Theft of HOA Funds

Is your HOA protected against theft? You may not think it could happen but it is more common than you think. Below is the beginning of an article which is linked on HOAtalk.

DARCO has elimated the possibility of theft by our Management Agreements. We will not be signees on accounts and will not write checks. We handle accounts payable by receiving invoices and confirming they are correct, we prepare checks and provide them to the Treasurer for signing, and we mail payments. We accept only payments for assessments which are made out in the name of the HOA and these are deposited in the HOA's account. T

These procedures do not prevent theft by Board members who are the only signees on financial accounts. Protection is provided by fidelity (theft) insurace.

2 indicted in embezzling case
By Beth Musgrave
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
A Georgetown man and a Florence woman were indicted last week on charges of embezzling more than $135,000 from at least a half-dozen homeowners associations.

Michael Kirk Byars of Georgetown and Catherine W. Baer of Florence were indicted on charges of wire and bank fraud late Friday. Byars and Baer worked for Association Management and Consulting Services of Georgetown.

William, for small jobs having the PM do maintenance is often the best choice. I write this option into our Agreements with a stated per hour charge. For larger project sealed bids can be obtained and should opened in the presence of the Board to provide oversight.

For those who wonder where is the breakover between small and large jobs, that can be established by:
a)will three contractors give you a bid;
b)does it cost more to get the bids than the effort justifies; and
c)is there a time restriction which will not allow the time necessary for a bid process.

Wanna have some fun be the treas in a complex of 305 homes ina hurricane belt where there are no contractors available to do much of anything its if you can find someone to do it and the price is not too far off base do it period. I usually post the board with a email to wait a month for a meeting is a disaster.
Wilma did a lot of urban renewal in our area of florida yes we still have stuff still not fixed everything takes time and the season has just started again and we are about to loose the best gov florida ever had. Yuk on term limits