What Your HOA Is Doing With Your Money

Sources reviewed October 6, 2026 · About a 5 minute read · Homeowner explanation

When we knock on doors in Corsica, we keep finding neighbors who don't know what the HOA has been doing. Many don't know how much it has spent.

If you're just hearing about this, I want to explain why we're concerned.

Our homeowners association, or HOA, uses your dues to help pay for the services we share. The Board decides which companies to hire and what to pay them. Veridian is the company managing the HOA. ¹

You shouldn't have to spend your evenings reading financial reports to understand those decisions. But you should be told when costs rise and what that means for the money you pay.

The bills got ahead of the income

We now have the HOA's 2025 audit. It's a report on our finances, checked by an outside accountant.

It shows about $1.7 million in income and $2.9 million in costs to run the community. That left a gap of about $1.2 million. ¹

To make that easier to picture, for every $100 of income, the HOA had about $171 in costs.

Rounded comparison of income and operating costs in the 2025 audit. This is not a calculation of your dues. ¹

If your family has $100 available and the bills are $171, the other $71 still has to come from somewhere. You might use savings or borrow, but you can't keep paying that way forever.

The audit includes numbered notes that explain the financial results. In Note 3, the auditor points to higher costs, clubhouse operations, borrowing costs, and one-time expenses. It says the Board and management are reviewing the budget and dues. It doesn't tell you which bills will keep coming or give a plan for closing the gap. ¹

What those costs were for

Some of the biggest service costs in 2025 were: ¹

• About $632,000 for landscaping, including $83,000 for mulch.
• About $427,000 for security.
• About $347,000 for staffing and $76,000 for management.

Those amounts should connect to work you can recognize. Yet under repairs, about $107,000 is labeled “Other.” That label doesn't tell you what was fixed. The Board should show what the work was, what it cost, and who approved it. ¹

The clubhouse came with a loan

The HOA bought the clubhouse for about $10.5 million. It borrowed $13.5 million. The audit says the loan also covered future improvements and projects, but doesn't list those projects and their individual costs. ¹

When you borrow, interest is the charge for using the money. Paying that charge does not reduce the amount you borrowed.

In 2025, the HOA paid about $574,000 in interest, while the clubhouse loan balance fell by only about $93,000. At the end of the year, we still owed about $13.4 million on that loan. ¹

Rounded 2025 amounts. Interest is included in the operating costs above. Money used to repay loan principal is separate. ¹

In 2035, the HOA must pay off whatever remains of the money it borrowed, plus any interest still unpaid. The audit does not explain how the HOA plans to make that payment or replace the loan. ¹

Before taking on this loan, did the Board get an independent financial review showing whether we could afford the purchase and the bills that came with it? Homeowners would like to see that review and the plan it was based on.

Who is checking the bills

Veridian manages our HOA and provides landscaping, security, and other services. A Board member has a financial stake in Veridian, according to Note 17 in the audit. That means a person helping run the HOA also has an interest in a company it hires. ¹

The audit says the member disclosed a possible conflict and stayed out of certain management and landscaping discussions and votes. You should still be able to see how the other directors checked the prices and the work before approving bills. This report doesn't provide that detail. ¹

Some bills also covered CDD property

The Community Development District, or CDD, is a separate public body responsible for some community property. Note 5 in the audit says it owed our HOA about $197,000 at the end of 2025 under an agreement to repay landscaping and roving-security costs. ^{1, 3}

That agreement did not exist at the end of 2025. CDD staff confirmed in March and April 2026 that the agreements were not in place. I also requested the agreements directly. The CDD produced a camera agreement and a holiday-lighting memorandum. Neither covers these services. ³

The audit says the money was collected later. But the explanation about an agreement still needs correcting. When our HOA pays bills for CDD property, you should be able to see which costs each body is responsible for. The Board and auditor need to explain what supported the amount shown as owed. ^{1, 3}

You should have had this information sooner

The standard deadline for giving owners the 2025 financial report, or a notice that a free copy was available, was April 30, 2026. The auditor's report is dated August 31. The audit was first posted in PayHOA on September 24 and updated on September 28. That first posting was 147 days after the standard deadline. ^{1, 4, 5}

Most of 2026 was already underway. Reporting that late makes it harder for you to follow spending decisions while they are being made.

I'm asking the Board and management to show us where our money went, what we paid for, and who approved the bills. We also need a plan to pay what we owe and control costs, including what can be done to avoid raising dues.

We're knocking on doors because these decisions affect all of us. You pay for the HOA. You deserve to understand what it is doing with your money and what it plans to do in the future.