I hope you all made some New Year’s resolutions. And if you live (or own property) in one of the many Florida community associations, make sure that fighting apathy in your community is the No. 1 priority on your list.

Too many people plainly forget the fact that the financial welfare of your community is directly connected to your and your family’s financial welfare.

Associations have attempted to declare bankruptcy in order to pay some outrageous legal bills they occurred, only to be rebuked by bankruptcy court judges.

Once the bills are due, it’s too late for owners to take any action. I have seen desperate owners trying to recall their board, only for the new board to find out that they are still facing the same debts.

Make sure that you participate – and understand – what is going on in your community. Don’t let the board run wild and create the debts you will later have to pay.

Some association boards even think that fining income will make up for the low budget numbers they used to pass a budget that would assure their re-election.

Make sure you are watching closely what is really going on in your community, in order to make sure that the financial health of you and your family is not destroyed by mismanagement of your association – and your home is not under foreclosure because you were unable to pay some outrageous special assessment caused by incompetence – or worse – by the people who run your association!