|
Mr. Roger
Hirschland |
December 13, 2006
Dear
Fellow Lauren Owner:
Next years budget for the Lauren Condominium, which you will receive shortly, requires an increase of 5.9 percent in condominium fees over the figure for 2006. 1 will explain the reasons for increase below, but first, here is what your monthly fees will be:
Tier
01: $370
Tier 11:
$638
Tier 02: $470
Tiers 12, 13:
$520
TierO3: $436
Tiers 14—16:
$370
Tier 04: $587
Tier 17:
$403
Tiers 05—10: $470
Parking:
$ 35
How Should You Make Condo Payments?
New management company: The board of directors has chosen a new management company, the Simmons Management Group, Inc., to handle our finances. They will get coupons and envelopes to you very shortly for your 2007 condo payments.
Your choices for paying condo fees:
-
Drop off checks at the front desk with the coupons Simmons will provide
-
Have payments withdrawn automatically from your bank account*
-
Charge payments to your credit card*
-
Make payments online*
-
Mail payments to a lockbox in the envelopes you will receive*
-
Mail payments to Walter Krolman, Manager of the Lauren Condominium,
*Simmons will explain in a letter to you shortly how you can pay online. charge your payments, mail your payments to a lockbox, or arrange for automatic withdrawal.
Cost for credit card payments: The cost of paying by credit card—a fee set by the bank—will be borne by individual payees (you), not by Simmons or the Lauren. Passing the charges to owners for the use of credit cards is consistent with how other condos handle credit card payments. If you paid by credit card before, you are welcome to switch to another method that will not cost you extra.
The Budget Increase: Why?
The Board did its best to keep the increase as low as possible. A general rise in costs, including staff salaries, initially caused us to raise the condo fees by 2.67 percent. The board spent considerable effort planning for our largest anticipated expense that we will have to bear in the next few years—a $2-million replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units (HVAC) throughout the building. Although we anticipate that the work on that project is several years away, the board has committed, starting in 2007. to putting aside special funds to cover the impending work, in order to avoid a special assessment later on. That accounts for the additional 3.23 percent increase in the fees.
Heating/AC replacement
The HVAC units in our condo units are past their projected life expectancy. We have already had some leaks from the floor-level condensation pans that are designed to collect and drain condensation. in order to extend the life of the current 1-IVAC units and postpone the full replacement of the systems until the condo has sufficient funds, we plan to have the condensation pans professionally coated soon. We hope this coating will buy us several years. The Board is grateful to former Board president Brian Larkin. who not only served on the HVAC committee that recommended our course of action, but also helped plan the long range financial approach to paying for the future installations.
Keep in touch
If you have concerns you would like us to consider, please get in touch with our manager, Walter Krolman, or with any member of the board. Your current board consists of John Filice (first vice president), Dwight Clark (second vice president), Joe Morris (treasurer), Elizabeth VanderPutten (secretary), and me.
Best wishes for happy holidays and a fruitful new year.
Sincerely,
Roger B. Hirschland, President
Lauren Board of Directors