Florida Statutory Fire Sprinkler, Handrails and Guardrails Retrofit

0714rj_feature1_img2I have posted the consent form (under the forms here on the website) that must go out to All PSH owners to opt-out of the Florida Statutory Fire Sprinkler, Handrails and Guardrails Retrofit.

Chapter 718.112(2)(l) now requires that for Condominiums constructed without sprinkler systems, handrails and guardrails must retrofit all units and condominiums structures UNLESS by a majority vote of all of the members they agree to forego the requirements to retrofit a sprinkler system, guardrails and handrails. The vote can be either at an association meeting or by written consent signed by a majority of the owners.

Since our association is essentially single floor units it does not make economical sense to spend $8,000 to $10,000 per unit to retro-fit a fire sprinkler system into each building. This FS was primarily aimed at multi story buildings.

Please fill out the enclosed consent form and either, hand deliver, email, fax or snail mail this form back to the office immediately.

Remember at the back of each building you will find a fire extinguisher in case of a fire emergency.

Congress weighs tax bill to help community associations

HARNEY_Kenneth_color32-335x0-c-defaultThey are a giant presence in American real estate, but they get short shrift in the federal tax code: the estimated 340,000 communities across the country that are governed by homeowners associations and are often subject to a form of double taxation.

Upward of 67 million people live in these communities — ranging from sprawling master planned subdivisions down to individual condominium or cooperative developments. As of 2014, they contained nearly 27 million housing units. Their homeowners associations often provide the functional equivalents of municipal and county services, and residents nationwide pay roughly $70 billion a year in regular assessments to fund road paving and maintenance, snow removal, trash collection, storm water management, maintenance of recreational and park facilities, and much more.

The same residents also pay local property taxes to municipal, county or state governments. But unlike other homeowners, only their local property tax levies are deductible on federal tax filings. Their community association assessments that pay for government-type services are not.

Now a bipartisan group of congressional representatives thinks that’s inequitable and needs to be corrected. Under a new bill known as the HOME Act (H.R. 4696), millions of people who live in communities run by associations would get the right to deduct up to $5,000 a year of assessments on federal tax filings, with some important limitations:

• Deductions would phase out if their incomes exceed $115,000 for single filers, $150,000 in the case of joint returns.

• The property would have to be their principal residence, not a vacation or rental home.

• To qualify for write-offs, the assessments would have to be “regularly occurring,” mandatory levies that directly benefit taxpayers’ properties and that exist solely because of their automatic membership in the homeowners association. 

The bill’s primary author is Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.). Co-sponsors include Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Barbara Comstock (R-Va.). Though the bill has little chance of moving through the House or Senate during this election year, it sends a message to the legislative committees now working on possible tax code changes for next year: Congress needs to acknowledge the role the country’s community associations play in providing municipal-type services. The way to do it is to allow deductions on a capped amount of the money residents are required to pay to support community services.

Proponents of the HOME bill say these assessments often enable local municipal and county governments to avoid having to raise property tax rates to pay for the infrastructure improvements and services many associations provide. Yet homeowners in association-governed communities pay local municipal, county or state property taxes on top of their association assessments, which can be substantial but cannot be deducted.

“It’s a fairness issue,” said Marilyn Brainard, a homeowner and former board member of the Wingfield Springs Community Association in Sparks, Nevada. “It’s also an affordability issue,” she told me in an interview, “especially for young, ‘starter’ families” and older residents on fixed incomes who sometimes struggle with rising taxes and assessments.

Some homeowners pay assessments for services to multiple associations, said Nancy M. Jacobsen, a consultant to homeowner-run communities in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. She said she knows of residents who pay local property taxes plus assessments for what are essentially municipal services to three or more different associations with none of the levies deductible on federal taxes. Some of these residents are economically-struggling families “who are saddled with excessive assessments,” and would greatly benefit from the ability to deduct them, said Jacobsen.

“This is a bill whose time has come,” says Andrew S. Fortin, senior vice president for Associa, a Texas-based company that manages 8,000 homeowner associations with 2.5 million residents. At the least, “it should start a dialogue on the contributions these (associations) provide” to local governments.

Dawn Bauman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Community Associations Institute, a trade group, told me the HOME Act may need some fine-tuning to clarify which assessment-funded services or facilities qualify as tax deductible. For example, private golf clubs that are closed to the public might not make the cut. 

So where’s all this headed? Assuming that the new Congress takes up tax code changes sometime in 2017, and the co-sponsors refile the bill and can muster grass roots support from the 67 million members of homeowner associations, there’s a chance it could end up in much larger legislation. Don’t bank on it. But it’s possible.

Kenneth R. Harney of the Washington Post Writers Group is a past member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council and is currently on the board of directors of the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Reach him at KenHarney@earthlink.net

Please contact your local congressman (women) to help get this passed.

A Word from our Association President

FullSizeRenderDON’T LAUNCH MISSILES AT YOUR NEIGHBORS

With hurricane season approaching its time to think about flying objects generated from your carport or patio.  Our rules state that all objects that could create a hazard to you or your neighbors must  be removed from these areas. While we don’t like to think about these potential disasters, we cannot afford to ignore them.

