to as the “Share Price”) was raised to $10,000 in 2003. In the ensuing 20 years, property values in greater Dockton increased by more than 150%, based on County tax assessments. The accumulated Capital Improvements to our water system have more than doubled. And, the CIP measure of inflation in the Seattle area is up by 66%.
The Membership Fee goes directly into our Capital Improvement Fund (not Operations). We have made a number of capital improvements that new members will benefit from, including the very large investment in the Filtration Plant to enhance our secondary water source, Sandy Shores Well. Plus, water main upgrades and investments to support fire suppression (hydrants and pumps) and new shallow wells at Dockton Springs to name just a few.
New Membership Fees we receive will support new investments that the new members will also benefit from.
The Membership Fee, currently $10,000, will increase to $15,000 on July 1, 2023 and then, on July 1, 2026, it will increase to $20,000.
The Board also decided that the Membership Reimbursement Fee (also referred to as the “Share Buyback Price”) will remain at $10,000. This applies to existing members as well as new members.
A resulting small change to the Association’s Bylaws, to define “Membership Reimbursement Fee”, will require a vote of the membership, most likely at the June 2023 All-Shareholder meeting. The Board’s Policies are also being updated, as needed. These changes are described, here.
How many shares are currently available to purchase? How many shares will be available when the Washington DOH approves the new water system plan? Are there plans to notify non-members who are in DWA’s service area?
Sheila — my answers are “unofficial”. We have around 15 unsold shares. There’s no immediate indication that we’ll get more shares simply based on the Small Water System Management Plan (which is nearing approval) — but the Board is interested in pursuing more shares based on the increased capacity from the filtration plant and the production of possible new wells (that will replace springs.) This is likely to take years… We’d like to get word out about the Membership Fee increase. For example, we may post on Neighbor or Facebook type social media… TBD, being worked on.