Huntington Lake Section One Needs Transparency

 Compliance in business settings means following the law, agreements with customers, agreements with vendors, and engaging in generally accepted good business practices. Sometimes it seems like forcing compliance is picky, expensive, and annoying. However, it usually reduces business risk and saves money over time. One example of compliance is following correct procedures when doing work in condo apartments. It may seem easier and cheaper to get work done with unlicensed contractors and not get permits. However, as we have seen with the recent situation with the windows, this can lead to serious problems including higher costs and loss of money when a vendor does not deliver as promised. When making a contract with a licensed contractor, consumers can recover their financial losses from unfulfilled contracts from a state fund set up for that purpose. That is not availailable with unlicensed contractors. Also, when work requires a permit, a licensed contractor is required to pull it...

 This is the way I'm voting . I suggest you do the same if you want Huntington Lakes Section 1 to have good governance. You are allowed to vote for up to 7 candidates. You can vote for less than 7 candidates. Vote for only these 4 candidates to have the best chance of improving how the Association is run: Baltuk, Irma   Laufer, Howard   Levine, Howard   Martis, Valentine     

Was the non-compliant 5 Year Deficit Reduction Plan to eliminate the Condo 1 deficit by $30K per year for 5 years a success for 2022? Consider the following facts: The equity for Condo 1 reported in the December 2021 financial  report is minus $156,376.77.  $30K times 5 only comes to $150K. Oops! The 2021 audit done in 2022 required financial adjustments that showed Condo 1's equity at the end of 2021 to actually be $170,235. Bigger oops!! By the way, if you think we should unquestioningly obey our "professionals" it will interest you to look at these pages of the audit report (14-17 based on page numbers, pages 21-24 based on Acrobat counting the pages because of other documents before the report). Pages 14 and 15 are duplicates of pages 16 and 17. This is not a huge deal, but it tells us two things. 1) Even "professionals" can make stupid mistakes. 2) No Association officer read the report before it was accepted. The audit was never formally presented to the ...

Every January, the previous year financials are closed out and updated for reporting in the new year. A few routine things are supposed to be done to update the balance sheet and show the financial health of the Association and its two condos.  This shows you the starting surplus or deficit for the year among other things. It doesn't work right if Condo 1A's earnings are incorrectly used to reduce Condo 1's deficit instead of be kept for its own surplus. One of those things is, for each condo, transferring the net income from the previous year to retained earnings for the new year. This may sound complicated, but it is simple arithmetic. For January 2023, you just take the retained earnings from the December 2022   balance sheet and add the total net income for the year to that. It is done separately for Condo 1 and Condo 1A. That becomes the new retained earnings for the balance sheet in 2023. The retained earnings indicate the surplus or deficit each condo is starting the...

We all know that our Association insurance rates went up about 30% last year. When I was given the responsibility for maintaining Association buildings and elevators last year, I knew nothing about them. I had a lot to learn - and even more remains to be learned. A key thing I did learn: our buildings were in a higher risk category than their roofing justified. The good news is that we qualify for lower insurance rates when we renew in June - probably at least $100K. The bad news is that we didn't get the lower rates - about $250K less for last year - when we renewed last year in June. Being responsive to our insurance company's requests and proactively using preventive maintenance were all that was needed to get our buildings put into a lower risk category. This past November I learned that our insurance agent wanted to get a copy of our roof maintenance plan. I checked with our property manager and discovered we don't have one. I called our insurance agent to find out wha...

There are some who claim that Condo 1A needed to be special assessed like Condo 1 to pay for the increase in insurance rates in June 2022. The numbers say otherwise. The June 2022 insurance finance show the premium amount and finance charges for financing the insurance payments over a year. For commercial insurance, which condo associations use, payment for the entire year is due in advance. There are commercial finance companies that loan insurance customers the premium money which is then paid back over the term of the policy. The bills for our two policies are here and here . For your convenience, I put the numbers in a spreadsheet.  The total payment for Condo 1A without finance charges is $275,443.09. The spreadsheet also shows that if Condo 1A paid cash instead of using financing to pay for the insurance would have saved $6393.34. Condo 1A had a cash balance of  $ 410,900.94  which can be verified by checking the worksheet for June 2022 and the June 2022 financial ...

 No. They violate the state law and our by-laws.  Here is an email that notifies Mikhail Kleyman and Linda Leest of that when preparing the 2022 budget. They never went to the state to approve their plan, and did not get an attorney's opinion until the following year for the 2023 budget. My legally compliant deficit reduction plan of waiving reserves for the year as our primary way of balancing the Condo 1 operating fund is mentioned. Linda Leest did get our accountant to say in 2021 that it was okay to have the deficit reduction plan she wanted despite the obvious violation of state law and the by-laws. An attachment from the email is here . Here is the email where I bring up my concerns about the accountant approving deficit budgets. It also includes the email that approval was attached to as well as notification of the issue to our current treasurer. This email from the accounting firm contains the letter firmly stating that the previous advice about deficits was complet...

 Huntington Lakes Section 1 Association has been badly mismanaged. This is evidenced by deficits in Condo 1 and special assessments. Both indicate bad budgeting and poor financial planning. The purpose of this blog is to inform you of what is going on in your association based on verifiable facts instead of stories told by people who want to be on the board because they like running things their way. That is, without regard for the law, our by-laws, good accounting practices, good financial management, and respect for their fiduciary responsibility to owners. The deficit budgets we've had are illegal and against our by-laws. However, most board members don't care - they literally don't care even when informed of this. Instead of following the law, they seek questionable professional opinions to avoid following the law. These rules are designed to protect owners from boards financially ruining them. Breaking the law may seem like a good approach in the short run, but it lead...

