The price of an administrator
“That which costs
little is less valued.”
—Miguel de Cervantes
“If you have to ask how much it
costs, you can't afford it.”
—J. P. Morgan
YCC # 42 needed an administrator, there is little doubt about that—even
though a few owners preferred a different one—as the corporation was a
politically ungovernable.
Yet the price of having Andrew Atrens replace the board was very high.
Administrator fees
It cost $100,000 a year to have Mr. Atrens replace an unpaid board of
directors.
Year
|
Budget |
Actual |
Over budget |
2005
|
$0 |
$0 |
|
2006
|
$0 |
$52,357 |
|
2007
|
$100,000 |
$131,823 |
$31,823 |
2008
|
$100,000 |
$108,654 |
$8,654 |
2009
|
$100,000 |
$114,403 |
$14,403 |
2010
|
$80,000 |
$100,442 |
$20,442 |
2011
|
|
|
|
2012
|
|
|
|
Total
|
$380,000 |
$507,679 |
$75,322 |
Legal fees
Year
|
Budget |
Actual |
Over budget |
2005
|
—
|
$60,327 |
|
2006
|
$69,008 |
$94,703 |
$25,695 |
2007
|
$30,000 |
$243,434 |
$213,434 |
2008
|
$47,500 |
$144,352 |
$96,852 |
2009
|
$128,000 |
$135,582 |
$7,582 |
2010
|
$80,000 |
$155,136 |
$75,136 |
2011
|
|
|
|
2012
|
|
|
|
Total
|
$354,508 |
$773,207 |
$418,699 |
The political battles between the elected board and the owners now
turned into legal battles between the administrator and a few of the
owners.
That too proved to be very expensive.
High price of
political discord
Between the administrators hourly fees and the legal bills, the owners
paid $1,280,886 over five years.
Aside from getting the city work orders completed, what good came out
of this ongoing political bickering?
Did the corporation's owners learn that they have to elect a credible
board?
Did they learn the huge price that will be paid when people
fight to
become directors to satisfy themselves or only some
of the owners
instead of working for the betterment of all?
Finally, did they learn that they need to pay for preventive
maintenance so that expensive premature failures don't happen?
When the condo corporaion returns to self-governance, we will find out.
Lawyers chairing
AGMs—that too is expensive
Something to think about.
When I was going through some of YCC #42's court documents, I saw where
Geoffrey R. Pacey billed the condo $3,492.00 plus $174.60 GST to attend
and chair the 2009 Annual General Meeting.
(He charged 9.7 hours at $360.00 an hour.)
That is a full month's pay for a lot of working Canadians.
Many condos have the corporation lawyer chair AGMs when there is no
good reason to. All administrators, property managers and many
presidents are fully capable of chairing the owner meetings
and it
would save the condo a lot of money if they would.
How many times have you seen something at your condo that needed to be
repaired that could be easily done with a spare $3,666.60, money that
the corporation doesn't have?
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