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Post by sbrett on Jul 16, 2015 18:59:39 GMT -5
We are never going to get out from under this! Its a never ending nightmare.
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Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2015 13:44:35 GMT -5
We are never going to get out from under this! Its a never ending nightmare.
As stated by Martin McDermott (President) "the new special assessment is for now" and "the hope is to have a better permanent solution before next year".
Like the saying goes, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is a sign of insanity".
New assessment without input by the members ------------ $240. Payable in one lump sum or 4 monthly payments. The same as last year. The only difference from last year, it was stated the property manager isn't allowed to mis-appropriate it to anything but the water/sewer debt for 2015. The hope is to end the year without being in the red as in so many past years.
Does this all sound so familiar?
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Post by sbrett on Jul 17, 2015 15:35:10 GMT -5
Well, we knew it was coming, but like you said "do the same thing over..."
My guess is by the end of the year our water situation won't be any different.
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Post by Admin on Jul 18, 2015 3:51:16 GMT -5
Water and Sewer billing status on 7-17-2015 The July meeting gave us plenty of insight into the current condition we find ourselves. No solutions and more two-stepping rhetoric as to why we haven't been paying our bills. There is one agreeable comment re-stated at the meeting, "we are being unduly charged more than we should be". Fortunately we had the property manager to explain it. She's been directed to pay $15,000 per month and she's only collecting $11,000+ per month. Obviously, that means $3,000-$4,000 shortfall each month. So, then there's only been a minimum of $77,000 or so to pay towards the Water/Sewer bills this year. ? So let's check the new math. We have $14,345 still left to pay from our water usage of Oct-Dec 2014. There's $43,899 still also overdue for Jan-Mar 2015. Add the current charges of $41,238. Take all of that along with the interest being constantly adding on, and we are currently holding a balance of $98,494. Now for the tricky part. It appears the BTMUA shows our payments for 2015 only total around $34,500. As you'll remember reading above, $77,000 should have been paid, according to Mary Anne, the property manager. And if you haven't already noticed, $77,000 minus $34,500 is $42,500. That's $42,500 missing from paying our bills. The actual explanation is, the story given to us time and again, of how the property manager is paying all the bills regularly, it's really a matter of constantly taking from this year to pay the previous year's overdue debt. Commonly referred to as, "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul". We are grossly short this year due to the mad rush of the property manager, back in February and March of 2015, to pay enough of the overdue debt from 2014, to get us off of the Tax-Sale notice. Why so much shortage of money, you ask? Many factors. We were told there was a shortage of $30,000 from last winter's snow removal. Although the accounting advice from the "attorney" said "we're not actually short, because we can just take it from the first few months of 2015". (By the way, you may want to check with your dentist for any legal advice). Only one solution was suggested at the April meeting, to shut down the pool for 2015. Many thought we had to have a pool regardless. So there's one reason for a special assessment. Then, for those who haven't seen them, we now have a lot of new forsythia plants and some new fencing. All to stop a "few" people from driving on a section of lawn. Tragically, motorbikes and ATV's and the occasional car wash still happens. Also, the cars that were blocked, just drive up to the bushes. So more costs for a little result. Then, we are still supporting Metro's habit of giving their own contractors filler work when things are slow. Concrete sidewalks continue to be repaired with lots of workers for many hours. It's hard to tell why we keep paying for it, since the workmanship is so bad, it's bewildering. Not to pass judgment on the workers, but, they should stick to what they know, and learn new skills on their on time. Attachments:
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Post by mstofpup88 on Jul 18, 2015 13:32:48 GMT -5
This is ridiculous.
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Post by Mister D on Jul 20, 2015 18:19:04 GMT -5
The ONLY silver lining is that SOMEHOW our usage appears to be down in comparison. I wonder how that happened? Has any one suggested a mandatory inspection of units for water leaks and such? I don't know if it's actually possible. Just a thought.
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Post by Mister D on Jul 20, 2015 18:21:43 GMT -5
Asfar as the pool goes... How about a vote on that. How many of us in good standing want to pay for the pool. I never have the time to use it myself. It's obvious what my vote would be... sorry to any one who feels differently. But really, a vote is always the fair thing to do.
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Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2015 9:43:17 GMT -5
Asfar as the pool goes... How about a vote on that. How many of us in good standing want to pay for the pool. I never have the time to use it myself. It's obvious what my vote would be... sorry to any one who feels differently. But really, a vote is always the fair thing to do. This was actually presented at the April meeting during the so-called election. The previous Board Meeting in March, the Board had talked about the $30,000 shortage in funds during the winter and planned to "survey" the members at the April meeting to see if closing the pool for 2015 was acceptable, to avoid another special assessment. During the April meeting, the members seated were asked for their "opinion" of whether the pool should be closed for 1 season. A handful objected to the idea, and the result was the pool would stay open. The was no official vote by the association. So the usual, few people deciding how to spend our money.
It should also be noted, that many of the members in favor of the pool being open were also against the improper election procedures, the MUA's Tax Sale notice, the imposing of the 2014 special assessment, the lack of solutions. And of course, everyone objected to the idea of a 2015 special assessment.
