Recently a property owner asked questions to the Board of Directors: Please explain from your 2009 budget (which I believe was not discussed or reviewed with any property owners before the fact) the following: (Note that your answers may be placed on www.neighborhoodlink.com/sat/parkwood Discussion Forum.) a. Revenues, Assessments: Why is there no swim lesson income planned for 2009? b. Expenses, Administrative Expense. (1) Accounting/Auditing: Understood the budget line item Management Fee provides for all accounting services for the HOA. What accounting is being provided here? What has created an increase in our auditing costs? (2) Administrative – Supplies/Postage/Printing: As the number of property owners you mail to is rather static, why has the line item increased 19%? Why are you not exploiting near costless email to accomplish much of this communication function for us? (3) Newsletter/Web Site: Understood there is no charge for the newsletters produced by Network News, Inc, so why the line item? As the HOA web site contains essentially no valuable content as well as grossly obsolete content, this is a wasted expenditure; thus, why is this line item not zero? (4) Bad Debt: How is this line item different from Revenues, Assessments, (Assessments Owed)? (5) Legal: Please explain why nearly 10% of our HOA budget is being allocated for legal expenses. What litigation is planned for 2009? It looks like ($20,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amount. (6) Management Fee: What added services are to be provided with the 8% increase in this line item? (7) Taxes: Explain how common property taxes drop 90% this year. (8) Reserve Study: Explain how the postponed 2008 reserve study update is 94% less when done in 2007. c. Expenses, Common Area Expense. (1) Grounds keeping Contract: Why would not our contract not cover the tree trimming and easement/lost/jogging trail/Prue Road elements, given its 16% increase this year? (2) Grounds – Other/Improvements: These look like ($8,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amounts. (3)Fencing Maintenance: After spending $35,000 in the last year for the pool fence, why is more expense planned? (4) Patrol: Need objective assessment to understand how this expenditure counters the recent vandalism/theft we have experienced. d. Expenses, Utility Expense (1) Water/Sewer and Electricity: Looks like ($4,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amounts. What are the plans for conservation? e. Expenses, Recreational Area Expense. (1) Telephone: Explain alternatives to a monthly phone charge of $242 for a phone which is a pay phone or used three months per year. (2) Pool Supplies & Maintenance and Pool Repairs: These appear to overlap; looks like ($1,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amounts. (3) Lifeguard Payroll and Lifeguard Withheld Taxes: Looks like ($9,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amounts. (4) Alarm System Equipment: Looks like ($1,000) budgetary padding. If it is not, specifically justify the amounts. (5) Clubhouse Security: Seems this should be incorporated with Patrol budget. (6) Playground Maintenance/Repair: This level of expenditure will do nothing to support the children of 1200+ Parkwood families, given the out of safety compliance status of rundown nature of the playground facilities. f. Expenses, Committee Expense. (2) Social/Business/Recreation/Welcome: Need separate budgets. Recreation budget could be augmented by part of the probable budgetary padding ($43,000) indicated above as well as further augment the under funded reserves account. -------------------- It is also to be noted no goals, objectives, projects to undertake and complete were mentioned within this budget. This is a lot of money to consume in one year; wonder what it buys and is it what the Parkwood property owners want? Please add your comments, thoughts, ideas.

Three months after these questions were put to the Board of Directors we all received a well-written and reasonably well discussed response in the April/May 2009 Newsletter. I do not know about you, but I wish to study what was said and then will offer some thoughts here. It did seem some questions simply were not actually answered and the suggestion to actively employ the $43,000 "budgetary padding" seems to have been ignored. But, certainly the response does ask us to carefully study it and here might be a reasonable place for your comments to be made. Please add your comments, thoughts, ideas. It does see of late the Board has begun to "listen" and now is possibly a good time for us to express our thoughts and ideas.....

Here's a reply that suits today's HOAs. They're nothing more than cash cows for the management companies that pretent to do their job and an outlet  for people who want to play out their fantasies of being in charge of something they know nothing about through being an HOA board member. Don't think so, then just take a look around your community, and like other HOAs nearby you'll see a chronic lack of enforcement of the deed restrictions you're paying to be enforced to include junk cars, boats, trailers, lawns unmowed, rental properties that look like third-world huts, etc. HOAs have long passed their usefulness. It's time to think of another flavor of the week to deal with all of the irresponsible ilk in this city.

Well glad you are stepping up to the plate to take over... as for deed restrictions, take a look at both the community deed restrictions, and the country deed restrictions- they often supercede the HOA restrictions.  Just curious what you've done for Parkwood lately?