LUSBY, Md. – At the Tuesday, November 28th meeting of the Calvert County Board of Commissioners (BOC), the board member met with Travis Scott, the current president of the Property Owners Association of Chesapeake Ranch Estates (POACRE), to discuss the restarting special tax district extension request.
This issue first came to light this past June when the BOC was bombarded with angry calls from citizens of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates, who were displeased with the POACRE for requesting another special taxing district. This lack of public support caused the commissioners to deny the request.
At his meeting with the BOC, Scott explained that establishing a new special tax district would help community leaders by overcoming their inability to adequately collect and raise road fees from homeowners. The road maintenance needed to become a priority to improve the community’s quality of life.
“We do as much ‘in-house’ as possible. If we don’t have the money, the roads don’t get fixed,” said Scott.
In addition, special taxing district status would help the Chesapeake Ranch Estates become eligible for Federal Emergency Management Association funding, something that is currently inaccessible to POACRE.
“The FEMA connection is so important,” said Commissioner Catherine Grasso. “It’s critical.”
Commissioner President Earl F. “Buddy” Hance explained to Scott that the original proposal did not go over well with residents back in June. Many of these angry residents were longtime residents claiming that they thought the STD would be a one-time expenditure. Scott and County Attorney John Norris explained this would not be the case.
Scott explained that any increase in the tax levy was minimal and that, “there’s a paper trail for every penny.”
As of now, a date for a new public hearing on POACRE’s request for a special taxing district is pending.
Contact our news desk at news@thebaynet.com
This is a scam and should definitely be looked into further for legal investigation
If POACRE cannot repair or maintain roads with the current sky high hoa fees then all maintenance and repairs must be turned over to the county or state, there are no ands ifs or buts about it
Well, are you sure every homeowner is paying their dues? If people aren’t paying, then you don’t have the revenue so……..
Who cares? If they can’t fix the roads then the county or state needs to take them over, it’s that simple
It’s a scam! If the county denied that tax to the fraud estates then how about giving me back my almost 20 years of wasted money????
Calvert BOC side with the residents no more money from Ranch Club homeowners
It’s not a scam. The HOA fee is very low for all the maintenance that’s provided. And it’s critical that our roads be maintained at least to the standards they are now.
Let this opportunity to continue funding road work and construction and the roads here will soon become awful.
It’s a low price to pay, especially considering that these roads could never be brought up to the standards required for the county to maintain them.
HOA fees are NOT LOW in cre, you obviously don’t live there, they are approaching $600 yearly, that’s way more then high end neighborhoods in the county pay
$600 a year for all of the things in CRE is cheap. Beaches, airport, playgrounds, roads- doesn’t take a math genius to figure out they aren’t making enough revenue.
$600 IS NOT CHEAP! Everything you just listed is the same things that have been in cre for decades, literally decades and the fees jump every single year, if they can’t fix anything it’s up to the county or state to intervene, they are the ones that let CRE build in the first place
It’s $600 dollars times 8000 how can you people not do basic math?? $600 is highway robbery for things that haven’t been changed or replaced since the 70s
You obviously don’t live here either
Airport is separate fees
Campgrounds is separate fees
Beaches are zero maintenance other then emptying trash
Playgrounds have had the same equipment since the 80s
Roads are dismal due to the counties failure for letting cre build that neighborhood incorrectly
Clubhouse is additional fees
Garden area is additional fees
Horse stable gone
Lake lariat, mercury levels are too high to use
So for $600 you get 80s playground equipment, two beaches on the bay and gravel and tar roads wooo hooo
Fees rise every single year yet my property in drum point raises very little and has much nicer roads
I do live HERE. (You just show your ignorance by saying otherwise, and that calls into question anything you say.) Small amount to pay for good roads that will otherwise go bad. The county will NOT take them over.
You DONT live here, you’re one of the board members lining your pockets with the yearly due money
I also took the liberty of contacting the state as well about cre roads
It is illegal for a neighborhood to be that close to public a school and not provide sidewalks for pedestrians to access it, along with no sidewalks in cre there are no crosswalks
Guess they should have used the fees and tax money instead of putting it in a offshore bank account
Lol I filled a lawsuit against poacre in 2018 and won because they wouldn’t repair the road I live on
If everyone quit paying fees the hoa would fold
We have to understand the financial struggle is real for so many people. Perhaps it’s time you thought about moving to somewhere less expensive? Calvert County has information on subsidized housing.
I make $80,000 yearly how do you expect me to qualify for subsidized housing? I’ll wait
Saint Mary’s County has some mobile home and manufactured home parks with vacancies.
And move next to you?
Let this opportunity to continue funding road work and construction and the roads here will soon become awful???????
So basically if we continue wasting money into this fraudulent hoa then the roads will become worse, got it
Yeah, the county offered an engineer and all the rest of the means to repair and maintain the roads in the ranch club. For free and these retards that run this sham said no. Look where it’s gotten to! These people are thieves and need to be tarred and feathered for it.
Absolutely!
Defund this HOA
Dear Complainers,
You all voluntarily moved into that lousy neighborhood.
Now you want the rest of the world to maintain the roads in your lousy neighbohood.
Pretty sure nobody held a gun to your head to buy there. Also pretty sure the Tax District was disclosed in your Closing Documents. Maybe read them next time
Well for your information know it all, I bought my home there when it was a gated community, before it went down hill
The tax district was a one time tax in the late 90s, but yet year after year since they keep imposing this scam tax
It is completely up to the county to intervene and take over the roads, why you ask? It was the county that gave the hoa the green light to build that neighborhood, public transportation provided by the county also uses those roads (school buses, emergency vehicles, low income transportation, us mail, etc), not only that but every single person that owns a lot in cre also pays county road taxes just like everyone else does
The ranch club has some of, if not the highest fees of any neighborhood in the county
Maybe next time you should do a little research before attempting to blurt out a comment when you have zero clue
Dear mr know it all, the county and state let cre build that neighborhood, so yes it falls back on the state and county, they let them do it
I agree with you to the point where you call it a lousy neighborhood. With 67 miles of roads and over 1000 homes/lots, there are good areas and bad. The truth is that a tremendous opportunity was lost to become a separate township. Mostly, because Mike Hart is too much of a ninny to realize that he urinates in the well from which he drinks. If the tax base stood up to him, he might realize he is commissioner as representative of a community not just making sure his liquor store is taken care of.
Mike hart doesn’t care about anything except his liquor store
I remember well when the special tax district was first proposed and authorized. It was sold as a one off event — not to be renewed. It distresses me when people claim otherwise.
Oh yeah! I forgot to mention this part.
We are already taxed enough in this state! No more.
If everyone stopped paying the fees, each of them would be sued and could be foreclosed upon. Don’t spread unfounded information.
If everyone quit paying fees the hoa would go out of business
Can’t sue everyone
No, you can’t. But the state can. The AG can and would pursue every deadbeat, especially someone like you who is only looking out for himself and cares nothing about the community.