MROP (ORE/VRI)Special Assessment!

[JudyS]

Judy--I think you lost me. In a normal year (non-special assessment year), do you pay mtnc fees to Resorts West, and then, on top of that, pay another fee to VRI? With my VI ownership, I pay mtnc fees to VI. VRI manages the resorts now, but I don't pay them any separate fees. Are you absolutely certain that the VRI special assessment included occupancy taxes? That just doesn't make sense to me, but it could well be true, I suppose. If, in fact, you are payng the occupancy tax twice, you need to bring that to management's attention. If you are paying the occupancy taxes twice, you have every right to be upset.

The text of the MROP special assessment was posted earlier in this thread, and included $20 per MROP member for Washington State taxes. All MROP members were billed for these taxes although only about 10% of MROP members own through Resorts West. The other MROP members don't have much access to resorts in Washington State, so it really makes no sense that they are paying Washington State occupancy taxes.

Resorts West only recently became part of MROP, so I don't know whether there would be something in the dues for occupancy taxes during a regular year. I also only recently became a Resorts West/MROP owner, so I don't know how the taxes were handled before 2008. It's possible that the Washington State occupancy taxes should have been collected from MROP members who booked Washington State properties in the past, but that MROP forgot to collect these taxes, so they added them in to the special assessment for all members. If that's true, that's pretty incompetent of them.

I plan to call VRI and ask about this. EJC, how long have you been a Vacation Internationale member? Do you know whether Washington State charged occupancy tax prior to 2008 or 2007? The MROP rep who called me to bill me for the taxes said it was a very new tax, but that seems unlikely.

 

[gravityrules]

2) It looks like MROP is charging the WA State taxes twice - once as part of the special assessment, and then again if you book a week in Washington state[/B]

There was an issue with past WA State taxes that MROP had to absorb; those costs were part of the SA. Going forward, MROP is now collecting the present tax from members using WA properties. I don't remember seeing info from MROP about this new policy. From MROP's description of the situation, the past due taxes were an inherited liability; the taxes should have been collected when these WA properties were under Resorts West's management. The past due taxes are considered as an unexpected liability associated with the Resorts West merger, so I suppose that's the reason that all members bore that cost through the SA.

I understand your point about the SA and board voting. Not enough of us voting AGAINST the SA and the responsible board members. The majority of members simply didn't vote at all, some simply wrote the MROP board a 'blank check' by the way they turned in their proxies, and their were some who even voted for the SA and status quo candidates. You are correct that this does not represent majority endorsement for the board and its actions.

 

[EJC]

Judy--I don't remember how long the occupancy tax has been in effect for VI's WA resort. All I know is that for a while I paid it upon check-in. Now VI bills me the following month.