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recently our board increased our parking garage fee. This led to strong opposition and quite vocal complaints from people affected by this decision during our annual co op meeting.
A petition from the majority of garage occupants and some other occupants requesting reconsideration of this decision was subsequently presented to each board member. The minutes of the next board meeting state the petition was submitted. That's all.
In a newsletter following this thre was note to the effect that a petition was received but "no action was taken by the board."
Is this legal? Should it have been handled this way? Please let us know. Thank you
As for the garage increase, it was noted that people who own their own houses are renting out their driveways for more that we pay in our co-op garage. Cooperators stated this was like comparing apples and oranges. Also, the financial report at the general meeting showed our finances were in good orders especially since we had just increased our maintenance the month prior to the garage increase. What would have been more acceptable was if a reconsideration of the previous board's actions would have been taken. The fact is we elected 3 new members to the board at the general meeting and they were not given a chance to reconsider this decision.. The president refusing to allow it to come to the new board has sewn a lot of ill will on t he part of those who thought their views would at least be brought up again.
Curious, how long has it been since your co-op raised the garage rent? How much are you paying now?
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Yes, setting fees for amenities is certainly within the board's authority. They aren't required to abide by a petition signed by shareholders. It would have been nicer if they'd explained the reason for the increase -- something along the lines of, "We felt our garage fee was too low based on comparable figures in the area, and with all our expenses going up, we believed that raising this fee was preferable to a general increase in maintenance." However, no such explanation is required and the shareholders have no recourse other than kicking out the whole board and electing one that will repeal the increased garage fee. But of course that may well annoy a lot of OTHER shareholders ...
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