2026 Member Vote
For the course, and the club we love.
In short: two things change for every member: the transfer fee drops from 50% to 25%, and $200 a month in capital dues is added so the Club can take care of what it owns. Separately, each member gets a choice about the Club's debt: pay off your share now for $16,000 with no change to your monthly dues, or pay $350 a month more for five years and be debt-free in 2032. The $16,000 is optional. No one is required to pay it.
Why the Board is proposing this. Today only $33 of each member's monthly dues goes to the capital account, and most capital funding depends on how many memberships sell in a given year. The reserve study completed earlier this year shows the Club needs about $1.44 million a year just to maintain its buildings, equipment and course. The Club falls short of that even in a good sales year, with nothing left for improvements. This proposal replaces unpredictable transfer fee income with steady capital dues, and clears the Club's debt within five years.
Parts 1 and 2 apply to everyone. Part 3 is a choice each member makes.
1. The transfer fee drops from 50% to 25% for every member. On a $100,000 sale, about the average this year, the seller keeps $75,000 instead of $50,000.
2. Every member pays $200 a month in capital dues. This is what pays for roofs, HVAC, paving, the golf course and future improvements, and it replaces the income lost from the lower transfer fee.
3. Each member chooses how to handle their share of the Club's debt. The Club first applies $1,096,000 of its reserve to the loan for everyone, which lowers each member's share from $20,318 to $17,925. Then you pick one. If you pay now, the $205 that was going to the bank each month becomes your $200 capital dues, so your monthly dues do not change. If you choose the five-year plan, your dues go up $350 a month for 60 months, and the $350 comes off when the 60 months are done. $200 of the increase is the capital dues every member pays. The other $150, together with the $200 that already goes to the bank in your dues today, is your $350 debt payment.
| Option A: Pay now | Option B: Five-year plan | |
|---|---|---|
| One-time payment | $16,000 | $0 |
| Monthly dues | No change | Up $350 for 60 months, then the $350 comes off |
| Toward the debt each month | Nothing further | $350 |
| Your share of the Club's debt | Paid off in January 2027 | Paid off by early 2032 |
| What you'll pay toward the debt in total | $16,000 | $21,000 |
Paying now saves about $5,000. The early-payoff discount alone is an immediate 12% return: you pay $16,000 and $17,925 of debt is gone the same day.
In the first half of 2026 the Club completed a reserve study: a review of all 660 major assets the Club owns, from roofs and HVAC to paving, kitchen equipment and the golf course, with an estimate of when each will need replacing and what it will cost. Think of it like owning a home. The roof and the furnace wear out eventually, and it is far easier to plan for them than to be surprised.
Today the Club falls short of its upkeep need even in a good sales year, and has nothing set aside for the improvements members have asked for. The proposal closes that gap with steady income the Club can plan on. The numbers are in the FAQ under How big is the Club's capital shortfall today?
| Pay now | Five-year plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid today | $16,000 | $0 |
| Paid through dues over 60 months ($350 × 60) | $0 | $21,000 |
| Total | $16,000 | $21,000 |
Paying now saves about $5,000.
The loan balance will be about $9.3 million on January 1, 2027, and on the bank's schedule it is paid off in March 2038, about 11 years from now. Divided among 458 members, each member's share is about $20,318. After the Club applies $1,096,000 of its reserve to the loan, each member's share drops to about $17,925.
Because the bank pays the Club about $1.0 million for paying the loan off early (the "swap" value). A member who pays off collects their share of that discount, about $1,925. $17,925 − $1,925 = $16,000.
An immediate one. You hand the Club $16,000 and $17,925 of debt is retired the same day. That $1,925 discount is a 12% return on your money, earned instantly, with no waiting and no risk.
On top of that, you stop paying interest and you avoid the five-year plan altogether. Instead of $350 a month for 60 months ($21,000 in total), you pay $16,000 once and are done.
Two reasons. First, interest: spreading $17,925 over five years at the Club's loan rate costs about $1,900 in interest, which brings the total to roughly $19,900. Second, the plan is a fixed $350 a month for the full 60 months, which is about $1,100 more than straight interest. That extra amount is deliberate. While you pay over time, the Club carries your share of the debt and the risks that come with it: the early-payoff discount shrinks every month, interest rates can move, and some memberships change hands mid-plan. The flat payment covers those risks and keeps the plan simple: the same amount every month, no interest calculations, and a clear end date.
Put another way, the five-year plan works out to the equivalent of borrowing at about 6.6% instead of the Club's 4.4%. If you can pay the $16,000 now, that is the better deal. The five-year plan is there for members who would rather spread it out.
The Club's loan runs until March 2038. Carrying it that long costs interest every year, and the early-payoff discount from the bank gets smaller the longer the Club waits. A five-year plan clears the debt while the discount still has value, cuts the Club's interest costs sharply, and gets every member to the same place, debt-free, by 2032 instead of 2038. After that, the $350 comes off and the Club can put its full attention on the course and the facilities.
