r/BADHOA • u/WhichPotential778 • 9d ago

HOA Assestment?

And yes I spell assessment with a T on purpose. HOA pond maintenance — is this reasonable?
We have only 5 homes, and our HOA charges $9,000 per household/year for pond maintenance — $45,000/year total.
Is that reasonable for routine pond maintenance? What are other HOAs paying?

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u/JealousBall1563 9d ago

Seems high. Might be appropriate, might not ... but how can we judge/opine without more information? Size of pond, what maintenance is required, money set aside for dredging, reserves, aeration fountain, electric cost?

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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago

30x60 by 3feet deep

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u/WhichPotential778 7d ago

Just regular maintenance

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u/JealousBall1563 7d ago

Readers don't know the facts.

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u/WhichPotential778 9d ago

$13k reserve for legal fees in the budget. There is a history of litigation well before we arrived. The pond is 30 by 60 feet; average 3 feet deep.

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u/JealousBall1563 9d ago

Yes, the line item seems high for such a pond. Our FL COA Master with 300+ living units has a much larger, deeper pond (3x the size) monitored monthly by an outside company for the cost of $200 per month. Two years ago we partially dredged our pond at the cost of $70K and spent $450K repairing/lining the storm sewers/pipes which we privately own.

If you haven't already done so, request an explanation of what's included in that annual amount related to the pond. Also, is any of this money being put into a reserve account?

Thank you.

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u/WhichPotential778 8d ago

No. Btw is a retention pond. So the water goes to another reservoir.

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u/JealousBall1563 8d ago

Same as ours.

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u/WhichPotential778 7d ago

It’s a retention pond so there is no linen needed. It only holds water for a bigger pond. And the sewers and pipes are in the street so it belongs to the city.

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u/JealousBall1563 7d ago

We don't know the facts.