Board action...No explanation
"Effective Monday, April 6th, 2020 we are suspending the 3% charge for credit card payments until this pandemic is declared officially over"
The above statement appeared in the current Weekender.
As with most actions taken by this Board, there was no explanation as to why this action was taken. They leave it up to the members imagination to figure out why. Then they get their nose all bent out of joint and accuse everyone of starting rumors. Facts prevent rumors. How many members are even going to see this "announcement" in the Weekender? Last time I looked, a change in policy requires a Board vote. I am not saying that this is a wrong thing to do, but I do question the procedure and reason. I don't think they even know how many are reading the Weekender. I can tell you on my little blog, exactly how many are looking at it past, and present and the time. Do they have any way to know their message is getting out there?
The first "assumption" I would make is that there is a problem with members paying their dues and assessments. If that is correct, then we do have a problem. This is a "fact"..Our spending budget is based on projected income from dues and assessments. While I don't have the current numbers, a few years ago, 600 members were making payments. I have no idea what it is now.
With this current temporary change, you can pay with everything except that thing called cash.
I am sure that like me, most of you pay everything from your computer on line. Many of us even have an automatic deduction from checking and/or savings accounts.
Surfside is so far behind on technology, it is laughable. We look like some back woods still operation. Maybe, just maybe, we should start a tech committee to get us at least up to the 20th century, and once we have that, we could move forward into the 21st.
We should be set up for monthly payments that would be done automatically or the members could submit themselves. That could even make it easier for members to swallow with a yearly budget increase. A raise of two dollars a month, sounds a lot better than 24.00 a year.
Back to the "rumor".."I hear Surfside is having financial problems". "Better get out of there before they go broke". Hell, for all we know, that could be true.
4 comments:
I guess we could look on the surfside homeowners Facebook wall, that seems to be the place where things are posted! They could have clarified why the fee was being waived to encourage members to use a credit card if they wanted too!
For members who pay their annual dues and assessments in installments, this could mean a savings of $6 a month. It's not insignificant, but putting a moratorium in place on issuing of tree compliance demands is the right thing to do, as everyone's incomes are severely impacted. This is a huge and unnecessary expense for everyone who has trees on their lot. (big mistake right ?)
Other issues constitute about 2% of the total compliance issues, and many require little cost on owner's part. So other enforcement might continue as usual.
Woops. Meant to say $1.50 per month, or $3/bi-monthly times 6, $18/annually.
Yes, that is a real significant break for members. I "just have to criticize every thing they do". It is because nearly everything they do is screwed up. This Board and the General Manager just do not have the ability or experience to manage an organization with a budget of over a million and a half dollars. It has been nothing but one screw up after another. It is big things, not just little things that I am nit picking. They are screwing with the lives and property of the members.
There is no acceptance of any responsibility. There is not even an attempt to correct mistakes. It just continues on with the same old, same old, day after day, month after month.
Most of our problems are problems we have made ourselves. I have been saying this for years..."fix it, or get rid of it". We need to get the right people who are willing to admit that we need real experienced professional help. What we have now, are the problem, not the solution. Until these people wake up, we are doomed to continue down the path of destruction. The members deserve better than this.
The members need a break for sure, and it is not the price of a doughnut and a cup of coffee each month. Is that the only good news to report? Just my two bits worth of opinion.
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