Try contacting the Union directly at 212-388-3800 ask for the contract department.

First, I would not call the union for clarification. The union will recruit all your employees, i.e., supers, porters, etc.

If the resident manager is a glamorized superintendent, who cares about the title, the resident manager is also recruited.

The best bet is to speak with the co-op counsel; he/she may refer the question to a colleage dealing in labor law and obtain clarification. Optionally, he/she may refer you to a labor attorney to handle the matter if the union is getting too close to your employees and you wish to fight the union.

AdC

First, I would not call the union for clarification. The union will recruit all your employees, i.e., supers, porters, etc.

If the resident manager is a glamorized superintendent, who cares about the title, the resident manager is also recruited.

The best bet is to speak with the co-op counsel; he/she may refer the question to a colleage dealing in labor law and obtain clarification. Optionally, he/she may refer you to a labor attorney to handle the matter if the union is getting too close to your employees and you wish to resist the union.

AdC

Yes, we resident managers are union.

hi - do you have a tax ceriotori (sp?) lawyer working to keep down your taxes?
Can you let me know the answer by posting. Thanks

Also have checked your water bill? we got 20k back for over-billing. If you take good , effective measures - you can reduce your increase to 7%

Hi, Cathye,

Our maintenance is going up slightly (about 4%) because the city council is increasing property taxes 7%, electricity will be going up as much as 10%, and with few apartment sales we are earning only a tiny bit from flip taxes. On top of that, inflation in 2008 is at about 3.5%.

One of any board's salient responsibilities is to keep the business running in the black. That way your investment remains valuable (for a different way of running a business, Google "Lehman Brothers" or "AIG").

Investors look for sound businesses when they want to invest money and get a decent return. That holds true whether they're investing in Citibank (a bad decision) or a co-op (a good decision, at least in the case of the one I live in).

Remember, a co-op is like any other business: it buys goods (utilities, fuel, paint), hires employees (super, property manager, accountant), and faces uncertainty (will the city council raise taxes again?). All of those costs change with inflation. And by "change" I mean "increase."

Any corporation, whether it's a car maker or a co-op, that doesn't budget wisely for increased costs is bound to fail. (If you're not convinced, Google "GM.") A co-op that doesn't raise maintenance fees to match its costs either has a tremendous sum in reserves and lives off the interest (think: Park Avenue) or needs a new board, one that isn't afraid to face reality even when shareholders are.

HG - If you want to amend your by-laws to say that board candidates can't be in legal disputes with the coop and a BM must resign if he is in such a dispute, talk to your coop attorney. You have to notify all SHs of the exact wording of the amendment before it is voted on, get the required SH vote, etc.

You said you had a BM in a legal dispute with the coop who benefited from talking to mgmt and other BMs about it. Mgmt and other BMs should stay out of discussions like that, and a BM shouldn't "discuss" his legal dispute with the coop attorney. His attorney can, but the coop attorney represents the coop as a whole. He shouldn't "discuss" or give advice to any individual SHs who are in a legal dispute/lawsuit with the coop. It's not appropriate, and it's not in the best interests of the coop as a whole.

As for qualifications of BMs, I know bldgs who amended their by-laws to state that a person must be a SH for 1 year (one bldg requires 2 years) before he can run for the board. Not a bad idea. It gives people who never lived in a coop time to familiarize themselves with the coop "concept" and get to know their bldg a bit before they attempt to be one of the people who govern it.

Leave this alone...Why are you going there?

I know i know. but am going there for good reason. corrupt super. sleeping board. inequal repairs and favors for residents depending on $. need to balance it out.

During my 30 years of coop management I NEVER had a client report cash tips. If the building really wants to pi-- off the staff this is the best way to do it. Tips is what motivates them as much as their salary, if not more.

People like you make it hard to keep good employees in any building.

sal - this was your 12/5 posting:
"I know i know. but am going there for good reason. corrupt super. sleeping board. inequal repairs and favors for residents depending on $. need to balance it out."

I wouldn't worry about reporting cash tips. If I were you, I'd focus on finding a new super, waking up your board (or getting other people elected to it), and having your property mgr handle and schedule repairs for residents on a fair, equal basis. And that's the best "tip" I can give you. ;-)

they are not good employees. this is the problem. pleaseunderstand.

I'm a resident manager, if the employees are not any good or dont follow company procedure then you need to make a change. This will give your building a bad reputation were no credible worker will want to work for your building.

Run for office and find out before it is too late.

I always found Sonnenschein, Sherman, and Deutch, 888 Seventh Ave, to be very competent.

We just announced a 12% increase, so consider yourself lucky.

fuel is the same, labor did not go up. having raised ours considerably in the last few years, there is no reason to raise your mntnce if you are taking PRO_ACTIVE cost-cutting measures - supplies, insurance, energy costs, etc.

Newbie - We are raising our maintenance 5% in 2009 too. NYC real estate taxes are going up (7%, I believe), and who knows what will happen in 2009 in this economy. IMO, unless your co-op is very well fixed financially, a maintenance increase is a good move.

Yea! You are lucky we have 10% !!

you need a very good Tax Certiorari ASAP/. get a new one if your regular one is not doing as well as he could be.

9% to cover property taxes.

Green@metrogroupny.com

. I was board treasurer threatened by resident, As always, it's a bit more complicated . Feel free to contact me if interested.

Regards,Elise

Are you Elise Brodsky from NYC?

I'm interested in the table lamp that doubles as a security camera, which was in the New Products section maybe a month ago. (It's here: http://www.habitatmag.com/publication_content/previous_new_products/brickhouse_nightvision_dvr_spy_lamp)

Does anyone out there have experience with surreptitous security recording? I see security cameras hanging from buildings on the street all the time, without a sign saying "you are being videotaped." Do we need to put a sign in our lobby if we've got a security camera? Is the law different for an obvious security camera, no matter how small, or a hidden camera? A lot of elevators have essentially hidden cameras, with no "you are being videotaped" signs.

Before I go to the rest of my board, I want to have good information, and wanted to check with fellow board members before going to the board attorney and racking up fees.