Matthew Winton's Condo & HOA Blog

Cross-post - Estate Planning

Although this does not relate to community associations, the topic of good estate planning does relate to preserving community. Check out attorney Michael Clark's timely and authoritative articles on estate planning at www.okestateplan.blogs.com.

MLW

Budgets 101 - A FAQ

I recently received an email asking about associations and budgets. In Oklahoma, we have no community association-specific guidance from the legislature on budget requirements or how an association might formulate its budget.

If you are new to an association board or have questions about budgets as we enter into budget season, you might Download faq_budgets.pdf for some general tips and information.

Love Thy Neighborhood - August Schedule

In August, Love Thy Neighborhood (LTN) will be broadcast on two dates. The radio show devoted to the discussion of community association issues and questions will air on August 14 and August 21, on AM 1000 KTOK from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. On LTN in August, we will be discussing association financial issues, such as assessments, reserves, taxes, and collections. Tune in for the discussion and call in with your questions.

As a reminder, several weeks ago Georgie Rasco with the Central Oklahoma Neighborhood Alliance, Inc. was a guest on LTN. She discussed how her group helps associations with, among a multitude of services, placing thousands of dollars in grant money to associations for beautification and other projects. Deadlines for the grant applications are coming up, so be sure to contact her to see how your association may benefit from these programs. Visit the Neighborhood Alliance website or call Georgie at 405.528.6322.

Listener Question - Publication of delinquent dues names?

A couple weeks ago on Love Thy Neighborhood, the treasurer of a community association asked about whether the association should publish the names of delinquent dues owners within the association newsletter. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and my response was somewhat hurried.

While an association board could make the decision to  list the names of delinquent dues owners within the association newsletter, there is a method I have seen that in my opinion is preferable. Some associations provide members in good standing with small, tasteful signs to place in the owners' yards designating that the owner has paid their dues for the year. Another method commonly used is to publish the percentage of owners who have paid according to street or block.

I prefer these methods because they work to congratulate those who have paid their assessments rather than single out those who have not paid. For me, this passes the "does this promote community" test.

Records and Requests

Often, the issue of document retention and inspection arises within a community association.  An association board might consider the question from a business practices standpoint as well as an opportunity to provide a service to members. A clear document retention and inspection policy will be one that communicates the recordkeeping practices of the association and provides a member a reasonable outline for making a records request.

For a short article on the topic and a sample recordkeeping and request resolution, see this Article and Sample Resolution: Download 1.pdf .