Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993 TAG: 9307180109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RESTON LENGTH: Medium
A law that took effect July 1 requires the associations' boards to make employee salaries available to association members. The law was sponsored by Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, in response to longstanding complaints from some homeowners that they were kept in the dark about how the money they pay in association fees is spent.
But a survey of several associations in Northern Virginia suggests the law will not accomplish what Plum intended.
Six of the seven associations surveyed by The Washington Post said that despite the new law, they will continue to refuse requests for employees' salaries.
Officials of those associations said their interpretation of the law is that they must release salary ranges for different categories of employees, information that in most cases is already available.
"It could not be clearer that we intended actual salaries to be made available," Plum said. "I continue to be dismayed that the secrecy continues. It only serves to raise distrust on the part of the homeowners."
Associations typically assess fees that can run into the hundreds of dollars annually for homeowners within the boundaries of a subdivision, building or neighborhood. The association sets rules for the community and usually maintains buildings, grounds and recreation areas.
An Alexandria homeowner successfully sued his condominium association over the salary issue and won last year in the Virginia Supreme Court.
Plum said other homeowners may have to use the same strategy.
"What's going to happen, I'm afraid, is that local citizens are going to have to take their case to court," he said. "They are going to have to group together to pay for a lawyer, and they are going to be up against lawyers paid with their own association dues."
Critics of the restrictions on salary information say a homeowner who pays several hundred dollars a year in association fees has just as much right to know employee salaries as a taxpayer has to know the salaries of government employees.
Association officials have contended that publicizing individual salaries would harm employee morale. They have argued that releasing salary ranges and the total amount spent on salaries provides homeowners with a clear enough picture of spending practices.
The Burke Centre Conservancy, which receives fees from nearly 6,000 homeowners in the Burke area of Fairfax County, has 29 employees. The association tells residents that clerks and laborers earn between $13,000 and $22,000 annually while the executive director earns between $48,000 and $70,000.
After several contentious meetings, the Burke association board decided in May that the new law did not require it to release any more specific information.
Of the groups surveyed by the Post, only the Reston Association, which covers 19,480 homeowners and has 70 full-time employees, said it would disclose salaries.
Bill Thomson, a Reston homeowner, put in a formal request to learn the salaries of all employees making $30,000 and above. Thomson said he has received the information and is still evaluating it.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.