Re: How does your community handle finances?
From: Rosemary McNaughton (astromezzogmail.com)
Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 08:05:22 -0700 (PDT)
We started with all volunteer work.  When it turned out we had to file
the 1120 instead of 1120-H one year we hired accountants to do our
taxes, but now we're going back to doing it ourselves with tax
software.  Also... our second volunteer bookkeeper moved out and we've
decided to retain her and pay for her services now, as I (the first
bookkeeper for the HOA) was not as experienced and had already filled
my dance card with other cohousing commitments once she took over.  So
things keep changing!

We have rules in the bylaws about being late on monthly fees, but
haven't had to employ them.  We set almost everyone up on automatic
deductions through a company that handles things like church tithes
and association dues.  That's saved us a lot of collection headaches.
We have discussed what we would do if someone had to fall behind on
dues because of a sudden change in their finances, but no clear
procedure for that beyond what's in our bylaws.  We were advised that
we should contact lawyers if someone falls about 4 months behind, as
the first 6 months of HOA dues are protected in a foreclosure, but
after that it's completely out of our pocket, so we might want to put
a lien on a house to protect the community's money if someone is
falling more than 6 months behind.  This may be just Massachusetts
law, and obviously I don't know it very well, but I'd say it's worth
checking in with your lawyers if it looks like someone has the
potential to fall seriously behind.  As well as of course talking to
the homeowners and working out a payment plan.

-Rosemary
Rocky Hill Cohousing
Florence, MA

On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 1:31 AM,  <NetiPotLady [at] aol.com> wrote:
>
> Our community, up until now has had a management company collect dues,
> write checks to reimburse members for expenditures, pay bills,  keep the 
>  books
> etc. We'd like to hear how other communities handle these tasks. Do you
> have people in the community manage these things? Do you employ a bookkeeper?
> What do you do when people are overdue paying their dues/fees (we are a COA
> and  so have monthly COA fees)?
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Gina Kruse,
> Stone Curves  Cohousing
> Tucson,  AZ
>
>
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