Woody- get a life. It seems all you do is complain about every line item in the budget.  They have always listened, perhaps your abrasive manner makes it difficult for people to talk to you.

Ah Ha, here we are - seeking to disparage the messager and distract from the actual message! Please focus on the message: (1) The Board certainly can provide a proposed budget at each of its meetings where owners are invited and have the Board sit and listen to owner's views, allow at the annual meeting that owners vote on the budget they want instead of the Board of only three in secret create and approve their own budget. (2) When asked questions about these decisions made in secret in or about October and sent as a fait accompli in December each year - when the Board was asked questions in January and the requesting property owner has yet to receive answers from the Board (now July)! - consider the "better than thou" attitude this conveys to owners. (3) The recent "discussion" published in our newsletter touched on what the owner's questions were asking about - but the Board's responses did "talk past them" but did not answer them. (4) I invite the Board to be much more forthcoming than it has been historically in its minutes of annual meetings which exlude much owner discussion and/or fails to address many other questions which owners raise. The attempt to actually seek to discuss the budget topic was an interesting innovation - not observed in at least 11 years residing here - if the Board needs to be pushed and pushed to become responsive and open and communicative with the 1250 owners here - complaining about style is peripheral - the Board would do better by concentrating on content and answer the questions asked. (5) Could it be perhaps more new blood is needed on the Board to move off these past attitudes as represented in this individual's response?

To move forward, since soon we will be having our annual members meeting, and the Board will show us the OLD budget of Jan-Dec 08 and how that money was spent and a little about the CURRENT budget of Jan-Dec 09, wouldn't it be much, much better for the Board to show to us property owners the NEXT budget proposal BEFORE there is any Board vote on it??? Historically the Board does not even have on the agenda of the official meeting a discussion of how the members expect the $300,000 in revenues spent for the next year. We do not even hear any or much explanation about how CURRENT moneys are being spent and what objectives they are intended to meet and what moneys are available for sponsoring social events and retiring the debt owed from the operations account for the capital reserve account (to save to pay for future maintenance repairs and replacements, currently greatly UNDERFUNDED). So it seems just the right time for the Board to "show its cards" and give the 1254 members the public and direct opportunity to have the Board explain how it intends to spend our money and permit us to discuss and VOTE on those questions FOR in order to GIVE the Board instructions on use of those funds, on what projects we want to be accomplished. Airing these important questions in this public forum, which I have not seen done in 11 years, would make having this annual meeting important for ALL property owners to attend and speak their mind. Any one out there in Parkwood paying the annual maintenance fee have ideas of things we could use, like a basketball court? Like free and frequent access to OUR community center for social activities when we want to have them? Like new picnic tables around the pool area? Like ice cream and drink vending around the pool area? Like extended night hours for the pool into the late fall? Etc? Etc?

Woody, I agree with you completely.  The mismanagement of the association is horrendous.  During the meeting in September nothing was accomplished except dodging questions regarding why the budget for 2008 was so wishy-washy 9 months later and they still didn't know exactly how much was spent and earned.  All of that should be finalized in Januray of the following year.  They'll likely do it again this year.  For me, it looked like someone's skimming off the top somewhere and shifting numbers to cover it all up.  It's only a theory but something's going on beond poor management and it all needs to stop.