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On this page, I'll answer your questions and provide some
nuggets of wisdom.
Q: "Our Association, like many others is very "budget
constrained". Many of our unit owners are out of work and uncertain about the future. Our association heats
with oil, which is also impacting our budget. What do associations do in these times?"
A: "In these difficult, uncertain times, it is all to easy to put the brakes on
when looking at the budgets for the upcoming year. While moderate condominium fee increases are never welcomed, those
unexpected, larger, emergency special assessments are often even less welcomed. In these difficult times, cuts
need to be made. The Board and Management must look through your budget and identify if there are any line items that
can be scaled back to provide relief on the budget. We recommend bidding out annual contracts (landscaping, snow removal,
cleaning, etc) to see if there are any cost savings in contracts that may have been in place for years. A word of caution,
however, when bidding out annual contracts, please don't mistake the bottom dollar for the best service. The Board and
management must weigh the costs of the contract with the level of service the community will attain. There may not be many areas that can be
parred down in your budget. Oil driven budgets are a problem in today's economy. Oil has nearly doubled from 2010
to 2011. The uncertainty of the market in the future puts associations in fear of where condominium fees need to go
to cover the expenses of the property. If conversion to gas is an option for your association, we recommend looking
at that avenue. In some cases, if gas is available to your property, many boilers can accomodate a burner change to
burn gas. Only changing the burner keeps capital outlay costs down (while not having to change the boiler). Please
check with your heating companies for all codes that will also need to be adhered to (i.e. chimney lining, etc). Rebates may
be available for conversion on your systems from oil to gas. We discourage keeping condominium fee's dangerously
low due to the instabilty in your residents job markets. Should your association run a deficit and experience a cash
crunch in bill paying, being forced to levy a special assessment most likely will have a larger negative impact on your unit
owners than if the fees were raised each month, consistantly to cover the expenses of the association. Please also keep
in mind, special assessments are outside of the priority lein and most often not recoverable in the event of collections.
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