Let the Sun shine on Leisure World
Here’s another appreciative acknowledgement of the Sun News.
The Sun Newspaper has a very appropriate name because the news throws light onto many items being reported therein.
As a shareholder/member of Leisure World, I would like to thank the Sun News for its reporting of very important events in Leisure World.
I can remember when J. Figueroa was on the staff and he came to Leisure World to witness a Mutual Corporation Bylaw change in 2002.
Also, thank you for the Sun News Leisure World edition. Since that edition is sent through the mail, many shareholder/members take notice and read the reporting.
Keep allowing your light to shine about Leisure World.
The Golden Rain News seems not to want to report ALL of the news to the residents of Leisure World. Keep on—keeping on!
Carol Franz
Seal Beach
GRF is responsible for property tax penalty
I called Tax Collector Sheri Friedenrich on June 6, and had a lengthy conversation with her.
First, I have to say she was a pleasure to speak with and had infinite patience in explaining what she must have had to repeat many times over.
Her position is an elected office. She does not report to the Board of Supervisors, but to the public of Orange County.
The board cannot authorize her to do or not do anything; her job is to uphold and enforce the tax laws under which she operates.
She cannot go outside the boundaries that establish the duties of her office. Any “bending” of the law to somehow excuse us, would be ultimately unfair to any and all other taxpayers who might have some sort of problem in getting their taxes paid on time. There are specific definitions of excusable delays…and they are exclusive. Other than those defined, there are none!
She has great sympathy/empathy for the victims here, the residents who paid their taxes on time, but her dealing is with the GRF, the agency we have hired and charged with taking care of our business matters, including paying our taxes. She reminded me that tax bills are mailed in very early in the year, with a due date well in advance of the penalty date. She said most people don’t have any problem getting their payments in on time.
She suggested to me that our source of redress should be to have our agents, GRF, absorb the penalty, without passing it on to us. She pointed out that if we have some sort of contract with them, they should be held for failing to perform according to their obligation.
We should let them go ahead and use our reserve fund to pay the penalty, then we should withhold any fee we pay them for their services, and use that money to rebuild the reserve fund until the penalty amount has been paid back.
She also mentioned that there is one further administrative appeal that is possible, but suggested that it would be costly, requiring that attorneys be hired, and that it is really not directly pertinent to this situation, and not likely to be successful.
In the end, I came away impressed by her, and convinced that she is sincere, quite competent, and has expended every effort to avoid imposing the penalty.
It just comes down to the incompetence, ineptitude and inexcusable error of our hired agents, GRF.
Philip Friedman
Leisure World
Response to Philip Friedman’s letter
Thank you Philip Friedman for contacting OC Tax Collector Sheri Friedenrich and sharing results of that conversation with us. This is more than the GRF has done!
I agree 100 percent with Sheri Friedenrich’s suggestion that our source of redress should be to have our agents, GRF, absorb the penalty without passing it on to us; they should be held accountable for failing to perform according to their obligation.
Use reserve funds to pay the penalty and then withhold fees for their services to recover the cost of the penalty. At a previous GRF Financial Committee meeting, I brought up a way that reserve funds could be recovered following the payment of the tax penalty. I explained that “in the real world” when additional funds were needed to operate schools, cities, etc., a method of furlough (off without pay) days was used.
I gave examples of my children and grandchildren:
• A daughter working for the Yorba Linda School District as chairperson of the science department was given (along with all employees) five furlough days during school year 2010/1011; beginning in September 2011 it will be increased to eight furlough days. (On a furlough day the entire school is closed and employees are not paid.)
• A son working in mental health as a supervisor for county of L.A. had his (along with others) salary reduced by 10 percent
• A son-in-law working as chief of a department for city of L.A. was given one furlough day a month
• A granddaughter who is a lawyer working for the city of L.A. was given each Friday of the month as a furlough day
• Have you ever tried to renew your Driver’s License on a Friday? The DMV is closed because of furlough days; their employees’ pay has been cut by that amount.
I suggested that furlough days could be used for all those (perhaps the entire department) who were involved in the mistake of the late payment of taxes until such time as the money was replenished in our reserve fund.
The chairperson of the committee did not agree, saying that employees’ salaries had been frozen for the last two years and they had suffered a reduction in benefits. I answered back that not only had my children/grandchildren’s salaries been frozen for the last two years or more, but they also were given furlough days!
I ask GRF to at least consider my suggestion. It would certainly bring peace and good will to those living in Leisure World. Or, can GRF come up with a better solution that does not penalize the shareholders?
