Bella Vista

Why can't they look at other management companies? It makes the most sense. I'm sorry your idea is falling apart. If nothing else- you tried to be proactive instead of reactive and I for one appreciate your efforts. You can devote yourself for a good cause but remember if others don't return the devotion-it will all be for naught. Don't put your neck out to far- it will get chopped off!! You are a good person Paul but the numbers are against you. Maybe the next election will help. There are other legal ways to bring about change. If your interested in what I'm working on and you won't discuss it with the rest of the board, we need to talk. Thought Tim by rule was -for now- the President. You can't take back what isn't yours. Please reword "the" Presidency not "his" Presidency. Your a good man and you truly care and I thought me shutting up would help the situation with you and the other board members. I guess I thought wrong. This whole thing started over 3 issues in our community. 1-Board members looking down on Homeowners as if they are better or better yet- board members not respecting Homeowners as equals. I remember my first meeting where a Homeowner inquired about landscaping and they asked him if he would like to be on a committee. Later after the meeting a board member laughed and explained that's how you shut a homeowner up-by offering to be on a committee that he will never form but it shuts the homeowner up!! 2-Equal enforcement of rules and violations in our community. This one has been rehashed so many times no need to explain. 3-The board actively trying to save the community money. The new landscaping contract was a great step in the right direction but except for your ideas about STD, I've not heard anything promising. You make it seem like Green Acres is untouchable. Why??? It is a shame things have turned out this way and I certainly have voiced my opinion-right or wrong. But I own that. I still feel I came out ahead because of the friendship I have with you. I had a great time with you and your family in Jamaica. Good times Mon!! And look forward to many more. It's great to have a neighbor that isn't just around for information or wanting something. You are no strings attached and I thank you and wish other people would give you a chance to see that your a really good person.

Pstreicher:

I was looking for info on the web about special dependent districts (taxing districts) and saw your posts on the Neighborhood Link website.  I am the treasurer of a 524 single family HOA in Port St. Lucie, FL that was recently turned over from the developer to the owners.   Like most new communities (3 years old) we have our share of financial problems - 17% delinquency rate - 57 foreclosures - 4 bankruptcies.

The owner of our property management company recently talked to me about the possibility of setting up a special dependent district for our HOA which would have the power to collect non-ad valorem assessments via the County Tax Collector (on the tax bill) to finance the debt, operation and maintenance of public infrastructure and common areas.  I am attending a seminar this Saturday that will give us more detail about this.

I was wondering if you would give me your thoughts on why you were thinking about becoming a special taxing district and any other information you could provide me.

Thanks

Dennis

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12/09/09

Dennis,

How did the seminar go? You probably learned a lot and have decided that an STD is the way to go. My number one thought of a reason for a HOA to become an STD is that all homeowners will be assessed through the local government's property tax department. The HOA fees would become part of the annual property tax bill and would be collected through the mortage escrow account for those that have a mortgage. You would still have to rely on those without a mortgage to send in payment. This process of your local government doing the fee collecting would discontinue those payment booklets. I find them a pain trying to remember to send in the quarterly payment. It's an extra cost to the homeowners also to have them printed up and mailed out.

Your local government will collect a percentage of the fees for their part in handling the collecting and disbursement of the funds of course. In Hillsborough County it is 4% of the total annual fees.

Another reason to become a part of an STD is that your local governing official in the budget department will help you in every way to get you through your budget year. Meaning they will assist you with your budget and all the paperwork making sure you have all the T crossed and I's dotted.

Once you have gone through a couple of years as an STD you will develop a routine. Things will become easier each year afterward. That is if you keep an organized file system and a list of procedures to help you or anyone doing the job as Treasurer. I believe the Treasurer's job is the most important position in an HOA board. If this person is on top of everything he or she should be able to answer any question that concerns the funds or expenditures of the HOA.

Let me know what your board plans on doing and if there is anything I might help you with, just give me a shout. My email is pstreicher@aol.com.

I came across this old topic while perusing another site...I have an update to make here on this subject.

I was finally able to schedule a meeting with the person here in Hillsborough County who is over and handles the Special Taxing Districts. Mary Mahoney came out and talked to our board and a couple of residents and answered many of our questions.

This meeting came and went. Nothing has been said or discussed since. We had little time available this year to even begin to put the wheels into motion in order to get this going for next year's voting by the residents to approve or dissaprove. I feel saddened that it appears no one else seems to realize or appreciate why this would be a good idea for the community. We continue to go down the same path of paying through the nose for a managment company and we have several residents that are years late on their dues and legal seems to have it's hands tied on the matter.

A little more effort by a few on a board could make all the difference in the world but for whatever reasons we will continue going the same way were are going for now. I only hope that the board can keep from raising the dues for the rest of the residents who are on time and keeping up their end of the bargain. The bargain being that they moved into a deed restricted community because they felt it would be kept up and kept nice. But, those few that seem to not realize what it's all about thumb their nose at the rest of us and think that they don't have to play by the rules.

It almost feels sometimes like there are some residents who are paying more because they feel sorry for those that don't or can't. That wouldn't make sense though would it? Why would you pay for someone else when you didn't make the decision for them to move here in the first place. Things could get out of hand too and more residents could decide not to pay their dues, then what would you think? Is it fair to the rest of us who are paying their dues? Yeah, you can sit back and complain, 'What am I getting for my dues'. But, wait, don't you think Bella Vista is a pretty damn nice looking community compared to a lot of others? Don't you want to keep it that way? Where's your pride, or don't you have any? Well, I'm going to do my best working on this board to keep the dues down you see. It may come to seeing some services cut back or get worse but maybe it has to get that way before people wake up. It all remains to be seen of course. I'll tell you that I'll fight for what's right though and I hope that your board thinks the same way too.

That's my rant for today, you got any. I thought so. Hah.