Coronavirus and HOA Dues

Hello. I tried to see if this was already a topic and couldn't find it, so here goes:

Coronavirus and mandatory MI State ordered shut downs have resulted in 2 full months, so far, of NO SERVICES. Even our property management company shut down except to receive dues via mail. Now we are facing no pools for the summer. We usually spend 100,000. for the pools in summer. Shouldn't the Board discount the dues for those losses of services?

What do others here think? Have you had these concerns? How have you handled this sort of consideration/or how would you handle this?

Thanks ahead for all who chime in.

According to the gut that maintains our pool it's costs just as much to keep the pool closed as it does open. Where I am everything is shut down during the winter and the pool is covered. He said that keeping the pumps off to long is not good for the equipment and too much dirt, slime, etc enters the water and deteriorates the walls of the pool.

Also, be careful what you ask for. Do you want them lowering fees when delinquencies may be on the rise?

$100,000.00 to service your pools just for the summer? Let's say you have pool service 3 times or more per week during the summer, with no activity that can be reduced to once a week.

I agree. Out of pure curiosity does a Board have the legal authority to lower regime fees temporarily?

No. What happens when you all need to raise the dues again in the future? You still have pool expenses. Just put the money into reserves. If it is earmarked for pool use, then use it to make repairs/improvements for that area. I would not reduce dues for short term issues. If this was a long term, (buried the pool under) then may be a different story.

First of, the MI governor is a FOOL. I am quite confident that the MI shutdown order did not include pool servicing companies and landscapers. These are critical business that provide a critical service to private communities. Our HOA saves only $1000.00 closing the pool for four months in the winter. It is not a significant savings to justify closing the pool for four months, but that is a different story all together.
During this shutdown, we still have regular landscaping, tho the pool cleaner only comes once a week to check the chemical balance of the pool.

Under no circumstance should you reduce assessments. You will have a little extra in the operating budget, so you likely won't have to raise assessments or not that much next year.

Have your owners consider this, If they had a pool and landscaping that they paid themselves. The pool still needs to be cleaned and maintained, otherwise the pool will turn green. The landscaping needs to be completed, because of weeds and overgrowth. The vendors need to be paid, regardless if it was individual or HOA.

Probably yes. This virus thing isn't over yet by a longshot, though. There could still be all kinds of economic hardship in the near future. I'd prefer sticking with the current budget and then re-evaluate at the end of the year. If there are funds left over from operations then the board can vote to do things like (a) add them to the reserves, or PERHAPS use them to defer some of the budgeted costs for next year's operations. I'd want to see the actual dollar amounts before doing anything, but a mid-year course correction now is probably not a good idea. There's a lot that could happen between now and the end of the year.

Roberta,

I wouldn't change anything, and you may want to check if you even could. Our by-laws state that we are to set an annual budget and collect based on that. Changing mid-year could cause all sorts of problems. We've taken the stance that anything that creates a profit gets rolled into the next year to offset new liabilities, and the next year would see a lower HOA fee for the year.

Let,

The governor did not allow landscapers to work from early April until this past Monday. Same with greenhouses, landscape supply, golf courses, and many other things. They were all deemed non-essential by her. Politics aside, this is what happened. Just wanted to clear up what was going on here.