Subject: Re: Quick responses
From: Mary Deskovich (mdeskovich@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Apr 20 2006 - 11:55:45 CDT
Minutes for all meetings during which I was secretary have been sent to 1P. They can be obtained from them. I assumed (obviously erroneously) 1P was forwarding them to Jim for posting. In addition, I have them saved on my computer at home. As soon as the internet is back working at home I will send them to Jim for the web page. Or, if someone prefers, I can forward them to them personally once I can access the net at home.. (They are Word documents).
Mary
Jim Thomas <jthomas@sun.soci.niu.edu> wrote:
Long...
Just some responses (unofficial, as a resident) -
> It is also my understanding that over the last year or two, we have been
> paying towards a large debt to the gas company. Apparently, the gas meter
> was reading incorrectly and past owners were getting quite the deal. I might
> be mistaken, but I'm assuming some of the reserves went towards this?? Does
> anyone know?
This might refer to bill from People's circa 03 when we received
a bill for $49K. A previous Board member might be able to provide more
details. 1P put us on a payment plan to reduce "heating shock." Our
payments have been current since.
MINUTES:
These can be found on the homepage:
http://www.vanguardlofts.com (click on "minutes")
Over the years, they've been a bit inconsistent. I'm trying to fill in the
gaps for 2004/05. Because minutes for any proceedings aren't official
until approved, the minutes for the last Board meeting won't be official
until the next official meeting. When members attend meetings, perhaps
it would be useful if they summarize what they heard and post it to the
list for discussion.
If anybody wants to put up unofficial notes or comments to board meetings,
we can start a "residents' response page" on the vanguard site.
You can also find discussion list archives on the homepage to see what
issues have been discussed over the years.
ASSESSMENTS:
Our assessments seem well inline with comporable condos. Two rules of
thumb (very general rules):
a) about 1.3 pct of purchase price
b) or about 15 pct less than property taxes
This varies widely, but it gives a rough approximation. To know what we
get for our assessments, just look at the budget. Vanguard's was
distributed hard-copy and it's also online. It shows, for '06:
Utilities: about 35 percent of our expenses
Maintenance: About 27 pct
Admin (1P, legal fees, etc): 17 pct
Taxes/Insurance/etc: about 12 pct
Most of these are fixed costs.
Newer condos might appear to have lower fees, but they generally quickly
increase within two years.
We should also be careful in comparing our assessments to other buildings
without looking at the budget, and the history of special assessments,
and at the broader picture. If there are ways to increase our income
and/or cut the expenses, constructive "best practices" suggestions would
be useful to bring to the Board.
COMMERCIAL (TOWER) INCOME:
1P has gotten us about $19.2K in commercial income (tower). Where does it
go? The condo has income (assessments, commercial income, etc). It has
expenses. Income goes in the bank. Expenses come out of the bank.
Without that extra commercial income, we'd either be dipping into
reserves or assessments might have gone up last year.
SPECIAL ASSESSMENT:
We can clarify many of the concerns at the next meeting. Giving a
heads-up, as the recent letter-to-owners did, provides some extra time
to prepare.
COMMUNICATION:
We all agree that communication between 1P and the rest of us, and between
the Board and the residents is critical! That's why we have an email
list and why we have the homepage. If anybody has any ideas for what to
put on the homepage, let me know. We'll assessing the homepage this summer
to see how we can expand communications of all kinds.
Sorry for the long post, but it hopefully clarifies a few concerns.
Jim / #501
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