Get Your 2024 Dues Invoice?

Did you receive your notice for your HOA dues? 

Before you mail your check, be sure to learn the correct P.O. Box number.

Did you read the information carefully? Look at the 2024 Budget?

Below is my email to the President of CAMS, Dave Orr. He'll know my name from previous emails.

I sent copies to one of his executives (Ronda Bossert), Angela Adleman, five of the HOA board members (I don't yet have email addresses for Tommy Williams and Patricia Pollin (who were appointed in December to replace Greg Thomas and Vernell Butler), and the members of the Finance Committee (except Brent Mikula, CPA, whose email address I don't have yet).

Mr. Orr,

The homeowner with whom I reside in The Summit, Columbia, S.C. received her 2024 dues notice this week.

On your website you announce that CAMS is 
"... an industry leader in community association management. CAMS is an AAMC, Accredited Association Management Company, which ensures your HOA that our team has the experience, knowledge and specific industry expertise needed to provide the highest level of service and trusted guidance to your community. Our community management team is made up of local experts available in each of the areas we serve throughout North and South Carolina." [emphasis added]

With those thoughts in mind, I read the dues notice and immediately wondered why CAMS tolerates the errors in that communication. Over the past five years I have expressed to the HOA and to you many criticisms of HOA management.

The errors in the cover letter start with the first sentence. The statement is for the homeowner's semi-annual assessment - singular, not plural.

¶2 How does one order a BillPay payment through his bank and include the coupon at the bottom of the Account Statement? Did no one think about that?

If payments are to be made to the lockbox in Phoenix, why does the coupon at the bottom of the mailer's cover page (to be placed into the front of the enclosed envelope) show a street address in Wilmington, North Carolina?

The Account Statement page (invoice) directs the homeowner to mail his check to PO Box 98139. Why does the cover letter direct payments to P.O. Box 938139? Which P.O. Box number is correct?

The cover letter states the payment is due February 15, late after March 15.

¶5 says "Payments received after the due date are considered late..." and will be assessed late-payment penalties. February 15 is the Due Date. Are penalties assessed for payment after February 15 or after March 15?

The Account Statement (invoice) states the Due Date is February 15. At the bottom in italics, it reads "Payments received after 1/31/2024 increase to $280.00"

Why doesn't the cover letter include information about paying in the office and getting the ID card updated?

How did such errors occur? Did anyone on the Finance Committee or the Treasurer of the HOA examine the materials before they were mailed out to 2,480 homeowners? CAMS should bear the expense of corrective notification to homeowners, not The Summit's HOA (unless a designated board member or committee chair proofed the mailer and approved it).

Didn't CAMS provide "expertise" to the HOA on how to avoid a $27,799.97 deficit in the 2024 Budget?
Why hasn't CAMS urged the HOA to correct Line 6005 in the Budget? It is not On-Site Maintenance; it's On-Site Management!
Why hasn't CAMS corrected Line 6000, "Management Fee's"? (typo)

I do not request a reply, but I hope the Board of Directors will expect one.

Sincerely,

Gus Philpott

P.S. Notes to HOA: 

Please forward this email to Directors Tommy Williams and Patricia Pollin and to Finance Committee Member Brent Mikula, CPA.

1. The November 7, 2023 Minutes report that a contract was signed with CAMS for $69,999.96. Why is Line 6000 in the Budget $52,499.97? 
2. Why did Line 6005 increase to $150,000. I thought office staffing was being reduced.

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