Unfortunately, since the 2023 budget is too low, there will be cost overruns impacting both Condos. However, with Condo 1 bleeding out about $10K per month, by the end of March, Condo 1 will probably have a cash balance around -$90K until the maintenance fees for April 1 come in. Condo 1 owners should thank Condo 1A owners for the loan the board is forcing them to make. In my opinion, the budget was set by the board to win reelection rather than be realistic. Even if we are lucky enough to get the $96K income tax refund this year, it won't come close to covering the insurance shortfall of about $250K (without premium increase - about $350K with increase) plus about $140K in required elevator upgrades not in the budget. Also, the $23K AMR costs must be covered in the special assessment. All of these expenses were known to board members before the budget was complete or could have been projected for the budget to be realistic. However, that would have meant raising quarterly fees eve...

 The cash balance for Condo 1 at the end of December 2022 was about -$60K. Yes, negative $60K. Thank you to the owners in Condo 1A for supplying money for Condo 1 operating expenses. The details can be found in this Excel file that shows separate balance sheets for the two condos calculated from the monthly financial report. Here is the cash summary: Total Condo 1 Condo 1A Current Assets Valley Account $ 351,426.35 $ (59,474.59) $ 410,900.94 Southstate Account $ 127.54 $ 127.54 $ - Total Current Assets $ 351,553.89 $ (59,347.05) $ 410,900.94 After the January 2023 maintenance payments, Condo 1 will have a positive balance again until March. The cash deficit will be even higher then since the 2023 budget was done poorly and doesn't cover expenses. Of course, we won't see the March 2023 financial report until April 20,2023 which is well after the board election. Then the current board members who voted for the budget will, if reelected, probably be shocked and surprised at the u...

  Attention Condo Unit owners who wish to Pull their own construction permits.   Unfortunately, Condo owners are not allowed to pull their own permits unless they hold a valid Contractors License. According to the Palm Beach County permitting division when called on 1/25/2023 applications to have a permit for your own Condo unit made by a non-Licensed owner will be rejected. This is a policy that has been in effect for years.   Please Call the Palm Beach County Building Division at (561) 233-5130 to Confirm.   Palm Beach County Building Division County government office West Palm Beach, FL · Open 7 AM ⋅ Closes 5   PM (561) 233-5130

  Howard Laufer (Building 7) Candidate for Huntington Lakes Section 1 Board of Directors Thank you for taking the time to read this short Bio about me and why I am asking for your vote to become your representative as a Board Member.   I used to live up north in Whitestone Queens NY.   I moved to Huntington Lakes several years ago mostly to look after my parents who live in Section 5.   It seems every day there is another doctor that they need to go to and I am glad that I am here and able to help them. Why Choose me: I believe my background in Construction and Building Maintenance will be an asset to both you and our Condo Board.   I have owned and operated several businesses throughout my career including a Burglar Alarm & Fire Alarm company, and Building Construction Companies.    I have had many employees and clients and I have learned how to treat people with respect.   I have extensive knowledge using computer programs like Word,...

  Howard Levine Candidate for Huntington Lakes Section 1 Board of Directors   I’ve served on the board for the past two years as Treasurer and Chairman of the Building and Elevators Committee. I successfully supervised the 2020 audit and have been actively learning the Building and Elevator functions.   As a full-time resident of Huntington Lakes, I have a very strong interest in making sure that our community is well run with respect to providing the infrastructure and amenities we all want as cost-effectively as possible. We all want to enjoy living here and maintain our property values.   I’ve served on other boards with buildings, staff, and membership responsibilities. I am familiar with the need to plan for building and grounds maintenance for an organization. These boards also worked through personnel issues including pay, hiring, and firing.   In addition, I have an education allowing me to understand management issues and work to solve them. I h...

 Hello, we're glad you found this web site!  Howard Laufer and Howard Levine are running for the board. If elected, Laufer will be new to the board . Levine has already served on the board for two years as Treasurer and Chairman of Buildings and Elevators during that time.  We stand for transparency and sound management practices which we feel go hand in hand. Real transparency encourages good management and service to owners; good management is comfortable with transparency and owner participation. There is a "slate" of 7 candidates running for the board. Their focus is on collegiality and doing things the "Section 1" way regardless of the state law, our by-laws, or good management practices. We think that collegiality is excellent, but fulfilling our fiduciary responsibility to owners is more important . We also think the "Section 1" way of doing things has not been great for owners. It has led to bad budgets with resulting deficits, reduction of res...

Welcome! This is a place to find out about Huntington Lakes Section 1 Association issues. You can get straight information with sources to check things out for yourself. Transparency, honesty, and professionalism are what we want from our Association. This is a way for you to be informed about what is going on based on information you can verify. Board elections are coming up March 21, 2023.  There is an information session to ask board candidates questions on March 7, 2023 in the Section 1 Clubhouse at 10 am. That will be one way to learn about the candidates. You should get your ballot sent in by March 14 unless you will be dropping it off at the Annual meeting on March 21.  More posts will be coming out discussing Section 1 issues and items that may concern Section 1 owners. Feel free to talk to Howard Levine or Howard Laufer, two candidates for the board, when you see them around the area. We're looking forward to meeting everyone.