Cohousing-L Mailing List: Guiding principles for dealing with leftover contingency funds

[S. Kashdan (skashdan]

Hello fellow cohousers,

Here at Jackson Place Cohousing all of our units are now sold and we are all
living on site, owners and renters too.

Many things are going well, but some parts of the project that we discussed
as being important to many of us are not finished.

The good news is that we actually have some money left in our contingency.
But, we are currently struggling with the issue  of how to deal with it. At
the end of the building process we were afraid of running out of funds, so
we agreed to raise the contingency to cover any unanticipated costs.  That
meant that the cost of all of our units went up, and we all had to put in
more money.  We talked about returning any money that might be left in the
contingency after the project was finished, but now we are wondering if that
is the best thing to do.

Some people want all of it to be used for the community projects we decide
are most important.  Others want their share of the remaining contingency
money to be refunded.  Some think that some portion of it should be spent on
group projects and the rest refunded.  Some think that we should return all
of the contingency and ask for donations to complete the projects we decide
we want. But, others are afraid that we won't get enough money that way.

We are also trying to decide what to do with money we might collect for
projects, if we give refunds to everyone and then ask for as much as
possible of that money to come back for projects.  Some folks are worrying
that funneling it through either the LLC or the Homeowners Association might
be fraught with tax implications.  Although it wouldn't actually be a
monetary gain to the LLC or the Homeowners Association, we are thinking we
might need to do something like create a special projects club.  etc. We
will be consulting a lawyer about our legal options.

There    are folks who are uncomfortable with letting go of projects that
were    part of the initial community vision as well as those who came into
the project thinking "yeah!    New construction means less money spent    on
improvements and updates".  And, there are those who would feel most
comfortable with the least amount of spending right now.

We all want to honor and support people who need their portion of the
leftover contingency, while, hopefully, completing the projects that will
make our community more livable for all.

In this context we are discussing what guiding principles we want to use in
making our decision.

We would be very interested in knowing what other communities that had
leftover contingency funds did with them.

We would also be interested in knowing what guiding principles, with regard
to money, other communities have come up with and how you came up with them.

Did you prioritize projects related to safety, such as fencing on stairs to
keep children from falling down, etc.?

Did you prioritize aesthetics or convenience?

Did you prioritize honoring income/assets disparity in your group?

Did you prioritize accessibility as something that you had to spend funds
on?

Did your group make a commitment to restore funding to projects that were
cut from the budget to make sure that it could be completed enough for
occupancy?

Did you return the leftover contingency and then raise money from donations
for desired projects?

In talking about it a bit with others, it is really a lot about issues of
what feels fair to everyone, rather than just financially equitable.  At
least that is my take on it.

We will be having a series of special meetings to deal with this indepth. So
any feedback on this would help me and hopefully others.

Coheartedly,

Sylvie Kashdan
skashdan [at] scn.org
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144
www.seattlecohousing.org



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