There were 136 units in the Champlain Towers. That adds up to over $2.1 million per year. Obviously you have to adjust for inflation but over forty years that’s a lot of money.
Not nearly as much as you think. Maintaining and operating a building of that size costs a lot of money.. and frankly condo associations are often run by busy body idiots. Much like HOAs..
The difference is when a HOA is run by nincompoops individual homes do not suffer from lack of maintenance and repair due to lack of funds or lack of appropriate oversight
If a condo board is incompetent, well everyone in the building and the building itself can suffer.
I have no idea what happened here... time will tell.
Incompetence? Negligence? Sink Hole?
“Obviously you have to adjust for inflation but over forty years that’s a lot of money.”
I served as treasurer of a condo tower of the same size in Florida. Dues were $3200 per quarter per unit (2010), or close to the same as the Champlain Towers. Those dues covered no reserves. Ongoing expenses funded by the reserves were property insurance (huge in Florida for buildings on the water due to hurricanes), liability insurance, flood insurance, D&O liability insurance, property taxes, electricity for all of the common areas and clubhouse, legal fees, tax preparation accounting fees, and pool upkeep. The complex employed a full time maintenance man and two full time helpers to kept the common areas clean and handle minor repairs. Plus dues paid for a property management company to oversee the management and administration (bill collection/payment, oversight of employees, advising the board on a myriad of issues). Add to that the cost of water and cable TV for all units which was included in the dues. Groundskeeping was another significant expense— shrubbery grows fast as does grass in Florida. Trash collection and hauling. In addition routine maintenance - replacing sprinkler heads, exterior lights, touch up painting, caulking, electrical repairs when outlet short out, plumber costs if a pipe in the wall breaks or the sprinkler system has an issue, debris cleanup after storms.
The ongoing expenses incurred to keep a 136 unit condo building operating are significant. Unit owners are only responsible for what is inside the interior drywall of their individual unit. Any electrical or plumbing problems inside the walls are responsibility of the Association. A window cracks in a storm, or due to a bird strike, and it is the Association’s responsibility to repair.