Welcome to this special edition newsletter, open and free for all readers. If you care about fair condo fees, transparent management, and sound cost accounting practices, this story from Chicago’s iconic former John Hancock Center is a must-read.

The Issue: Bulk Cable Billing That Breaks the Rules

After more than four years of owner requests, Sudler Property Management and the 175 East Delaware Place HOA finally separated bulk Cable TV and Internet fees from regular assessments. This long-awaited change was supposed to bring equity and transparency. Instead, the board approved a plan to divide these costs equally among all 703 legal condo units—a move that is fundamentally unfair and disregards widely accepted accounting standards and HOA best practices.

Why the Current Plan Fails Owners

Here’s what matters at this vertical HOA:

• The contract with Comcast/Xfinity bills the HOA for 645 service drops. That matches the number of actual residences receiving cable and internet, not the 703 units on paper.
• Good accounting matches expenses with benefits. Costs should be borne by those who use the service—not spread arbitrarily.
• Combined-unit owners get hit hardest. For instance, someone with 10 merged units receives only one cable and internet setup. Under the approved plan, they will pay $453.70 per month—ten times the fee of a single-unit owner and much more than under the previous system, where they paid $302.35. This is far above the HOA’s real cost for that home, just $49.45 per month.
• The core principle of cost allocation is ignored. Fees are supposed to reflect what drives the cost—in this case, the number of active, billed connections, not the number of legal units.

Why This Is More Than an Accounting Error

This approach violates the basic matching principle in cost accounting and creates real inequity, forcing some owners to subsidize others even when no additional service is provided.

Worse, this isn’t isolated. Sudler’s history includes lowering the late fee threshold for all owners to $250, disregarding each owner’s actual monthly assessment, simply because looking up the correct numbers was considered too much work. These shortcuts erode transparency, trust, and fairness in our association.

The Solution—and a Call to Action

The only fair way is to split the cable and internet bill among the 645 residences actually receiving service, as the Comcast contract and accounting standards dictate. Every owner should pay for their true, contractually billed usage, not a number assigned for management’s convenience.

Unless Sudler and the HOA change course, the new fees will go into effect on January 1, 2026—with serious financial consequences for many owners.

Final Note

I am a financial forensic expert, not a resident, and have no financial interest in this outcome. My analysis draws only from industry standards, accounting principles, and the details of the Comcast contract.

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