Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Beyond HOA

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

At Sharingwood we have set up payment or work systems a couple of times. Our
ongoing system of commonhouse cleaning charges every resident $60 a year for
commonhouse cleaning. This charge is refunded if you sign up and do a three
hour monthly deep cleaning spot. If you don't want to clean the money goes
to pay someone else to do your spot.  Our taxes are handled by a
professional tax accountant, I have no idea what he does, but he prepares
and files our taxes for us for a couple hundred dollars.  Our pay for
cleaning system is not in the bylaws, its in the community operating
agreements, something we are allowed to do under our condo declarations.
Almost everything we do as a community is a communty agreement. The bylaws
simply cover the basics for the banks. Renters pay the same as everyone
else.  I suppose we could do a similar system for teams, charge x dollars
and refund it for those who show up and do x hours of work on teams. But we
are large enough that the work that is needed largely gets done and around
here most people don't worry about what other people put into community work
as long as the work gets done. 


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: Fleck [mailto:foam4u [at] worldnet.att.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 3:00 PM
To: cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_ Beyond HOA

Similar topic to dues...

We're an urban townhouse-style coho. We've never had a requirement (IE in
the bylaws) that any member put in X number of hours to maintain our
facilities or grounds. Unfortunately, there are a few people who've never
(or minimally) participated even though they've mentioned that at some
future date they might. This has started to impact the participating folks
as our buildings age and require more money and work. Being cheerfully
abused has lost its allure.

I understand that some groups "charge" those who can't/don't/won't put in
work hours so someone can be hired to do essential jobs. Things, like
landscaping, seem to require more expertise and interest than our folks have
but directly affect our safety and property values. I'm interested in how
other cohos manage this in their bylaws and how they handle the "income"
financially - especially tax wise. And finally, what is your experience
getting renters to "pay or work"?


Thanks for any info,
Anne at Jackson Place Cohousing - Seattle


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