June 30, 2023
Hello Neighbors,
We are excited to announce that we have hired a financial services company, Lawyers Condo Management, LLC (LCM), to handle our financial operations, which includes mailing association dues invoices, collecting association dues, paying our vendors, preparing a monthly bank reconciliation, and preparing monthly financial statements. LCM will also file our LARA filing to maintain our Michigan Non-profit Status. In addition, they will work with Michigan Community CPA firm to conduct the yearly audit of our financials and prepare our yearly tax return. We have engaged them to perform our 2021 and 2022 financial audit and tax returns.
We have also consolidated our three previous bank accounts into one checking and one savings account at MI Bank. This now clearly shows we have one account for our Operating Expenses and one account for our Reserve.
The cost of this service is $3,600 annually and equates to $36 annually per house or $3.00 per house monthly. In accordance with our By-laws – Article XI. Section 5 MANAGEMENT AGENT we have signed a contract and guaranteed this cost for three years. We are excited to announce you will be able to pay your dues via credit card or debit, direct withdrawal from your checking or savings, or by a USPS mailed check. The old Cash Ap link has been deactivated, and a new link will be posted to the website and emailed to you in the coming days. This link will allow you to view your account statement and pay your bill online. The LCM official welcome letter with further information will be mailed shortly. Please be sure to read this letter.
After almost a year of discussion, researching, and a competitive bidding process (with five bids), the conclusion is HOA’s do not self-manage their finances. It is financially responsible to have an independent professional to safeguard our funds. After meeting with the Van Buren Twp HOA leadership group forum, we learned that Belle Pointe Estates is the only subdivision in Van Buren Twp./Belleville to self-manage its finances. Even with a professional accountant on an HOA board (ironically, we now have one), this is NEVER advised.
LCM represents over 4000 HOA and Condo units in Southeast Michigan. As an example of success, Robinson River Park Sub HOA is a subdivision located on Ecorse and Morton Taylor with similar needs as ours has partnered with LCM for many years with great success.
After reviewing the financial status of Belle Pointe Estates over the past year, it has been determined that certain things were not performed to US GAAP standard. For example, we have not completed a yearly audit of our financials, filed our yearly tax return, filed our yearly LARA report nor have we maintained 100% accuracy of our records. We also are having to change our accounting method from a Cash Basis Accounting System to an Accrual Based Accounting System. Partnering with LCM will ensure all these requirements will happen moving forward.
In closing, this partnership with LCM is for our financial services only. The Board of Directors will still maintain all control and decision making over our finances. All other business of the association is not a part of this partnership with LCM.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Board at Bellepointeestates@outlook.com
Thank you,
Jason Newbound and David Girard
Board of Directors
Belle Pointe Estates Condominiums Association
