Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Taxe Exempt Expenses & the Idea of Cohousing Expenses

[Ellen Keyne Seebacher (elle]

On Sun, Feb 07, 2010 at 07:54:01PM -0500, Sharon Villines wrote:

> Some communities even have separate condo fees for social
> activities.  I think this is a false opposition and one that is not
> good for cohousing communities.

Then it's a good thing your cohousing community is able to roll all
expenses into one all-encompassing fee.  Ours is not; the state has
strict rules about what we can charge affordable-unit buyers for
condo fees, and the town has forbidden us (as a condition of our
building permit) to require "cohousing" fees from owners who don't
want to participate.  So we have to be clear about what's required to
keep our homeowners' association running (plowing and building
maintenance, for example) and what's optional.

I'm glad your model works for you.


        Ellen Seebacher (Mosaic Commons / Sawyer Hill Ecovillage,
          Berlin, Massachusetts)