The DBPOA is now under the management of the Association Management Company (AMC). 

What does this mean for the homeowners?

1. Our annual dues can be raised 20% EACH YEAR without homeowner approval from this point forward.  (In ten years, dues could reach over $150.00; and in twenty-five years, almost $2,400.00).

2.  We can be assessed up to 5% of the operating budget EACH YEAR without homeowner approval from this point forward.  Special assessments for extraordinary expenses by order of a court are NOT limited; such as any attorney fees awarded to a prevailing homeowner.  (We will still pay for the association’s wrongdoings, whether they win or lose...)

3.  We can now be foreclosed on WITHOUT the courts getting involved (non-judicial foreclosure).  If you do not pay your dues, in addition to paying accumulated late fees and interest, the final act after filing a lien is foreclosure.

4. You will pay for any requested association documents PLUS an additional $50/$95/$150 per hour for the time involved, depending on who at AMC is preparing them for you.  (Shown on the fee schedule on AMC’s website: www.assocmgmt.com ) 

5. Your dues will now pay AMC’s monthly fees, IN ADDITION to all other DBPOA expenses.  The association is non-profit; management companies are NOT.  Access to the Board of Directors will be limited (monthly meetings have been “dropped” and changed to quarterly); AMC will conduct the daily business.  Escrow fees will be higher due to AMC’s “middle man” involvement in the process.

Essentially, we have lost any homeowner input/control over what we are (legally) obligated to pay. 

This situation exists because the DBPOA Board of Directors, at a secret meeting on November 11, 2009, and without homeowner knowledge, passed a resolution to be governed by the Davis-Stirling Act.  Recently, the “new” DBPOA Board of Directors contracted for the association to be managed by AMC, once again without homeowner involvement.  Board member Bobbi Nugent did not approve either of the above actions because she felt they were not in the best interests of the community.

Prior to November 11, 2009, the DBPOA was governed by Non-Profit Mutual Benefit Corporations Codes only.  Under these Corporations Codes, the numbers one through five above could not have happened.

What are homeowners getting in return?  We have no common property.  We do not need a management company whose sole purpose is to manage common interest developments.  The streets, sidewalks and parks are county-owned and maintained and paid for with our taxes, as is our police and fire protection.  We now have a firmly entrenched “fourth” layer of government which supersedes Federal, State, and County.  We are no different from renters now.  Why own if someone else has the authority to dictate what your property can look like and how you can enjoy it, especially without getting anything in return, and you have to pay them to do this?  How well have our property values been maintained? 

It is time to take our community back!