UPDATED January 5th

Proposed Budget Review Meeting Monday January 8th 7:30pm

SPECIAL UNIT OWNER MEETING AGENDA

For Review Of The PTCA 2024/2025 Proposed Operating Budget

Monday January 8th, 2024

7:30pm  Call to Order

This is a meeting of the owners. The meeting chair is expected to be the Board President Michael Parrie who will bring the meeting to order, direct discussion and call on participants to speak as necessary. Please be courteous and respectful to those speaking. Wait to be recognized by the meeting chair before speaking.

Report Items: 

• Presentation of Proposed Budget and Comments from Board. (For link to proposed budget, Click Here.
• Unit Owner Questions and Comments Regarding the Proposed Operating Budget for the 2024/2025 Fiscal Year, Distributed by U.S. Mail the week of December 18, 2023.
• Any Further Considerations.

Adjournment

After a motion and second from the floor, the Unit Owners may vote to adjourn the Special Meeting of Unit Owners.

A sample resolution for an owner from the floor follows: “I move to adjourn the January 8th, 2024 Special Meeting of the Park Tower Condo Association Unit Owners for review of the proposed operating budget for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, at___PM.”

ORIGINAL POST December 2023

NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE UNIT OWNERS

TO DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR 2024-2025

To be held Monday, January 8, 2024, 7:30 p.m., in the 2^nd Floor Party Room

Adoption of budget to be considered at Board Meeting to follow Special Meeting (Monday, January 8th)

From Board President Michael Parrie, Also Sent Via US Mail To All Owners Of Record:

Dear Owner,

Please find enclosed for your review the proposed annual budget for the fiscal year March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2025, as presented by our Management team, and reviewed and edited by the Budget and Finance Commission and the Board of Directors.  An initial draft was reviewed line item by line item, on three consecutive Saturdays in November.

We are looking at a 4% assessment increase for the upcoming year.  Based on the 5-year budget and 10-year projection closely following our Reserve Study, at this time we can expect a 4% increase for the following two years, too, through 2026-2027.  Of course, this is subject to change based on current conditions at the time, such as natural disasters driving up insurance rates and inflation.  We would love to keep assessments capped at 3.5%, but that would not be reflecting reality.  In general, please plan your budget moving forward for these potential higher increases in future years.

[To follow along and review or download the proposed budget, Click Here.]

A primary reason for the increase is that building insurance rates continue to go up.  In fact, over half of a million dollars of our budget is attributed to insurance costs.  In addition, water and other utilities, property taxes, union payroll (Local 1 and 727), metals, electronics, supplies, and material all drive up the cost.

Other costs add up, too.  You can make a difference in reducing printing, postage, and labor costs by opting for electronic mailings.  Please fill out the attached form and turn into the management office.  For example, this paper budget mailing could have been delivered electronically and saved the association and owners money.

The Go Grocer market has paid minimum rent over the past year, thereby creating a budget deficit.  The rent was originally negotiated to cover the unit’s assessments and property taxes, yet the planned income is not coming in.  This means that owners are subsidizing this amenity and convenience.  Over the upcoming year, the Board will consider the long-term future of this space, such as pursuing legal action on eviction and thereby losing Go Grocer.  The space could be rented, or sold if 66.7% of owners approved of a sale.  In the meantime, you as owners can better support Go Grocer by giving it your business.  We informed Go Grocer that $0 monthly rent is not an option.  Since then, they agreed to pay $2,000 per month, which is better than $0 but less than the original rent.

What’s more, we subsidize the health club compared to the expense to operate it, and arguably the garage, with lower rates in comparison to other buildings in the area.  The Board observed our parking rates to be lower than other buildings and has attempted to find a more middle-of-the-road balance.  Moving forward, parking rates are planned to go up each year, consistent with the assessments, so that the burden of the garage will be more equitable to non-parkers.

In order to maintain an appropriate reserve fund balance, we expect to pursue another reserve study update to ensure we are preparing for replacement and expenses. This is particularly important considering the inflationary period we’ve been in. However, in some cases we’ve found that the outlook may be more positive for some major projects. So, the proposed budget is relying on recommendations from the earlier 2022 reserve study, but where possible we are considering the most recent information we’ve got.  For example, the future replacement of the heating boilers was projected to be almost $4 million in 5 years. However, to better understand this project, the Board engaged Elara Engineering. They are completing a study, but gave us a preliminary estimate of $1.5 million plus the cost of inflation to replace our heating boilers with new technology.

As always, the contributions to the reserve follow Reserve Advisors’ recommendations for a 50-year-old building, as closely as possible.  Indeed, we need to keep this reserve healthy for upcoming expenses, such as the huge expense of curtain wall sealants in 2030-2031 at a projected cost of $4.3 Million.  We would like to keep our building’s status of NEVER HAVING A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT, and therefore the budget you are presented with is proposed to assume we will contribute the appropriate amount to the reserve to do so.

Some positive news is that our bulk cable/internet cost is going down for this year, thanks to the negotiation done by Management and the Ad Hoc Bulk Cable/Internet Commission.

Besides assessments, we are increasing some fees and rates for ancillary services.  Washers and dryers are 5% increases.

LAUNDRY ROOM RATES

PARKING GARAGE RATES:

OTHER FEES AND CHARGES

We have experienced an increase in after hours or weekend moves, despite a current fine of $400 plus $100 misuse of the service elevator.  This penalty has not been high enough to discourage this bad behavior.  As a result, we are proposing the fee for unscheduled moves to be $1,000, plus an illegal move fine of $1,000. We are working out exactly how such a policy would function with the guidance of the Association’s legal counsel.  The office will continue to discourage after hour or weekend moves, but if an owner chooses to do this and inconveniences other owners, then there will be a high cost associated on March 1^st and thereafter.

As you are aware, we have worked on the riser project over several years to replace the original pipes in each tier in order to avoid leaks and flooding.  After a one-year pause for working on the hallway redecorating, we are resuming work on the risers.  Overall, reserve projects over $50,000 in 2024-2025 and their anticipated costs include:

The proposed annual reserve contribution increases $87,100, to $2,066,800. This is very consistent with recommendations in the Reserve Study and was closely considered as our team worked to determine what our capital repairs and replacements needs are. 

Please join us at a Special Meeting to discuss the proposed budget on Monday, January 8, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. in the 2^nd Floor Party Room. After hearing from fellow owners, the Board will consider the enclosed proposed budget for adoption at the Board meeting to immediately follow. All owners are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion.

Sincerely,

Michael Parrie

Board President

Park Tower Condominium Association

For a copy of the full proposed budget, along with the Board Presidents signed cover letter, Click Here. This includes the application for Owners to give consent for electronic delivery of Notices such as this for the budgets.