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Forest Hill Homeowners Levy Surprise Fee
By Steve Lawrence 
January 4 the Board of Directors of the Forest Hill Homeowners Association increased members’ annual dues by 50%. Expenditures have been up for the past two years, and are expected to rise more in the future, according to the Treasurer and Board President. This year more than four times the budgeted amount has been spent on “Withholding and Employee Taxes.” The amount is more than the salary paid to the employee. No explanation was given at the meeting. More than $7600 was spent for unbudgeted “other professional services”. “Legal services” has overrun budget. Cash on hand is just under $209,000.
The Treasurer reported that during the last two years about $65,000 has been drained from Reserves. One of the reasons for the 50% increase in dues is to replenish Reserves. The other reason is that spending is expected to continue to rise.
Less than three years ago a new board was elected in what was then characterized as a revolution in the quiet Forest Hill neighborhood. That Board rode in on the horse of greater transparency and responsiveness.
Only two homeowner voices were heard questioning the Board’s unanimous decision to raise the annual dues. After dues are raised they cannot be raised again for five years.
February 2010
Forest Hill Assn. Responds
The transition between the prior Board and the new one was not as smooth as one would have liked. There were certainly hurt feelings and both of the Association’s employees resigned with the turnover of the Board. All of the Associaton’s bookeeping services had previously been provided by one of the employees who left, but after the 2007 election, one of the new Board members took them on. This was a mistake and several important functions were neglected, including the witholding of FICA and other taxes. We have since hired an accountant and a bookeeper to prepare our taxes and take care of month to month record keeping. The budget for last year contains the retroactive witholdings for 2007 & 2008 for several employees, which is why this line is disproportionate. Recent Legal Service expenses were above budget because we were named in a lawsuit between two property owners and retained counsel to protect the Association’s interests in the matter. Other Professional Services included design of our newsletter, one-time accounting tasks, and other similar items. We also budgeted contingency funds for unanticipated storm damage and Clubhouse repairs, not all of which was used.
These issues, and others, were discussed at our meetings in October, November and January. Some line items were over budget last year, but others were under budget. The current year’s budget is running close to our projections; in fact, spending is slightly less than that projected up to this point.
We do try to be transparent and we communicate regularly with our members via both electronic and regular mail. Three mail notices (One letter, two Newsletter articles) were sent between October and December about the proposed increase. These same notices also went by e-mail to those members who use it for communicating with us. A modest number of comments and questions, both pro and con, were received in that time period; only two people questioned the increase at the January meeting, another sent a letter endorsing the raise. People in the neighborhood appear to appreciate the work we are doing on their behalf and neighborhood spirit is high.
No one likes a fee increase, but this one was thoroughly noticed, discussed and accepted by almost everyone as necessary. At $.087 per square foot of property, most Forest Hill Association members will still pay under $400/yr. and consider it a good deal.
Editor’s note: Forest Hill is one of the only non-condominium developments in the San Francisco that has an active homeowners’ association requiring membership of all property owners and payment of an annual fee for maintenance of the planted common areas (wikipedia.com)
