Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Counting the # of Residents for Calculating HOA Dues ...

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Mac Thomson <macthomson [at] me.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by Fred of
the Cohousing-L management team <cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org>

After putting image refered to temporarily at
http://www.justcomm.org/temp/temp2.jpg

--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
This is from our Budget & Assessments Agreement 
(https://www.heartwoodcohousing.com/budget--assessments.html 
<https://www.heartwoodcohousing.com/budget--assessments.html>)…

> All homeowners are assessed monthly. Assessments are allocated 50% on a per 
> lot basis and 50% on a per person basis. For purposes of making this 
> calculation, the census of how many people are living in each home is updated 
> at the beginning of each month. People who intend to live here or do in fact 
> live here for less than 30 days are excluded from the census. That means that 
> anyone who intends to live here for 30 or more days gets included in the 
> census and also anyone who in fact lives here for 30 or more days gets 
> included in the census, regardless of their original intention. A person is 
> removed from the census if they intend to or do in fact move away for more 
> than 30 days. Children 5 years old or younger are excluded from the census.
>
> ​Additionally, people with special needs may be excluded from the census. 
> Special needs include various types of life-limiting impairments: physical, 
> developmental, behavioral/emotional, and sensory. Because of the wide variety 
> and degree of special needs, each situation will be considered on a case by 
> case basis. If a household would like to have someone in their household 
> excluded from the census due to special needs, the household must request an 
> exclusion from the Steering Team. The Steering Team determines whether 
> someone qualifies for a special needs exclusion based on whether the 
> individual requires significant care or supervision above and beyond what’s 
> typical for people of a similar age to meet their basic needs, prevent 
> physical self-injury or injury to others, and/or to avoid placement in an 
> institutional facility. After being granted a special needs exclusion, a 
> household will notify the Steering Team if there’s ever any change in the 
> person’s impairment that w
 ould cause them to no longer qualify for the special needs exclusion.
>
> For purposes of updating the census, “staying” in someone’s home is 
> considered synonymous with “living” in someone’s home.  Also, any definitions 
> such as Guest, Renter, Member, etc. from the Membership agreement have no 
> bearing on the census.  It is simply a count of people living in each home, 
> presumably consuming community resources.


To keep the census, the Finance team sends an email each month to our community 
chat asking if there have been any changes since last month. The system works 
pretty smoothly and easily and seems about as good as we can come up with to 
fairly allocate costs amongst households. I’ve pasted last month's email below. 
The email includes a screenshot of a table with each house listed and their 
census counts from previous months. I don’t think the screenshot will show up 
for you due to limitations of this coho-l listserv. If you’d like a copy of the 
email sent directly to you so you get the screenshot image, send me a private 
email request (macthomson [at] mac.com <mailto:macthomson [at] mac.com>).

Cheers,
Mac

--
Mac Thomson

Heartwood Cohousing
Southwest Colorado
http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com


"There never was a good war or a bad peace."
       - Benjamin Franklin
**********************************************************
> On Nov 15, 2021, at 1:03 PM, 'Mac Thomson' via HW-BIZ <chat-heartwoodmembers 
> [at] googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Time for the monthly census updates. Here’s how it works:
> About the 15th of each month, I post the census notice on the chat.
> By the 22nd of each month, any household with an anticipated change in census 
> for the next month must notify me of the change.
> On the 23rd of each month, I send the census to Kate.
>
> I’ve pasted the language dealing with the census from our Budget & 
> Assessments Agreement at the bottom. In a nutshell, here is the question for 
> you to answer:
> On the first of the month, how many people over 5 years old and who have not 
> been granted a special needs exclusion will be living in your home?
> Please count anyone who will have lived there for 30 days or who intends to 
> live there for 30 days.
> Please count anyone who may be away for less than 30 days, but who normally 
> lives there (has been included in previous census).
>
> If you are in an ambiguous situation and don’t know what your count should 
> be, let me know and we’ll come up with a number. The count is based on the 
> honor system. Please be fair to all your neighbors by giving an accurate 
> count according to our agreement.
>
> Please note that if you miss the deadline on the 22nd and your invoice 
> overstates your census, we will not make an adjustment to a future invoice. 
> That’s too much work for the bookkeeper and all involved. You are expected to 
> do your part to make the whole system work.
>
> Please let me know if you have any questions.
>
> ——————————————————
> Pasted below are the monthly census counts and names. The highlighted counts 
> and names reflect my understanding of anticipated census changes. Please let 
> me know by the 22nd if any of the info shown in the attached table of monthly 
> census counts needs revising.
>
> Note that some homes have more names than their census count. That’s because 
> some residents don’t get included in the count (kids 5 and under, people who 
> have been granted a special needs exclusion, etc).
>
>
>
> Thanks,
> Mac
> (for the Finance team)
>
> --
> Mac Thomson
>
> Heartwood Cohousing
> Southwest Colorado
> http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com <http://www.heartwoodcohousing.com/>
>
>
> "If it sounds good, it is good."
>      - Duke Ellington
> **********************************************************
> From our Budget & Assessments Agreement
>> All homeowners are assessed monthly. Assessments are allocated 50% on a per 
>> lot basis and 50% on a per person basis. For purposes of making this 
>> calculation, the census of how many people are living in each home is 
>> updated at the beginning of each month. People who intend to live here or do 
>> in fact live here for less than 30 days are excluded from the census. That 
>> means that anyone who intends to live here for 30 or more days gets included 
>> in the census and also anyone who in fact lives here for 30 or more days 
>> gets included in the census, regardless of their original intention. A 
>> person is removed from the census if they intend to or do in fact move away 
>> for more than 30 days. Children 5 years old or younger are excluded from the 
>> census.
>>
>> ​Additionally, people with special needs may be excluded from the census. 
>> Special needs include various types of life-limiting impairments: physical, 
>> developmental, behavioral/emotional, and sensory. Because of the wide 
>> variety and degree of special needs, each situation will be considered on a 
>> case by case basis. If a household would like to have someone in their 
>> household excluded from the census due to special needs, the household must 
>> request an exclusion from the Steering Team. The Steering Team determines 
>> whether someone qualifies for a special needs exclusion based on whether the 
>> individual requires significant care or supervision above and beyond what’s 
>> typical for people of a similar age to meet their basic needs, prevent 
>> physical self-injury or injury to others, and/or to avoid placement in an 
>> institutional facility. After being granted a special needs exclusion, a 
>> household will notify the Steering Team if there’s ever any change in the 
>> person’s impairment that 
 would cause them to no longer qualify for the special needs exclusion.
>>
>> For purposes of updating the census, “staying” in someone’s home is 
>> considered synonymous with “living” in someone’s home.  Also, any 
>> definitions such as Guest, Renter, Member, etc. from the Membership 
>> agreement have no bearing on the census.  It is simply a count of people 
>> living in each home, presumably consuming community resources.

>



**********************************************************

> On Nov 28, 2021, at 8:19 AM, Alice Alexander <aliceanne4 [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
> A question for those cohousing communities that live in a condo or
> multiresidential building, and jointly meter utilities and building costs
> (or anyone who knows of other communities that are similarly structured):
>
> How do you count the # of residents in each condo for the purposes of
> calculating HOA dues? Specifically:
>
> * Owners (and when they are away, renting or not renting, does that number
> continue to be applied or is it increased or decreased?)
> * Children - do you count children and if so at what age?
> * Renters - how do you count those renting? or is it covered via # of
> owners?
>
> Many thanks.
> --
> Alice Alexander
> Durham Cohousing
> Durham, No Carolina
>
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