Earthquake Surcharge
While reading “Quake Fund Jolts Condo Associations” (May 17), I was astounded by the lack of critical analysis by writer Bradley Inman. Inman accepted without comment the assertions of Beth Grimm, who opposes the 1990 California Resident Earthquake Recovery Act.
Grimm complains that condominium associations do not really know which residents are owners and which are renters. The associations, however, surely do know this when it comes to electing directors and levying regular assessments. In these cases, only owners are involved. Renters have no rights to vote or responsibilities for fees. If a condominium association can limit participation in its annual meeting to owners only, that association can limit the state’s earthquake surcharge to those owners whose addresses are the same as the units they own.
Perhaps the real solution would be to make the state’s earthquake surcharge optional. However, such an option should also include a prohibition against tax-paid disaster aid in an earthquake to anyone who declined to pay the surcharge.
DAVID E. ROSS, Agoura
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