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The fee most likely would be passed on to homeowners. Some owners on Hilton Head Island belong to two associations: the master association for the entire neighborhood and smaller regimes that maintain individual areas or condominium complexes.
"You can just hear a giant vacuum cleaner going through this island," said Peter Kristian, general manager of Hilton Head Plantation. "It would have a devastating effect on assessments ... and it would have to be passed on to homeowners in an economic climate that's very difficult."
Hilton Head Plantation would have to pay roughly $41,000 to the state each year if the bill is approved. Sea Pines would pay at least $60,000.
The bill, called the S.C. Homeowners' Association Act, also would require associations to file information on officers, fees paid by members and copies of bylaws and covenants to the state Department of Consumer Affairs each year.
"It's government bureaucracy at its best," said Cary Kelley, executive vice president of Community Services Associates, the main property owners association in Sea Pines.
But the bill does have its benefits, even its opponents say. It could open up associations shrouded in secrecy and give recourse to residents whose neighborhood officials seem to be either inept or malicious.
The bill requires property associations to send meeting notices to their members, make records and financial statements available and keep detailed books that can be reviewed by the state.
The proposal also presumably would help association members who are in conflict with those who run their neighborhood.
If a member is found in violation of covenants by the property owners association, the member could appeal to the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs and then to an Administrative Law Court. Currently, the only appeal for homeowners association cases is in Circuit Court.
The Town of Hilton Head Island hasn't taken an official position on the matter, but Town Council members are watching the bill closely. The majority of homeowners on the island are members of associations.
During a recent committee meeting, town officials described the bill as a "money grab" and an erosion of home rule, the ability to govern at a local level without undue interference from the state.
Attempts to more closely regulate community associations have been in the works since at least 2004. None has gained much traction.
This latest bill, sponsored by Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland County, closely mirrors the one that stalled in committee last legislative session. It has been assigned to a subcommittee.
Attempts to get responses to questions e-mailed to Jackson's office Monday were unsuccessful. A legislative aide had asked for questions in writing.
Meanwhile, the S.C. Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, a national organization representing 27,000 neighborhoods, is drafting two bills it views as a compromise.
One would require property owners association managers to undergo training and pass a test to become accredited.
The second would spell out what property owners associations must do each year, from preparing budgets to publishing meeting notices, minutes and financial statements. It also would address developers' obligations and establish an appeals process for determining whether a homeowner has violated covenants, said Kristian, who sits on the chapter's legislative action committee.
"It really is a comprehensive bill," he said of the second piece of legislation.
The Community Associations Institute is trying to schedule a meeting with Sen. Jackson to discuss the two compromises.
Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he will sponsor the two new bills "that cover in more comprehensive form all the issues that Sen. Jackson seeks to cover and more" without, as he puts it, creating unnecessary bureaucracy or charging a fee.
