C.I.A. Services, Inc. - eNews Monthly

Our goal has always been to create a positive, long term relationship with all of our client communities. We are very proud to be managing all of these communities.

Upcoming Seminars

There are no seminars in May as everyone is busy getting ready for the summer season. We will start back up in June. Each seminar begins at 6:30 p.m. and runs 2-1/2 hours. Since we always provide deli sandwiches, you won’t have to rush to eat dinner beforehand. You’ll leave with knowledge you can use immediately and a great notebook with the seminar slides, samples and reference materials.

Advanced Topics for Board Members

After you’ve been on the Board a few months or a few years, you realize that some things are pretty complicated. This seminar has a heavy legal and legislative orientation. We’ll dissect the lawsuit process, review the foreclosures and discuss significant portions of the Texas Property Code and federal law. After all the legal stuff, we’ll touch on aspects of “risk management” which includes insurance, reserves and budgeting concepts.

June 12, 2006 (Monday), 6:30 p.m. - Southwest Office

June 19, 2006 (Monday), 6:30 p.m. - North Office

A complete list of seminars and descriptions is on the Library page of our web site or click here to view the information. You can register for any of our seminars by sending an email to Seminars@ciaservices.com or calling our Southwest Office.

Community of the Month

We are proud of every one of our communities so it is always hard to find just one to highlight. We start by having each of our 20 Community Managers write a nomination for one of their communities. We then read them all take a vote. Here are our most recent selections:

May — Fairgreen Community Association

North Office, Community Manager — Evelyn Abram

April — Bay Pointe Community Association

Southwest Office, Community Manager — Margaret Eckhardt

March — Quail Green South Homeowners Association

Southwest Office, Community Manager — Myron Bruines

To see the full story on these communities and to see the past winners, visit the Community of the Month page on our web site.

New Communities

C.I.A Services continues to grow as more communities hear about our unique approach to community association management. We’d like to welcome are newest clients that have come onboard in the last three months.

Brazoria Cold River Ranch Association

Southwest Office—Community Manager, Olga Martinez

Silvercreek Community Association

Southwest Office—Community Manager, Linda Enoch

Greensbrook Community Association

North Office—Community Manager, Diane Piper

Employee Spotlight

· Welcome to two new Southwest Office employees: Community Manager Linda Enoch and Special Events Coordinator Angie Thomas.

· And welcome back to Southwest Office Maintenance Coordinator Cyndi Albury.

· Congratulations to Southwest Office Bookkeeper Hellen He and her husband Enoch on the birth of their 2nd child on April 26th: Alex weighed in at 5 lbs 13 oz and was 18-3/4 inches long. Mother, father and big sister Michelle are doing very well.

· Thanks to Ralph Troiano for conducting our April seminar on New Board Member Orientation.

Angie Thomas

New State Business Tax

The Texas Legislature has been in special session with two goals: to resolve school funding issues and to provide property tax relief. A partial solution involves a new tax on businesses beginning in 2008. So how will the new tax passed by the legislature and due to be signed by Governor Perry affect community associations? In most cases, badly. There are still uncertainties about the details but here are some key points.

Any association with total revenues under $300,000 per year will not need to pay the business tax.

Most associations have qualified for an exemption from the current franchise tax. Since the new tax will replace the franchise tax, it is not clear if there will be an option for exemption. Associations that were exemption from the franchise tax may need to start paying the business tax.

The tax calculation is simple. Subtract the greater of employee costs or cost of goods sold from total revenues and pay a 1% tax on the difference. Most associations have no employees and are not selling goods so the tax would be 1% of total revenues. For an association currently exempt from franchise tax with a $400,000 budget, the new tax will add $4,000 to their annual expenses.

In addition to the direct tax affect, there will be secondary affects from all association contractors who must pass on the new taxes. Most association contractors are labor intensive (management, grounds maintenance, pool operations, security) so the secondary affects may not be too large.

We’ll know more once it is signed into law and the governing agency establishes their rules. More information is available from the Texas Tax Reform Commission at 512-463-8209.

Electricity Cost Savings

C.I.A. Services has been working to create a program to allow our communities to save money on rising electricity costs. We’ve investigated several approaches and opted to negotiate a program with an established retail energy provider. In late May all of our community Board will receive a letter describing the program we have developed with Direct Energy for our communities.

The program will provide a fixed cost of power for at least one year that is about 13% lower than the current Reliant Energy “price to beat”. As incentive, Association will receive $25 cash for each account placed in the program that can be used for community projects or events.

In addition, if an association joins the program, every resident in the community will be eligible to convert to Direct Energy at a fixed cost of power for at least one year that is about 9% lower than the current Reliant Energy “price to beat”. Each resident that converts will receive a $25 gift card and the association will receive $25 in cash.

There is no obligation for the community association or any of its residents to join this program. We believe, however, that it is in everyone’s benefit to convert to a lower costs provider. Watch for details.

Clubhouse Grand Opening

Another one of our communities just completed construction of a wonderful new community clubhouse. On April 18th, the Board of Directors of The Community Association of the Highlands held their first meeting in the board room of their new clubhouse. The clubhouse was designed by architect James Lawless and built by Millis Construction. Our Maintenance Coordinator, Vince Hargrove, and Community Manager, Ally Abbott, were instrumental in the planning and day-to-day oversight of the project.

Linda Enoch

Hellen He