POINCIANA — Association of Poinciana Villages residents won’t be seeing an increase in homeowners’ association fees over the next year.

Dues will remain at $276 for the next year, APV confirmed in an email Thursday. Last year, the association increased fees by $24 or $2 per month. The 2019 budget was approved during the master board meeting Tuesday.

“We are pleased to announce there will be no increase to the annual assessment for homeowners, which means it will remain at $276 per lot,” an APV statement said. “It is through this budget and the annual assessments that we are able to continue to maintain and enhance our many community amenities, parks and programs for everyone in Poinciana to enjoy.”

APV is one of Florida’s largest homeowners’ association with about 27,000 homes spanning parts of Polk and Osceola counties. The community is split into nine villages with each being governed by a five-member board. One member from each village board is selected to represent his or her village on the master board.

Victor Destremps, who represents Village Five, told The Ledger the board had flirted with the idea of increasing dues to $315 in an effort to offset a $1 million budget shortfall.

“We did a good job,” Destremps said. “We sat down and went through things and made cuts.”

The majority of those cuts, Destremps said, was to payroll. Destremps was able to slash more than $600,000 in payroll expenses that had been rising.

Destremps said when property management company FirstService Residential Florida began managing APV in February 2013, there were 82 employees and salaries sat at about $2 million or about $24,400 per employee. After the cuts, he said, salaries totaled just under $5 million with 98 employees for an average of about $51,000 per employee.

“They’re making a profit,” Destremps said of FirstService. “We didn’t cut out all the things I wanted but at least we’re not raising fees.”

To increase revenues, Destremps said, there were some increases in usage costs for leisure and recreational facilities. Destremps said APV did conduct a rates study to justify the increases.

“Residents really need to come to the meetings and find out what’s going on,” Destremps said. “It’s their HOA and they need to be involved.”