The $350 comes off. In early 2032 the five-year plan ends and that $350 is removed from your monthly dues. From then on, nothing in your dues goes to the bank, and a member who chose the five-year plan pays the same as a member who paid off up front. This proposal does not set what operating dues will be in 2032; the Board sets dues each year through the normal budget process, which members approve.
The $1,096,000 is applied to the loan for everyone before anyone chooses. It lowers every member's share from $20,318 to $17,925, and the five-year plan is sized to that smaller share. Without the reserve contribution the same $350 a month would take about a year longer to clear the debt. The reserve helps every member equally, whichever option they choose.
Any future Club money used to reduce the debt will benefit every member equally. If you have already paid off your share, or you are part-way through the five-year plan, you will receive a matching credit, so you are never worse off for having paid early. This commitment is part of the proposal.
Two reasons. At 50%, Riverside's fee is double what comparable clubs charge, and members have told us it discourages sales and feels unfair. Lowering it to 25% puts more of the sale price in the selling member's pocket.
Just as important, transfer fee income is unreliable. The Club doesn't know how many memberships will sell in a given year or what they'll sell for, so it's a poor foundation for a capital budget. Steady monthly capital dues are something the Club can plan around.
Memberships sold for about $100,000 on average this year. At today's 50% fee, the seller keeps $50,000. At 25%, the seller would keep $75,000, about $25,000 more.
Of your $935 in monthly dues, $205 goes to the bank for the Club's loan and only $33 goes into the capital account, which pays for roofs, HVAC, paving, the golf course, and improvements. The rest runs the Club.
The reserve study estimates the Club needs about $1.44 million a year on average over the next 20 years, just for upkeep. That is before any improvements to the golf course, practice facility, or clubhouse.
| Today | Under the proposal | |
|---|---|---|
| Capital dues | $181,000 | $1,281,000 |
| Transfer fees (17–22 sales a year at $100,000) | $850,000–$1,100,000 | $425,000–$550,000 |
| Total for capital | $1.03M–$1.28M | $1.70M–$1.83M |
| Upkeep need (reserve study) | $1.44M | $1.44M |
| Left for improvements | $160,000–$410,000 short | $260,000–$390,000 available |
| How much depends on membership sales | About 85% | About 30% |
Today the Club falls short of its upkeep need even in a good sales year, and has nothing set aside for improvements. The proposal closes that gap with steady income the Club can plan on.
Three reasons. First, lowering the transfer fee reduces the Club's income by roughly $425,000 to $550,000 a year, depending on how many memberships sell, and that money needs to be replaced. Second, $33 a month per member is not enough to take care of what we have. Third, the $200 is predictable. Unlike transfer fees, it comes in every month regardless of how many memberships sell. The $200 goes entirely to the capital account.
Two reasons. First, even at 50%, the Club doesn't have enough money. Today's capital income falls $160,000 to $410,000 a year short of maintenance, with nothing left for improvements.
Second, the Club can't budget on transfer fees. In a typical year, somewhere between 17 and 22 memberships sell, at prices that move with the market. That swing alone means transfer fee income can vary by $250,000 from one year to the next, and a roof or an irrigation pump doesn't wait for a membership to sell. Moving capital funding from transfer fees to monthly dues gives the Club a reliable income it can plan with, and the lower fee gives members more when they sell.
Because the $205 that was going to the bank is replaced by the $200 capital payment. The money you were sending to the bank now stays at the Club, working on the Club.
No. The Club has about $2.2 million in its capital account. $1,096,000 goes toward the loan, and about $1.1 million stays in the account as a cushion. The $200 a month then rebuilds the account at about $1.28 million a year.
Yes. Voting closes December 15, 2026. If the proposal passes, members who choose to pay the $16,000 will do so in January 2027, and the Club will make one payment to the bank on one date. Members who choose the five-year plan don't need to do anything; the new dues begin with the January billing and the 60 months run from January 2027 through December 2031.
The Club pays down the loan by that amount and collects the matching share of the swap value. The loan keeps the same interest rate and end date, and the bank reduces the Club's required payments in proportion. The $350 a month from members on the five-year plan is more than the bank requires, and the Club applies the extra to principal every month, so the remaining debt is cleared in five years rather than eleven.
If you paid off your share: your membership sells with no debt payment attached. The buyer pays regular dues with nothing going to the bank.
If you are on the five-year plan: you have two choices when you sell.
The payoff amount goes down by $350 every month.
Not on day one, unless every member pays off, and we don't expect that. But the Club pays down a large part of the loan immediately, collects a matching share of the swap value, and clears the rest within five years through the five-year plan. By early 2032 the Club is debt-free. That is six years sooner than the loan's own schedule, and it puts the Club in a much stronger financial position going forward.
Because the transfer fee cut costs the Club money, and the capital dues replace it. Approving one without the other would leave the Club worse off. They only work together.
Nothing changes. The transfer fee stays at 50%, dues stay at $935, $205 keeps going to the bank until 2038, and $33 goes to capital. The capital shortfall described above stays as it is.