When the Board announced the $850 special assessment, their notice was full of vague wording and selective math. But when you look at the actual year-end financials, the truth jumps right off the page. Here’s the line-by-line reality of surpluses vs deficits:
âś… Surpluses
- Gas: +$34,192
- Repairs – Heating System: +$15,472
- Audit: +$1,278
Total Surplus: +$50,942
❌ Deficits
- Hydro: –$7,443
- Water: –$15,128
- Repairs – General: –$12,012
- Repairs – Plumbing: –$15,688
- Cleaning Supplies: –$907
- Elevator: –$11,097
- Fire Alarm / Hydrant: –$779
- Waste Removal: –$5,559
- Wages – Superintendent: –$3,267
- Insurance: –$4,153
- Legal: 🚨 –$67,323
- Water Treatment: –$1,905
- Office Expenses: –$5,514
- Condo Authority Fee: –$176
- Landscaping: –$2,671
- Pest Control: –$792
Total Deficit: –$153,412
⚖️ The Balance
- Surpluses: +$50,942
- Deficits: –$153,412
- Net Shortfall: –$102,470
🚨 The Legal Elephant in the Room
Here’s the part they desperately want you to miss:
Legal fees alone account for 43.6% of the total deficit.
That’s nearly half of the shortfall – blown on fighting battles the Board chose to wage and then lost.
🕰️ Then vs Now: The Board’s Double Standard
Then (From Past Letters)
📩 “Legal costs are the main trigger for financial pressures.”
📩 “Unfortunately, litigation is costly, but we have had no choice but to protect the Corporation.”
📩 “The Board has been forced to allocate significant resources to legal matters in order to uphold fairness.”
They wanted you to blame legal costs when it suited their story.
Now (Special Assessment Notice)
📩 “The Corporation has faced higher than expected operating costs in various categories.”
📩 “A special assessment of $850 per unit is required to restore balance.”
Notice anything missing? The word “legal” is not at the center of their message anymore. No acknowledgment that nearly half the deficit comes from the courtroom, not from lightbulbs or pest control.
đź’ˇ The Takeaway
This isn’t about bad luck on utilities or a tough winter on gas. Those numbers balance themselves out.
The deficit exists because the Board made the conscious choice to pour your money into legal fees – and nearly half of the red ink comes from that decision.
If they were honest, the notice of special assessment would have just said:
“We lost in court. Now you pay for it.”
Disclaimer:
The financial figures in this post are taken directly from the official records of WNCC No. 37, obtained under the rights granted to owners by Section 55 of the Ontario Condominium Act, 1998. These figures are presented exactly as recorded in the corporation’s financial statements and balance sheets. No personal owner information has been included. Analysis and commentary are the author’s, based solely on the publicly accessible corporate financial data.
