Compensation for Volunteers

I would be very, very, wary of "forgiving dues" to the point of telling you not to do so. There are a number of downstream consequences which could wind up costing you far more than what you realize in savings.

If you wish to hire an owner as a 1099 contractor, that is a much better process to follow. Some thoughts:

-ensure the person is bonded
-ensure the person is self-insured
-consult with the association attorney, insurance agent, and CPA
-ensure the Association has a Workers Compensation insurance policy
-determine your alternatives if the person retained becomes ill, injured, goes on vacation, etc.
-have a written agreement which describes the scope of work to be performed, the schedule, responsibility for damages, etc.
-the agreement must specify which party is responsible for the equipment used to perform the work
-use a bidding process rather than simply awarding the contract to one party or the other

Remember, this person is an Association contractor who happens to be an owner in the Association. He or she should be 'managed' as is any other contractor with no special favors or considerations given because he or she is an owner, including the communications process between the owner/contractor and other owners, the Board, and the property manager if you have one.

Hi Walter,

The second option may be the safer option. I can see how waiving HOA fees for a few individuals may create issues among other homeowners. It could be a slippery slope. If you do want to proceed with the first option, speak with an attorney first.

No nay never to owner/volunteers and forgiving dues payments. I suggest you shop for a less expensive landscaping company. Never let anyone work on your property that is not licensed and insured. You are asking for trouble with everything you suggest.

As others mentioned, you can't forgive assessments, and if you pay them for the work, it's not volunteer work and you get into employment and tax considerations. Suggest looking for a small licensed/insured landscape operation located in very close proximity to your HOA . . . especially since you may have other landscape requirements beyond grass cutting.

The most workable situation would likely be a person/people actually volunteering their personal time to cut the grass for nothing other than the satisfaction of making it look good and saving their entire HOA money. The only money they could receive (if permitted by your docs) is reimbursement for money spent doing the work (e.g., gas for mower, mileage reimbursement to/from gas station, etc.).

While hiring a licensed/insured service provider is the best scenario, there may be ways to lessen the HOA's exposure and liability if a homeowner volunteer were to cut the grass. Maybe HOA buys all necessary PPE and volunteer signs something saying they will use the PPE, that they'll operate equipment IAW manuals, etc. Also some sort of liability release could be signed. Training could be paid for by HOA. I know we're only talking about grass cutting, but if this is done, you should limit all possible liability to the lowest possible factor. And consult with a lawyer on how best to execute.

HOA could/should also look into supplying and maintaining the equipment used (so it's not someone's personal equipment).

You could even investigate robotic mowers. Someone maybe just needs to stand by and watch the mower do its thing. But then someone has to handle, and recharge the mower too. Logistics considerations there as well.

One more reason for not compensating volunteers:

Volunteers for nonprofit organizations are protected by the Volunteer Protection Act, which means that they are not liable for harm caused by an act or omission of the volunteer on behalf of the organization or entity. If you pay them, they're no longer volunteers and lose these important protections. And waiving assessments is a hard "no". Assessments are spelled out in your CC&Rs, which form part of the contract people signed when they bought their home. The board has no legal authority to change this.

Right now you have a budget problem. You can: 1. do a better job of getting competitive bids; 2. reduce the amount of work you expect the lawn care service to perform in order to lower costs; and 3. raise your assessments to where they need to be to pay the bills.

As others mentioned, there are real issues with using volunteers to perform manual labor. The big one is the liability the HOA incurs. In order to address this properly, you would need to boost your insurance coverage and that costs money - which is counterproductive if you're attempting to address a budget shortfall.

Volunteers are also unlikely to give you professional quality work. Reputable lawn care services will provide some types of guarantees or warranties with their work. If things aren't done satisfactorily, you can get them back to re-do things at their expense. If you tell a volunteer that his work isn't up to snuff, he may well tell you to stuff it. And volunteers tend to get to things on their own schedules, unlike lawn care services that will sign a contract for a certain number of grass cuttings, lawn treatments, and the like.

You can probably tell that I'm not a fan of using volunteers for things like this. Our current board is using volunteers to supplement the work of the lawn care company, and the community is beginning to look like it. There is also the practical issue of getting enough volunteers and getting them to commit to a regular schedule. Most people don't move to HOAs (and especially COAs) with the goal of doing yard work.

Bite the bullet and do it right.

Thanks everyone. No arguments here. We'll pay an insured contractor, and maybe look for a cheaper one.

I'd do 2. Have the board approve the arrangement with disclosure in the board minutes that the arrangement is with a HOA member, and have the board minutes state (if it's true) that the arrangement is no less favorable to the HOA than an arm's-length deal would be. Then it's fine.