RODENTS

During the summer months we place rat poison in our sewer system, in an effort to keep these rodents at bay.

To avoid inviting these cuddly creatures to take up residence in your unit the following rule exists. If your unit is empty for more than 30 days, you are responsible for having someone turn on your water and flush the toilets. This must be done every 30 days that your unit sits idle. It’s also a good idea to cover your toilet bowls with plastic wrap and place a heavy object on the lid. This prevents the little darlings from poking their heads up and looking around.

On a more important note. I feel very strongly that the photo of me that Matthew placed on my blog is a poor representation of my good looks. I will be back in Florida at the end of the month and plan that all future presentations of me will not be frightening to Men, Women, and Children of all ages.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other.

See you soon

Tony

Grounds Beautification Committee

hg_garden_dirt1_032913_205183Rita Mixer & I would like to thank the Flea Market and the Association for their continued financial support to the various landscape projects throughout our community.

Our objective and commitment is to beautify the community of Palma Sola which comes from many years of gardening along with a long list of trial & errors.

We want to thank the owners who have gotten involved and asked us for advice to beautify their plantings around each of their units.

We do provide advice, specifically since Rita is an expert with a trained eye for making colors & plants blend. We do not dig or plant but place the plants where they will have the best effect and eye catching looks.

These owners say they have benefited from our help and have made some much appreciated donations to a flower fund which will be used to purchase short lived flowers for special occasions such as Easter – Christmas, etc. These plants will be placed around the clubhouse, gazebo & traffic triangle.

As with any garden committee, we could use extra help, specifically with watering of newly established plants and plants that flower. These  require additional watering. We have had volunteers who have helped while they were here, and we truly appreciated their help, but since they will be leaving to go home we would love it if people who are here year round could volunteer to help on a once a week rotation or whenever they can to help keep these plants watered.

We wish our seasonal volunteers a safe & wonderful summer and look forward to your help upon your safe return.

There are some nice projects we are planning & we hope that you will enjoy what we think will improve the grounds. Until then, we wish you a great summer and look forward to seeing you in good health upon your return.

Sig

PS. Please remember our Palma Sola Harbour Yacht Club Party coming up on Monday, the 4th of July hosted by Andy Andrusko.

Transfer Fees increased to $100

Matt's pict emailTransfer Fees increased to $100.

At a duly noticed Board meeting on 4.18.16 the Board voted on changing the fee for transfers from $50 to $100 in accordance with Florida Statutes 718. The vote was unanimous and would take effect immediately.

A word from our Association President

FullSizeRenderI would like to start our first blog web post by thanking everyone for their kind words and support as I take on the responsibilities of Association president. A shout out to Sig von Bargen and Judy Sullivan for help with this post and many more blog posts to follow. Check back soon!

One of the priorities of the board will be to improve the quality and timeliness of all our communications. Tentative Board meeting agenda will be published as early as possible, but due to unforeseen/unexpected circumstances, the final official agenda will be posted 48 hours before our meetings as per the Florida Statutes.

We are very fortunate to have a great Board and I look forward to moving our association forward. As I think about the future, I am excited about the possibilities we have as a community. We are blessed with an awesome location on the waters of western Florida. Working against us is the age of our units and the continuing need for more and more repairs and maintenance. The Association has worked very hard to maintain our properties:

– The landscaping looks better than ever….

– It appears that we have a fix for our roof issues….

– The roofs that are being replaced now do not have to be revisited for an extended period of time…

– We continue to murder termites at a record rate….

– Exterior painting continues….

– Sea walls are being repaired….

That’s a lot of good news. The plan we have in place now, barring any catastrophes, is to have all roofs and mansards completed in 12 years. It now appears that all this can be done without any special assessments. The question for us to ponder, is do we want to wait that long to have a modern facility which doesn’t have a patchwork appearance. I plan to hold an information sharing meeting to discuss this in the fall. In the meantime, snow birds, travel safely, and year- round residents, stay cool.

 Tony

Security Gate

The contract was was awarded to Liberty Gates, owner Mr. Ian McPherson at yesterday’s Board meeting. You can visit his website at www.libertygatesllc.com

Every PSH unit/owner will be supplied with Two proximity cards which will allow you to enter thru the gate at the main call box.

If you wish you may purchase a key fob or a garage door type opener or additional proximity cards you may do so. I will have the confirmed prices soon.

I expect the installation to start this month (May) and finish in June.

I will post updates as they happen!

Thank you.

Matthew

Special Owners’ Meeting, April 17th 2014

The membership voted to allow a security gate to be installed at the entrance of PSH Condos. It passed with 97 yes votes and the Putting Green passed with 87 yes votes.

We had a total participation of 154 owners voting by proxy and or in person.

I am happy that we had 154 out of 178 (three owners in foreclosure) voting.

At the annual meeting we had 151 owners participating. I am determined to get everyone to vote!! Maybe by the next Annual meeting.

Thank you to everyone who voted and helped make this Owners’ Meeting a success!

Matthew