Like you, I don't use the pool. I do believe the amenity of a pool is great for the association's value, even in it's poor condition.
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Post by sbrett on Jul 21, 2015 11:45:35 GMT -5
I’d be all for the pool closing for a season if I thought that would help. In all the time I have lived there I’ve never even been to the pool. But if only for one season, it’s again a temporary solution and by next summer, we would be back in the same spot.
The only thing that will ever solve our money problems is to get the deadbeats that aren’t paying to start. That may sound a little harsh but I'm tired of the excuses. I'm tired of working twice as hard and long to make ends meet. Many that aren’t paying don’t seem to care that the rest of us hard working people are carrying their burden. I know that there are some that aren’t paying because they feel something is unfair and are trying to make a point. The only point they are making is that they have no consideration for their neighbors who struggle to pay their own bills. As I am sure there are a few legit ones out there that have financial troubles, but your troubles shouldn’t become mine.
We (meaning the board and Metro) just seem to go round and round with the same tired stuff. We are basically spinning wheels and getting nowhere fast. All it seems to be is finger pointing and the finger is never pointing at the people making the decisions.
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Post by junbug11 on Jul 22, 2015 10:41:12 GMT -5
Solution: Fire the Management Team, including the attorney!
Their contract should require collection of association fees, not to be done by an attorney for a piece of the action. Collection methods have changed in the last 20 years, but the management company's methods have not. The attorney should have placed a lien on every property where the owner is in arrears at the end of 2014. The last lien filed according to public records, was one in April 2014 for $3,485.00. This particular property owner has had liens filed and signed by the same people in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2014. Why no one else when we know how much was owed by how many at the end of 2014.
113 Accounts are Past Due, equals 31% of units for a total of more than $254,722.
55 accounts have balances between $1,000 and $5,000 which equals 15% of units for a total of $89,003.
11 accounts have balances between $5,000 and $10,000 which equals 5% of units for a total of $80,755.
6 accounts have a balance greater than $10,000 for a total of $73,270.
22 owners made no payments in 2014
9 accounts had write-offs in 2014 for a total of $11,888.
If we want to see change, the majority of the community has to want change. Maybe this new $240 special assessment for 2015 will make all residents pay attention to what is really going on here.
With this amount of unpaid association fees and the lack of adequate money in the reserves account, no one can get an FHA loan. That means selling the less expensive condos is almost impossible. I do believe a good, sound business management team is what is needed and NOW!
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Post by walker on Jul 23, 2015 12:33:47 GMT -5
Why are we putting up with this gross incompetence from the prop.mgr and their friends on the board. Wouldn't it be better to stop collecting interest charges and pay the extra money on the overdue bill??? Is the concept of financial responsibility really that difficult to comprehend???
I had read on another site that Hayes and Metro have everyone of the associations they control running at a loss. And when I was talking to an owner at Laurelton woods, they were the same way before getting a new management company. Now they are putting money into all there reserves. Just like we are suppose to be doing.
Just unreal we are putting up with this. |
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Post by sbrett on Jul 23, 2015 19:02:02 GMT -5
Just unreal we are putting up with this. I wouldn’t say we are putting up with it... Look how hard we worked before the election in Jan to get rid of the existing board and really make a change. We walked in with enough proxies to do it, and got blocked. The makeup election in April, granted we lost some interest but we were close... but more "technicalities" that were thrown at us where our votes got disqualified AGAIN. It’s not from the lack of trying, it just seems that no matter what we do, we get beat. And it’s usually because of some lame reason. And we fight that reason.. but that attorney doesn’t want to hear it. He is there to protect Metro and doesn’t have any concern for the homeowners. For the record at the last election when the votes were manually done and counted, objections were raised and questioned at the time. The attorney refused to answer the questions that were brought up and didn’t care about the concerns. So we are trying... and we cannot give up. We have to keep people aware and interested in what’s going on so we can be ready for the next election. |
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Post by mstofpup88 on Jul 24, 2015 13:31:42 GMT -5
This is real proof that nice guys finish last. We pay on time every month and are the ones getting screwed. And lets be honest here, those people who aren't making payments aren't going to pay the special assessment.
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karen
New Member
Posts: 9 
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Post by karen on Jul 27, 2015 21:52:48 GMT -5
I have lived here for 25 years and have never missed a monthly payment including last year's special assessment. I have made the decision to not pay this new special assessment. I do not have extra money hanging around to pay a lump sum payment of $240 in 2 weeks and $60/month is not accounted in my budget. I am tired of paying for people who are not paying and we are covering their needs. Yes let's be realistic here they are NOT going to pay this special assessment either. We need to keep pushing Mary Ann and the board to get after the non payers and stop asking us for more and more each year. This is not the answer. I hope others will make the decision to not pay as well.
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Post by Mister D on Jul 28, 2015 7:14:00 GMT -5
I'm with you Karen. I too have decided not to pay for the same exact reasons. What can they do about it? Apparently nothing.
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