Subject: assessment increase
From: marydeskovich@netscape.net
Date: Thu Dec 06 2001 - 09:55:47 CST
This is long and I apologize for that, but there are comments I wish to make:
Yeah- I’m ticked by the size of the increase in the new budget (against which I voted at the Board meeting). However, there are several reasons why I'm figuring it was approved:
1) we knew we had to increase the dues because of the $8000 pluming (sic) bill and the $16000 facade inspection
2) we were presented a figure by the property management company who said the increase was 18% (a little high when you consider these unexpected items are less than 10% of the old budget)
3) an increase was palatable because we had not seen one the year before.
Now let me vent:
1) the management is saying they made a mistake and looked at the wrong number when they said 18% and it should have been 21% (we are now edging toward an, in my opinion, unacceptable increase)
2) the creative math used by the management is mind boggling. They are trying to convince me that an increase from 100 to 150 (the example they used) is a 33% increase since the $50 increase is 1/3 of the $150 new amount. I have asked every math teacher (one a PhD in math) at school if they've ever heard of figuring increase percentages this way. I have asked both my sons who are certified financial advisors, one w/ an MBA. I have asked a restaurant owner and a boutique owner if that's the way they figure their progress year to year. They are all incredulous that someone is saying that 150 is 33% more ("increase" means "more") than $100. I don't know any accountants to ask, but I would like to hear that is the way accountants figure it out, as the management company claims they do. In reality, our increase is 27%. I guess we should have done our own math instead of trusting the professionals that we pay to do it for us (one of the reasons I wanted more time to look at the bud!
get before voting to approve)
3) management keeps telling me that I had a copy of the proposed and old budgets and I should have realized the increase was more than 18%
3) the 14 day period that we, as owners, have to ask for a meeting of owners regarding the budget was long gone by the time we got our new bills so we have no legal recourse.
What can we do? There aren’t a whole lot of options. We can hope that, next year when the plumbing and façade don’t need attention, our assessment will go down.
Oh-and we should promise not to discuss this at the party on Wednesday. We’re supposed to enjoy ourselves.
Thanks,
Mary
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