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Q. I am a member of a homeowners’ association (HOA). Recently a letter written by the president of our board was sent to all owners. The letter pertained to a common area property that was deeded over to our community many years ago by the original developer. I have a question regarding a sentence in the letter that states the following: “I successfully petitioned the Property Appraiser’s Office to reclassify the property from commercial property to common area, thereby eliminating the property taxes that the homeowners’ association has paid in the past. This has resulted in the elimination of the taxes paid in past years.” How are property taxes eliminated? Is this a correct statement? — M.S., Ft. Lauderdale

A. Your president is correct and to be congratulated for saving the association future property tax savings. The source is FS 193.023(5) wherein it says that any parcel of an association having common elements jointly owned by the owners shall be assessed by applying the values to the owner’s property and its fractional or proportionate share of the appurtenant common elements. To put it in lay language, the value of each home is increased by the common element value and thus must pay more for the increased values. In other words, if a similar home is moved to an area that does not have common elements, the value would be less. The reason behind this statute exemption is that if common elements are taxed, it can be assumed that the property is double taxed.

Q. Our condominium board president has taken on a lot of the duties of a property manager. He recently posted a sign going into the swimming pool stating “No food or beverages allowed in pool area” and additionally stating it was against the law to allow food. Glass can be a hazard, but can drinks and food be considered illegal? Seems a stretch to me, and we would love to know before the next board meeting. Also, the pool area has picnic tables. — M.C., Ft. Walton Beach

A. Two of the sources for Florida swimming pool operations are FS 514 and the Administrative Code Section 64E-9.008. There it notes that a sign should be posted restricting food and drinks on the pool deck. I would suggest that you contact your county health department about this question and any other special restrictions you may encounter. As for the picnic tables, maybe they can be moved off the pool deck away from the pool. I suggest that maybe the county pool inspector required a sign be posted and the president was only correcting the deficiency.

Q. A large surplus from last year’s budget was not spent. Our board refers to these funds as a budget surplus. What happens to these funds? Are they returned to the owners? Can they be credited to the upcoming budget? Can these funds be spent on other expenses? — W.I., Davenport

A. In FS 720 (HOA statute) there is limited information, but FS 718 (condominium statute) does expand on how to handle surplus funds. While it could be returned to the members, I do not recommend the returning of the funds because of the expense of preparing and delivering checks and the bookkeeping involved. I would rather see a credit against next year’s budget which would in effect lower your fees. If a situation arises that requires extra expenses not listed in the budget, the surplus could be transferred to pay for the unexpected expenses. Some boards so move to transfer the surplus to the reserves. There is a point here that most owners and directors do not understand. That is, that the fees paid, the association’s collections, and the assets of the association, are each owner’s pro-rated possession. In other words, the funds are owned by each owner/member in their share percentage. If the budget has a surplus or a shortfall, each owner is accountable for their share of the surplus or the shortfall. It is not a case where the funds disappear.

Q. Our board is attempting to be more efficient in the way we notify our members with the newsletter and other forms of communications. The consensus is that electronic messaging is the best way to go, but many members fear their e-mail addresses will then be accessed by disgruntled members, spammers and solicitors. I have searched the statutes, journal articles, books and even did a Google search trying to get an answer on how to get the cooperation of unit owners to agree to furnish the association with their e-mail address, find a suitable permission form for them to submit to our office, and mostly, how to provide security of their information. What do you suggest we do? — M.N., Crystal River

A. Ever hear the expression that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot get him to drink? Well you have the same situation. Keeping in mind that not all owners have access to the Internet, you need to have some alternate way to communicate to these owners. I would send a letter to all the owners explaining the cost of communications and that the board would like to provide the information by e-mail. Have the owners return the letter with their e-mail address and approval to communicate association newsletter via the Internet. For those who do not have a computer or do not return the letter, send them the newsletter by other methods and explain the cost in each issue and the saving by e-mail. An alternate way is to create a community news channel on your cable system or a Web page, but I have found that many owners will not go to the Web page to read or listen to the news. So I do not recommend this as the primary way to communicate. I guess you will never get away from the printed newsletter because a few owners will never convert to the new media.

Richard White is a licensed community association manager in Florida. Questions should be mailed to him at 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd. # 201, Winter Haven, Fl. 33884-4415; e-mail CAMquestion@cfl.rr.com. To be considered, questions and comments should include the author’s name and city. Questions should be about association operations, not legal matters.