Fall 2010 | Wingfield Springs Community Association Newsletter
neighborhood update
H
ere’s hoping you are all having a good summer and this finds you well. For the association and the board, this will be a busy time. We have board elections coming up and will have three seats up for election. Our last Hawk Talk provided an application for all of you who are interested. Hopefully, some of you have done this and submitted the application. They were all due by October 12. One of the board’s most challenging meetings each year is the budget planning session. The board will have completed this task by the time you receive this newsletter. We on the board expect that we will be able to keep our expenses related to our three main contracts in line with what they were last year. This includes the patrol, landscape, and management contracts. These three contracts combined make up the bulk of our expenses each year. The 2011 budget is balanced and the good news is we don’t need any additional monies. Now for other news...after years of delays caused by traffic and growth, then a lack of money, we now have our four lane Vista Blvd. in Sparks, making the drive quicker for motorists. This was provided by voter approval in 2008 of higher fuel taxes to fund future road projects across the county. Thanks to the efforts of Mike Carrigan, the Sparks City Council, the Sparks Planning Commission, and our HOA, the Vista Blvd. project was moved from near the bottom to the top of the RTC priority list. We thank everyone who helped make this expansion possible for all of us to enjoy. Alert! Last year there were 11,000,000 identity thefts across the U.S. Here is some background information on the serious nature of this crime. Identity theft starts with the misuse of your personally identifying information such as your name and Social Security number, credit card numbers, or other financial account information. For identity thieves, this information is as good as gold. Skilled identity thieves use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including: 1. Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it. 2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card. 3. Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions/companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information. 4. Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records or bribe employees who have access. 6. Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources. Once they have your personal information, identity thieves use it in a variety of ways. One example is credit card fraud: z They may open new credit card accounts in your name. When they use the cards and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent accounts appear on your credit report. z They may change the billing address on your credit card so that you no longer receive bills, and then run up charges on your account. Because your bills are now sent to a different address, it may be some time before you realize there’s a problem.
What should you do if your identity is stolen? Filing a police report, checking your credit reports, notifying creditors, and disputing any unauthorized transactions are some of the steps you must take immediately to restore your good name. Hope this info is helpful. See you at the November 4 annual meeting where we will present the 2011 budget summary and welcome new board members. The meeting will be held at 6 pm in the Red Hawk Events Center.
Lou Dauria
President Wingfield Springs Community Association