Subject: Assessments and increases
From: Jim Thomas (jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Date: Mon Nov 07 2005 - 12:49:31 CST
Michael or a Board member can correct me if I'm wrong, but like others,
I also have concerns about assessments, and my guess is that others might
have similar concerns.
As much as we hate to see assessments rise, my sense is that our
assessments and the bang we get for the buck is reasonable, especially
when compared to some other lofts and from reading the "condominium law"
feature in the Tribune each Sunday (available in the Tribune archives).
1P doesn't set the budget or determine increases. The Board does the
annual budget. This is pretty much a "bottom line" task, and from
reviewing the budget sent to us each year, it appears that the bulk of
the increases match inflation. I've seen nothing to red-flag a line item
or an increase in a line item over the previous year. My understanding
is that 1P isn't required to send out the budget (although the budget,
by law, is required to be available to owners on request). This is a
nice twist and makes it much easier for owners to monitor where our
money goes.
The Illinois Condominium Propert Act (see
http://www.barnettlawfirmltd.com/lawtext/law1.htm
requires a surplus/reserve to be maintained for emergency expenditures.
If done right, this saves the hassle of numerous special assessements for
unanticipated costs (like the building facade inspection inmposed on us
by the city a few years ago). I've heard many horror stories from tenants
in other lofts about poorly managed reserves that we've been spared,
thanks to 1P and the Board.
Probably the best solution to concerns over reserves is to check out the
annual budget when you receive it. This years was sent out on October 14.
Assements went up about 3.8 percent. Inflation (depending on which index
you use) was between 2.7 and 3.5. So, we're in range with the inflation
rate. The biggest jump was in legal fees, ($15K for '06, compared with
$7.5K for '05). This is about 2 percent of the budget.
A few points from the budget:
--1P's fees have not increased
--most line items are unchanged
--Electricity/water-sewer dropped by $5.5K
--handyman maintenance increased by $6.5K
--Misc increased by $3.1K
We will presumably have a Christmas party, and we can share our ideas
and issues in a more informal setting.
Jim / #501
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Thomas / Department of Sociology / Northern Illinois University
jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu / http://www.soci.niu.edu/~jthomas
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