As my name rose quickly to the top of the waiting list here at Chimacum, I knew that something dramatic was happening. That something was a big increase in the annual fees, due to some major septic tank failures and rumored mishandling of the situation. As a rule, I ignore rumors around here, and I regard absolutely all information as rumor until it’s on paper, but I set aside twice the expected fee until I got the right number.
The bill I got today is even higher than that. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I will have to dip into my boating fund to pay it.
It’s a built-in risk of the co-op business model: there’s no way to acquire capital when something big and unexpected comes up, except by dinging the members. I knew all that.