March 14, 2012 - In our last newsletter delivered door-to-door, we informed everyone that we have had a serious decline in membership this past year-a pattern that has continued for the last couple of years. We've made it very easy to renew membership in River Trails Homeowner's Association, you don't even need to be a homeowner. It's simply $25 a year, not a month, but for the entire year. However, after several attempts to remind everyone, many have not renewed. Our association is voluntary (not mandatory HOAs like our neighboring associations around us), which makes funding our events very difficult, if not impossible, without paid memberships.
This decline not only affects our ability to function as a unified community, but affects the way the neighborhood looks (such as neighborhood entrance signs on Seguin Trail, for example), and it affects our ability to host our annual events. It also projects an image that our neighbors don't care, and I know this is not the case!!
Our expenses have not increased significantly, however incoming membership has declined. Since our budget is much tighter this year due to the decline in paid membership, we informed everyone in the February 2012 Newsletter that we may be forced to make tough decisions to survive as an HOA. Unfortunately as a result of the decline, one of these measures is to begin cutting HOA-hosted events. This means it is necessary to cancel the Easter Egg Hunt this year, as we can't afford the expenses at this time. It was a very difficult decision to cancel this event, however it was necessary. Additional cuts may have to be made if those who have not renewed do not step-up and renew their membership in RTHA now.
Several ways to renew:
1) Send a check for $25 to:
River Trails Homeowners' Association
P.O. Box 185014
Fort Worth, TX 76181
2) Safe & Secure Paypal.com (you do not need a Paypal account):
https://www.paypal.com/sendmoney
Enter in the "To" box: rivertrailshoa@yahoo.com
Enter your email address in the "From" box
Enter $25 in the amount.
Be sure to provide your name, address and phone number in the message box.
3) See us at our next semi-annual meeting in April 2012
Be sure to visit and "Like" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/rthoa), or at our website http://www.rtha.org. This will help us communicate with everyone much easier since we do not have everyone's email address.
Thanks,
Jim Roland
President (and paid member)
RTHA