Close Unused Amenities - Close the pool in the winter if no one is using it. Cut hours for the fitness center if there are times when no one is there. If there are amenities no one is using or times when people truly are not using them no one will really mind when they are cut.

Memberships - If the Gym is nice enough you can sell memberships to the local community. at $40 a month 100 memberships would bring in an extra $4000 per month. Set it up as atomatic payments and many people will keep the membership long after they quit using it. You can also charge quest fees.

Advertising - Many local business will buy advertising in the newsletter and the common areas. One easy way is to place Google adsense on the website.

Landscaping - Look into lower maintenance landscaping. Many time the developer is only interested in making the property look good until it sells. Once the condo association takes over the landscaping is their worry. When replacing it look for low maintenance solutions.

Collect Monies Owed. Past Due fees can hamper a condo association. You can often hire an attorney to handle collections for a percentage of what is collected. Attorneys may even be able to recover attorney fees. Attorneys may even be able to recover attorney fees.

Insurance Claims - If in the last five years your association had to get a loan (like those from SBA or FEMA) for repairs (Storm, Hurricane, Natural Disaster, Tornado or any accident) your regular condo attorney many not be enough. Contact an attorney who focuses on insurance claims. Many insurance companies deny underpay insurance claims. Many times the law states that the insurance company has to pay the legal fees. Moreover, many attorneys will handle insurance claims in a way that no funds will be out of pocket.  Always review your condo association insurance policy or HOA insurance policy annually.

Rehabilitate instead of Replace. Copper pipes can be restored to better than new condition with epoxy pipe lining from CuraFlo. It is generally 30% cheaper than re piping and is much less obtrusive. RLS Solutions offers sewer rehabilitation which can increase their life and save on costs.

Property Manager - Hire a property manager who is experienced in lowering costs. A property manger with experience will also know which contractors come in on budget and which ones have a history of not competing jobs on time.

Over the past 3 years...maybe more...my condo association has raised my fees from 180 to now approaching $350. This seems to me to be crazy. This is a 38 unit condo. Is there anyway to curtail this? I'm not a financial genius and they like to use a lot of high bank terms that a lot of people don't understand and most seem to just say "whatever" and just go along for the ride. It's not a gated community or anything like that, not an especially affluent part of town. I'd just like to know what kind of options I have legally? If any. It's getting to where I can't even sell if I want to because the fees are so crazy.

Generally condominium boards have full authority to establish the budget. In some states and under some condominium documents, the unit owners vote to approve the budget.

You could certainly speak to the board about the increases and speak to other unit owners.  In the worst case, check your documents relating to removal of board members.  Usually there is some method for unit owners to remove.

If you get enough unit owners to agree with your thinking you might be able to convince the board or to remove them.

On the other had, you have to see what the expenses of the budget are for since the board is obligated to sufficiently budget for expenses even if unit owners do not like the increases.

I was recently elected to the board of directors. I have a couple questions I need clarified.

1. Do we follow Robert's Rules? They call meetings to order, make motions, second, etc. However, I brought up Robert's rules as it pertained to a situation and was told we do not follow "that". Some members did not even know what Robert's rules were!! Our bylaws do not mention any rules to be followed. I thought that Robert's rules then became a default. Is this the case?

2. I recently received a call at work saying we were doing an email vote. One board member made a motion. It was seconded by another board member. (over the phone I assume????) I was told they were taking an email vote on the motion. Is this legal??? My reply to them was: "When did we call a meeting to order?" They told me we've done this in the past and it is okay. How can it be? We do not even have an opportunity to discuss with anyone the motion. What about the minutes? I am not the only new member questioning these practices. We raised the questions at a meeting and the President emailed our attorney with issues we raised. However, the president says she never heard back from the attorney. It has been over 2 weeks.

While you should consult with counsel in Louisiana (I only practice in Massachusetts), if the condominium documents do not require Robert's Rules of Order and if state law does not require Robert's Rules of Order then the board is not obligated to conduct its meetings according to Robert's Rules of Order (although some procedure for efficient running of meetings should be considered as good practice.

As to your issues relating to e-mail votes, it would depend on what your condominium documents and state law state about meetings and votes but generally, at least in Massachusetts, a vote by e-mail would not be appropriate.  Perhaps at your next meeting, another board member should be requested to speak to the association attorney if the President is not able to contact him or her.

Isn't there a privacy act that disallows association members (not the board) from seeing a report of dues delinquencies with members names and unit numbers? We have one resident who insists on seeing these lists.

You should check with counsel in Washington but at least in Massachusetts and generally, the members of a condominium association are entitled to see the records of the association which would include the delinquency reports.  So while it might be a violation of the Federal Fair debt Collection Practices Act to communicate debts to third parties outside of association members (other than the management company and association counsel), members of the association are generally permitted to see these records.