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FAIRLANE MEADOWS
COOPERATOR
February
Volume 11, Issue 12 2009
CONTACTS: Annual Meeting
AN EDITORIAL BY PEG ZIMMERMANN
President:
Jan Warner Fairlane Meadows Cooperative offers you the very best low
889-1685 to moderate-income alternative to individual home ownership.
We are not renters. We communally own the property and as
Vice President: such each possess a share of stock that entitles us to rights
Kevin Segard and responsibilities. These include the responsibility to vote
3515 Fairwood Ct. for your choice of Board of Directors who govern the
890-4872 community on your behalf, the right to claim certain tax
Kevin.Segard@Diebold.com deductions when available to you, the responsibility to share
the costs involved in running the community, the right to
enjoy comfortable housing at an affordable cost in return for
Secretary/
participation in the process.
Newsletter Editor:
Peg Zimmermann How we participate varies. Some choose to pay carrying
3519 Fairwood Ct. charges in return for being left alone. Some choose to pay
(616) 531-2234 carrying charges in return for being actively involved. Others
margaretzimmermann lie in between. Each month the commonality of paying the
@att.net carrying charges assessed pools our efforts to cover costs
and hopefully keep living in a well cared for community
Pet Committee Chair affordable for those of us who make less then median
Donna Betras income.
3490 Fairmeadow Ct. The key is sharing. There are forty eight units on the
745-4107 (after 5pm) property and each of us contributes monetarily to the well
Donna.betras@yahoo.com being of the community. The board that is elected by the
membership calculates those carrying charges into a budget
Member At Large that pays for the wants and needs dictated by HUD, the state
Ron Losse’ and local governments, and the membership.
Your opportunity to contribute by voting for members of the
board occurs at the annual meeting. Please mark your
calendar and attend. It is March 23, 2009. Doors open at
6:00 PM for registration of proxies. The meeting begins at
Office Manager
7:00 PM.
Regular Maintenance
Paul Proctor This year we are also giving those who attend a chance to
(616) 530-9257 respond to a Satisfaction Survey. This short survey gives
Fairmeadows590@sbcglobal.net you an opportunity to let us know how we’re doing. It gives
you the opportunity to let us know your concerns in addition
Emergency Maintenance
to giving us a way to evaluate your satisfaction with Fairlane
(After Hours) Meadows Cooperative. Please clear your calendar to allow
(616)890-4872 you to attend in person or via proxy through another resident.
We choose to be affordable. In order to do so, we need to be
48 units strong. The current economy has us with empty
units. It is important for members to understand that if costs
See you at the next are being controlled and the number of memberships
meeting: decreases, the individual costs to maintain go up for those
who remain.
February 16, 2008 We need to advocate for our cooperative and fill those
Doors Open at 6PM vacancies. We each need to become marketing experts
Meeting starts among our family, friends, and associates to work together to
fill those empties and those that are surely coming.
promptly at 6:30 PM
This is a wonderful place to live and your opportunity to
contribute your ideas and vote for your choice of board
ANNUAL MEETING members is on the horizon. See you at the meetings, both
March 23, 2009 February 16th and March XXth.
Meeting begins
7:00 PM
The Community
Office Building
FAIRLANE MEADOWS
Pet Registrations TAX TIME Three Places to Find Help
were due in Paying to have your taxes done is one way to get them done. But there is
help out there for those looking to economize. There are many tools to
January help get the job done and this year there are lots of ways to prepare your
own tax return for free, some of which you can take advantage of no matter
what your income.
Fairlane Meadows allows
common household pets defined The newest is from the IRS – Free File Fillable Forms service
as follows: Pluses:
No limit to the income you can report using these forms
BIRD – including canary, You can enter data, save it and come back to it later and add
more data
parakeet, finch, and other
Lots of forms available as part of the package, including
species that are normally kept business income, capital gains, employee business expenses
caged. Limit 3. Birds of prey a variety of credits and more
are not permitted. You can produce your estimated tax vouchers 0 but can’t
transmit payment from the system
FISH – in tanks or aquariums. They will do the math
Not to exceed 20 gallons in You can get your refund directly deposited to your bank
capacity. Poisonous or account
If you owe back taxes, child support etc., you will be notified
dangerous fish or turtles are
about monies to be withheld from your refund and why
NOT permitted. You can transmit your completed return directly to IRS and
get proof of filing or print it out and mail it in
CAT – male or female must be Minuses:
neutered/spayed, and de- You can’t file your state form electronically from the system
clawed. Limit one. There are no error messages or automatic prompts telling
you to add forms
At NO time will Fairlane The Free File Alliance (FFA)
Meadows approved exotic pets Due to the practice of some online tax software companies of pushing the
including: Snakes, monkeys, costly and profitable refund anticipation loans (RAL) in the past, IRS
and game, etc. Only one type prohibited FFA members from offering RALs a couple of years ago.
pet will be allowed per unit. Several companies dropped out, since they still reap profits from
Every pet must be registered at encouraging files to pay exorbitant fees to get their refunds in less than 10
days. This year, the IRS also cut off any upsell products whatsoever. That
the time it is acquired and
reduces the chance of impulse buys. However, you may still prepare and
renewed annually with the office. file state returns for a fee.
Registration is required each FFA members provide you with regular tax software so there is no trouble
year in January. Payment is $20 with calculations and forms, as you would with the IRS’s new service.
Most of the services provide interview based input pages. As in the past,
annually. You must complete a
you will be able to deposit your refund electronically and get confirmation
new Pet Registration form. from IRS that you have e-filed your federal tax return. Three services are
Proof of shots, spaying or available in Spanish this year. Not all services support all states or have all
neutering, and de-clawing for forms from this free service. You will want to shop the members to see
cats is also required along with a which one offers the forms you need.
photo of the pet. To use this service your income cannot exceed $56,000. And not all the
services wills tore your data to carry over to future years.
Those who did not register by
You can tap into the service at the main IRS website: http://irs.gov/efile
the end of the month have
received a fine letter. All fines TURBO TAX Free Version
are taken out of payments What’s the difference between the FFA Free Service and the Free Edition
before monthly carrying charges. offered by Turbo Tax on their home page? Plenty!
If you no longer have the pet in
Includes:
question, you need to contact A new, intuitive question/answer path
the office or the Pet Committee Live Community support – you can research a database of
for review. Having a pet is a questions and answers or post your own questions and get
responsibility we take seriously. help
Please remember that you need Free audit support: If you get an audit letter from IRS,
to let us know when you bring a TurboTax will help you identify which form letter it is. The
service provides you with a template to use for your response
new pet into your home and
and tells you what documents to gather to prepare for your
when you no longer have a pet audit.
on the premesis. The data you enter in your file stays in the system and carries
over to next year, without re-entering it.
You can prepare your state return for a fee of $25.95 per
state.
Of course, none of the premium services are included in the free version –
like ItsDeductible that helps you value your charitable contributions or
Gainskeeper to provide basis data for stock sales.
However, most of us filing 1040A or 1040EZ and other simple returns using
the standard deduction can use this service.
Although it may be fun to file online, especially for free, those who find
computers frutstrating and impersonal can take advantage of IRs’s VITA
program (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (call 1-800-829-
1040 for a location near you) or the Tax Counseling for the Elderly
program (call 1-888-227-7669 for site locations.
