NEW YORK CITY

Even the best-financed condo and co-op boards can feel a strain on their budgets. With so many fixed costs, boards have few places where a budget can be cut. So why not try saving money through bulk purchasing? There are four areas where it's most feasible: electricity, insurance, cable television and physical items like appliances and windows.

Talk about your real estate being underwater: According to a new report by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, updated flood-zone maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cover 84,596 structures in the five boroughs, up from 23,885 in the 2010 maps. That comes out to 400,000 residents, the report says. These newly analyzed flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs), which were proposed last year and are awaiting federal approval, could increase flood-insurance rates by as much as 18 percent per year for similar levels of coverage, the report says.

And more increases could be coming since, the report adds, "The currently proposed maps, which are due to take effect in 2016, were initiated in 2010 and as a result do not even take into account flooding patterns observed during Superstorm Sandy." The report urges the City to invest in "resiliency projects that will safeguard our shorefront communities," valued at $129 billion. It's also a whole lot of people's lives and livelihoods. On the other hand, there are also a lot of luxury waterfront apartments — so should taxpayer money also protect those private developments with deep-pocket owners? Just asking.

You're a co-op or condo board president and most of the residents in the building don't really know the super, the management or even one another. How can you go about bringing people together in your building and beyond? Here are some tips for creating a sense of community among your residents.

A lot has been written about secondhand cigarette smoke, and some New York co-ops and condos, including Manhattan's massive Zeckendorf Towers, have initiated building-wide smoking bans. But what of secondhand pot smoke migrating from one apartment to another? Though pot has been "decriminalized to some degree," writes Ronda Kaysen in The New York Times' "Ask Real Estate" section, it's still illegal in smokable form — medical marijuana not being smokable — so that's a complicating factor when a neighbor is lighting up. Assuming that you're neighborly and don't want to harsh his mellow, here are some options to keep yourself and your family from possible contact high and lung irritation. As for what a co-op or condo board ought to do, well, that's a joint of a different color.

It's on the books, it gets little attention and yet it is one of a board's most powerful tools to make co-op or condo owners take responsibility for paying their monthly maintenance or common changes on time. Yet time and again, confusion over how late fees work ends up costing boards much time and many headaches, without solving the issue.

Only four people in the United States have been diagnosed with Ebola: three in Dallas and Dr. Craig Spencer, who is currently being treated in New York. The details of his case have sparked concerns among some board members, who are wondering how they ought to proceed should a resident be submitting him or herself to self-quarantine.

Well, well, well ... which is exactly what we're talking about. Geothermal wells, that is, which Habitat has written about since 2008. Why? Because depending on its viability for your particular co-op or condo's location, a geothermal energy project could save you enough bucks you'll want to yell, "Drill, baby, drill!" Although, as BrickUnderground.com's handy primer on geothermal explains, these aren't necessarily wells in the traditional Lassie-has-to-rescue-Timmy-fro sense, but rather a series of underground pipes and pumps that circulate groundwater from the 55-degree good Earth in a way that helps regulate the temperature in your building. It's actually pretty fascinating. Plus, there are government incentive programs to help defray the cost of installation. Saving money through science ... we can dig it.

There is nothing certain but death and taxes. And there are peaceful deaths surrounded by loved ones and miserable, horrible deaths involving ... well, you don't want to know. Similarly, there are fair, reasonable taxes and then there's the tax structure visited upon New York co-ops and condos like a plague upon biblical Egypt. That's cooperatives and most condominiums are "Class 2" residential buildings, which pay ridiculously more in property taxes than do single- to four-family homes and brownstones, which are "Class 1," clearly in every sense of the term. Ronda Kaysen's latest "Ask Real Estate" column in The New York Times answers two reader's questions about this very topic, and concludes, in that oh-so-Timesian way, that, "The potential for baffling inequities is huge." Unfortunately, the potential for a fix anytime soon is miniscule.

No one like to imagine fraud or theft from a co-op or condo board director, property manager or vendor. But it happens, so make sure board members understand these basic protections.

A READER ASKS: Our co-op board has gotten some criticism lately about being too small and insular. Shareholders are starting to complain that we're not inclusive enough, and now some directors are using that as an opportunity to point out that they are a bit overworked. How many members do we need? Who should serve on the board? And how can we organize the board so that it represents all shareholders, works efficiently and preserves the knowledge obtained by existing board members?