Cohousing-L Mailing List: Need legal opinion from CA groups

[Marty Roberts (MartyR]

We have been given an "opinion" by our accountant that it is not legal to
use our HOA dues to pay consultants for training, conflict resolution,
workshops, retreats, etc.  This person says HOA dues are legally only for
repairs and maintenance of the property.  Some of us think that training our
"board" is an important HOA function, but have no legal evidence of this.
Some people here have proclaimed that we can no longer hire these people
from our HOA budget - at least not until we get a firm legal opinion.

I am wondering if anyone out there in California (since laws differ state to
state) knows the answer, or a work-around, or where to get the answer.

If we get hard evidence that is true, we may consider reducing our HOA dues
and then paying in to a "voluntary" fund to pay trainers, but would really
prefer not to.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks very much,

Marty Roberts
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, CA

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