NEWS FOR RESIDENTS:
On November 9th, Heatherstone will once again be seeing runners on our streets for the 5K and 1M fundraising runs for The Sub Zero Mission, with support from the Lake County Sheriff's office. If you are on our electronic platform, then you already saw the email blast about this recently. If you are not on the platform yet, send in your info form or an email with your details (see below).
Property Tax update
At our owners meeting in March, we discussed the crazy increase in property taxes for our common area property, based on the 2024 property valuations, which increased dramatically with no explanation. The trustees filed an appeal to address the matter in front of the Lake County Board of Revision, and were able to get the valuations and taxes reduced at the hearing:
2024 Tax bill $622 2025 Tax bill (initial) $1597 2025 Tax bill (revised) $662
Thanks to Tom Clark for heading up this effort, which saved the HOA $935 this year, and will save us $935 in both 2026 and 2027.
The community garage sale was held on June 5, 6, and 7. Feedback has been mostly positive, despite having some of our streets torn up, which made it hard on visitors. Thanks to Jordan Gardner for volunteering to be the point person for this
sale.
We now have many owners (approaching 70%) included in our electronic platform for email invoices and event notifications. We will not overuse that, since nobody likes email messages flooding their inbox, but it is a valuable tool for our members. It can also be used to notify a lot of people quickly, if there is an emergent situation, like a missing child or pet, or criminal activity underway in our neighborhood.
The annual HOA OWNERS MEETING was held at Riverside HS on 26 March 2025. 49 properties were represented. Minutes of the meeting, 2025 Proposed Rules, and 2025 Budget are all posted on the resources page.
All residents are asked to complete and send in the "Update My Information" page (link below), so that we have current data for everyone. You can mail it to us at P.O. BOX 1321, Painesville, OH 44077 or scan & email to: [email protected]
"Click To Pay" is now live. It is ONLY available to owners that have sent in an information form, with their email address AND permission to receive future invoices by email. Copies of the form were mailed out with this year's dues invoice to all owners that have not yet signed up. Please note that if you do not have a printer, you can just send an email to [email protected], and answer the questions from the form, such as whether your property is owner-occupied, your email address and phone, and your desire to receive invoices by email. That's just as good as sending the form in.
LIENS:
The first round of lien filings are now underway at Kaman & Cusimano, LLC. At the beginning of August, we selected the nine properties with the highest unpaid balances, and began preparing the packets. One owner paid immediately, upon being notified that the lien process would add $125 in legal collection fees, followed by another $300 in lien filing fees. A second owner received the attorney's letter and then sent in payment, but that cost him an additional $125. The remaining properties in the first group are:
390 Appletree ($690, soon to be $990)
1230 Dartmouth ($690, soon to be $990)
341 Fanwood ($690, soon to be $990)
1181 Garwood ($470, soon to be $770)
1239 Heatherstone ($550, soon to be $850)
352 Middlefield ($690, soon to be $990)
303 Mountainside ($490, soon to be $790)
The listed balances now include the $125 legal fee that must be charged, once we involve the attorneys. For those that do not pay their balance shortly, the attorney will proceed to the next step, filing a lien against each property, and increasing the debt by another $300.
We are now preparing the packets for the next round, which will include the following properties:
370 Appletree ($230, soon to be $355, and then $655)
1220 Garwood ($230, soon to be $355, and then $655)
1140 Heatherstone ($230, soon to be $355, and then $655)
289 Mountainside ($430, soon to be $555, and then $855)
1096 Rutgers ($230, soon to be $355, and then $655)
1098 Rutgers ($305, soon to be $430, and then $730)
1100 Westfield ($230, soon to be $355, and then $655)
If your property is on this list, a lien will soon be filed against your property. Once filed, the lien cannot be released until full payment is received. A third round of lien filings will follow after the second round is underway. Unfortunately, some owners in our development are under the impression that the HOA will not take legal action against them. Seven of those folks are now holding letters from Kaman & Cusimano LLC that prove otherwise.
Some folks have questioned the practice of listing the target properties on this website, but the next step is the filing of the lien itself. A lien is a public record for everyone to see, not just those folks that visit this page. Contrary to the opinions of some folks out there, this is not about public shaming. This is about two things: Owners who pay their dues have a right to know which properties they are subsidizing, when they cover the costs of taxes and services in this community, even for those that are not paying their fair share. Second, this posting gives delinquent owners one last chance to avoid an additional $425 charge against them, by paying off their balance, or setting up an acceptable payment plan. That is a win-win.
Please remember that bringing in a professional management group, to take over the functions that your HOA trustees volunteer their time to handle, will raise everyone's dues to the $300-400 range each year, at a minimum. At $70 this year, we have one of the lowest dues requirements of any HOA in Ohio. Ask your friends in other developments what they pay in dues. Please help where you can.
Thanks to everyone that has offered kind words of encouragement for our trustees. We appreciate you!