Waving portion of HOA dues

We do not do this in our community as that is a form of compensation.

First off, the answer is no! Unless it's in your governing documents, which it isn't, then assessments are handled uniformly across the board.

What would they get paid and for what? Let's say the HOA has a management company handling the day-to-day affairs and the Board does nothing but show up to a meeting once every three months?

If you feel you deserve a paycheck, then you could go self-managed, change your governing documents, get 100% approval from homeowners and lenders.

never heard of waving dues

have heard of waving balls

RicardoH, first, I have seen Bylaws that permit the membership of a HOA or condominium to approve compensating directors. Second, and on the other hand, if a director is compensated, she or he loses the protections of the federal Volunteer Protection Act, 42 U. S. C. 14503. See https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/14503 . Third, according to the California law firm that runs the Davis-Stirling information site, paid directors also cannot be covered by D&O insurance. See https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/Paying-Directors . To me, nominal compensation of say a couple thousand dollars per year, or more meaningful compensation of say $50k per year, may not be enough to give up the latter protections. Homeowners' association lawsuits run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars frequently enough.

On the other hand, I see your point. Not paying meaningful compensation typically yields incompetent volunteer directors.

our allows for board members but not for officers. We wave the yearly dues for all board members by a vote during our first member meeting. All , have do always voted yes. Mostly cause no one really wants to do it but we can usually scrape 5 together. and plus side is we don't pay for a management company which would charge us double what we wave.

BADDDDDD IDEA!!! Here is the deal. If you wave dues, that is less money for the HOA. A HOA is ONLY funded by it's members for it's members. That is less "income" for the HOA. HOA's are typically VOLUNTEER with liability insurance to protect board members.

Now here is the bigger issue. You get a ticked off board member. They decide out of "Protest" they aren't going to pay their dues till XXX is fixed. Well the HOA should place a lien for those not paying dues at a set point. (We do at 6 months behind). Well if they are "forgiven" those 3 months, then you can't add those months to the lien amount owed.

You CHOOSE to VOLUNTEER to be on your HOA board/officer because you have an invested interested in doing so. If your not doing it because you want to be there, then just don't. It doesn't help anyone if your heart/brain isn't in the game.

See:

VOLUNTEER PROTECTION ACT OF 1997

Depositing Employment Taxes from the IRS

Understanding Employee vs. Contractor Designation from the IRS

No One Has Time to Volunteer for HOA Board -- Can We Pay Them? from Nolo

Why Paying Your HOA Board Members is a BIG Mistake from a HOA management blog

Should Board Members Receive Compensation? from an attorney site

How about a different approach?

- Start with a list of potential candidates.
- When a seat becomes available (board or committee), the next person on the list gets that seat.
- If that person doesn't want to take the position, he or she can pay $200 (or some other amount) to buy their way out of the obligation.
- If someone buys his or her way out of serving, then the responsibility goes to the next person on the list.

Does anyone think an arrangement like that could work, assuming of course that it doesn't violate the CC&Rs in some way?

Not really. I can hear the yelling now - I'm not gonna pay jack (the fees are already too damn high and now you want more???) And I ain't gonna serve because I don't wanna and you can't make me! What do you do then - or everyone offers to pay to get out of serving? Mandatory service doesn't guarantee you won't wind up with a blithering idiot or maniac (or both!)

That said, several years ago an HOA attorney (from somewhere in Florida, I think) did an article on getting board members and floated the idea of making board service mandatory for all homeowners, similar to having to go to the courthouse when you're called for jury duty. Unlike jury duty, you could pay not to play, as it were, but on the other hand, if people really feel it's important to get fresh blood, but no one's willing to step up, maybe mandatory service could result in some people actually liking the job. If not, you have a ready supply of homeowners (unless most of them are out of state investors) and maybe some of them would calm down upon getting on the board and seeing how challenging the position really is.

After 10 years on the board, I learned that people don't always care about certain issues the way you think they should, just as you may go "meh" to whatever floats their boat. I think board service is something you really need to want to do, but you have to protect youself against burnout (I learned that the hard way). In your case, reducing the number of board members could be an option, and you should also consider if perhaps all of you are trying to do too much. If you don't have a property manager, maybe it's time to consider hiring one to handle the day to day operations and the board can address the big picture items. Of course, that will cost money (and higher assessments), but that may be better than putting on someone who's only useful for fogging a mirror

No. No and no. Just to be clear the answer is NO! This shouldn't even be considered. Nope. No. and No.