Lucille Martin
Leisure World
Object lesson
It may be too late for Mutual 5, but, perhaps some other unaffected LW Mutuals can observe and learn an object lesson.
Almost a year ago, our Mutual Board of Directors was elected from parcel nominees, as it has been ever since I’ve lived in LW (from 1995). An incumbent candidate that I and the Mutual electorate majority did not re-elect was able to regain a position as a director upon an immediate resignation by a duly elected board member. Procedurally, I believe the resigning director should have been replaced by the second-place candidate from the same parcel.
Nevertheless, nearly a year later this current Board has put to a popular vote to replace parcel representation with “at-large” candidates.
Personally, I would rather take my chances for fair debate and an “all-sides” evaluation of issues or proposed changes from parcel candidates than from a gang of “at large” ideologues who may have some kind of a group-think agenda.
Mitzi Winks
Mutual 5
Delinquent tax penalties require action by voters
May 10, 2011 had been announced by President Bruce Smith as the date for a Special Meeting of the GRF Board of Directors. After giving notice of the meeting to consider facts related to the late payment of mutual property taxes by the GRF Accounting Department, Smith cancelled the meeting a day later at the urging of Clarence Fuqua, Tom Barratt and Shirley Reimers. The facts that they did not want brought before the full board of directors are as follows:
All shareholders pay their proportionate share of property taxes to their mutual on a monthly basis. The GRF Accounting Department is supposed to deposit these tax collections into a restricted account until it is time to write a tax payment check to the Orange County Tax Assessor/Collector.
These routine tax payments are due to be paid to Orange County every six months.
The most recent payment of property taxes for all Seal Beach mutuals to be delivered by the GRF Accounting Department were due in February 2011. Late payments could have been accepted without penalty up until the delinquent date of April 11, 2011. The payments were not mailed until April 13, 2011.
Now the mutuals are faced with an additional expense of more than $230,000 in penalty assessments for delinquent payment.
Mutual CFOs were made aware of the late tax payment only after receiving “past due” notices from the county tax collector. Such a notice prompted one CFO to question GRF Controller Rodel Ual at the April 25 meeting of the Leisure World CFO Council regarding the late payment of the taxes. Until then, not anyone in GRF had acknowledged that property taxes had been mailed after the delinquent date. When asked why these tax payments were paid late, Controller Ual explained that the accounting staff member responsible for remitting them had simply forgotten that the tax payments were due.
Upon learning of the late tax payment situation from a friend who had attended the April CFO Council meeting, David Lyon noted what had been related from the meeting.
On Thursday, April 28, when it was seen that the Golden Rain News issue delivered that morning had failed to report on the matter, Lyon informed the members of the Concerned Shareholders of Leisure World with what was then known in an email message. Only after learning of the email exposing the late tax payment did GRF Administrator Dan Schaeffer inform the GRF Board of Directors of the situation on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
After learning of the facts concerning GRF administration’s failure to pay the Mutuals’ property tax assessments on time, three mutual presidents sent letters to GRF President Bruce Smith on Thursday, May 5, 2011.
The letters demand the “firing of Administrator Dan Schaeffer for cause” and call for removal of Mutual 15 representative Tom Barratt as finance committee chair.
Mary Milhone, Mutual 2 representative on the GRF Board of Directors, found the letters from the presidents of Mutuals 16, 5 and 1 to be “inappropriate.” In Milhone’s opinion, stated in her memo dated May 5, this latest example of incompetence on the part of GRF management was simply “caused by human error.” Milhone then states that “under no circumstances will this happen again.” REALLY, Mary?
Consider what Mihone has stated. On the one hand, she states the obvious to the effect that to err is human, and then adds in a God-like manner that this will never happen again. Then Milhone assures the presidents that she presumes to admonish, “Penalties, if any, will be paid by GRF, not by the Mutuals.” Yet, to date the full GRF Board of Directors has not met to even consider this matter. Moreover, what difference does it make if more than $230,000 is taken out of your right pocket (Mutual accounts) or your left pocket (GRF accounts)? It is still YOUR MONEY out of YOUR POCKET by way of the monthly carrying charges that YOU PAY.
Our Mutuals’ next property tax payments are due in August 2011. It is urgent that the GRF Board of Directors replace Dan Schaeffer as administrator before then. Action by the GRF Board to terminate Schaeffer will require the vote of ten directors in favor of doing so. Schaeffer has bragged that there are not now the 10 votes required to fire him among the directors currently serving on the GRF Board.
Dave Lyon
Leisure World
