Fees Divide Residents Of Golf Community

Article Courtesy of The Tampa Tribune
By Laura Kinsler
Published December 7, 2008

SAN ANTONIO - For the first time in Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club history, a resident will have a vote Monday on the homeowners association budget.
But as the community gets a voice, homeowners are divided into two factions. One group, led by former homeowner representative Dom Gualtieri, thinks homeowners have been wrongly charged for fees that should have been paid by developers.

Joan Hedlund, who heads the neighborhood association for the Deer Hollow subdivision, will take her seat at 10 a.m. Monday on the association's board of directors. She will be joined by two executives from Engle Homes, the South Florida-based home builder in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The proposed budget would raise homeowners' fees $9 per month. But Gualtieri and his supporters say the residents in the retirement community already pay too much. He said homeowners shouldn't be paying to maintain ponds on the community's golf course, which is still owned by a previous developer.

The pond maintenance expense was shifted to the homeowners association in 2005, when then-developer Transeastern Homes merged with Engle's parent company, TOUSA. The association has paid $138,000 during the past three years for pond maintenance.

"We are paying for ponds that are owned by the golf course," Gualtieri said.

Hedlund disputes his conclusion. She said ponds are part of a continuous drainage system for the 1,500-home community, and that Swiftmud ordered the association to assume maintenance of the entire system.

"I personally don't think there's any legitimacy to what they're saying," Hedlund said.

The Owners Council has raised several other concerns: that the homeowners association has been paying a water bill for the golf course and the streetlight bill in a developer-controlled area where there are no homes. The streetlights in the back of the community cost nearly $12,000 a year.

Basil Grussing, another homeowner, said streetlights are necessary for security because Engle has model homes in that section of the community. Besides, Engle paid the association more than $235,000 in 2008, which more than makes up for the cost of the streetlights.

"They are trying to market and sell homes," he said. "The lights should be on."

Engle has eight homes in the permit stage and expects to start construction later this month, vice president Rick Feather said.

Feather, who chairs the homeowners association, said the complaint about the water bill was accurate. The golf club will reimburse the association nearly $14,000.

Restaurant for lease, cheap

When the lease ran out in October, 2008 George Flint ran an ad to rent the Lake Ashton Grill to the highest bidder. They only ran the ad ONE DAY. They just so happen to get the developer to renew his lease for three more years. What a joke. This is what the law of Florida says one day is all that is required. It is all Big Business policies here in Florida, screw the residents. That is how he got to renew the restaurant again for three more years for $50,000 with all expenses and we get ripped off. Thanks to the old CDD members, good friends to the developer.

pressure wash club house every month

Update Dec 3, 2008

Would you believe they pressure wash the clubhouse every month. Yes, every month.
Joe's friends are making money while we are heading for the poor house. Nobody does this to their home every month. Joe Hunter has a answer for this one. Call him at 863-324-5457. You will be lucky to get an answer because he told me he has 900 people he has to talk to here at Lake Ashton before he calls you back.

The total power wash cost is $23,400 a year or $1,950/mo

Jeffery Salvin, President of CDD committee

Lets us all praise Jeff Salvin for the fantastic and outstanding job he is doing. He is not afraid to stand up to George Flint, Larry Maxwell Lawyer. Jeff is president of the CDD and he knows his stuff and we should do all we can to help him out. He is not afraid to stand up and be heard. Sometimes in the next few weeks he will have a talk with Larry Maxwell the developer on the Lake Ashton Grill rip off. Please see other blogs on this story. Good luck Jeff. Lets hope we can get a new contract and get some of this money back to the residents, the other contract stinks.

GUARD HOUSE ROOF LEAKS

Every month the electric bill is approx $400.00. So we ask the guard why is the electric bill so high? He says the roof leaks and we leave the A/C on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep the guard house from being so damp. Every time I drive by the guard door is always open. Yes we pay for this stupidity. What is going on in Lake Ashton, doesn't Joe Hunter notice this or is he sound asleep in his windowless office with his door locked.

WE GOT ROBBED

The developer rented the restaurant for just $50,000 a year from the CDD.. We pay the taxes $69,000 on the clubhouse, pay the water and sewer, Electric which runs about $280,000 a year, kitchen cleaning, dishes, silverware, linen cloths, candles, glasses, upkeep in the restaurant, maintenance, window cleaning, repairs and get this. In case of fire which could happen, we pay the insurance. Not a bad deal. This guy owns 23 CRF communities and he doesn't make enough money. You people that are reading this blog, every time you go to the grill expect us to pay 5-10 cents more in maintenance fees. Yes, we pay all the bills and this guy gets all the money $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 profit from the grill. This guy is not dumb, we are.

Joe Hunter evades the question

Once again Joe Hunter doesn't answer the question. The question was how much crime do we have at Lake Ashton? He says none since we had crime watch. How about prior to crime watch, no you won't get an answer, I am asking the reader of this blog to call Joe Hunter 863-324-5457 and get a straight answer and post it to this blog. I know the answer do you? Call Joe.

DON'T MOVE TO FRAUD FRIENDLY FLORIDA

The whole world got a great laugh out of the election disaster in 2000. Whatever camp you sided with didn't matter. It was embarrassing to live in Florida and be part of this comedy!

But instead of trying to improve things, the comedy continued. Miami-Dade County just found out that they spent $24.5 million for 7,200 voting machines -- and a system not adequate for the county's needs.

But while many of us are still able to laugh about it, there are many issues in daily life no retiree can laugh about. Although we may be attractive as the
money-makers of the Florida economy, nobody is willing to protect our rights, especially nobody in Tallahassee.

“Aggressive advertising” was cited as a way to attract retirees to Florida. In July 2002 Governor Bush had created the Destination Florida Commission to evaluate our competitive position to attract retirees and to make recommendations for the future that would make Florida more retiree friendly. A final report showed that “aggressive advertising” would achieve that goal!

The warnings of many citizens during the public hearings were plainly ignored. Read the final report of this Commission and it becomes obvious that the people in charge are clearly opting for quantity, not for quality!

Who runs the show in Florida? NOT the citizens! Industry, especially the housing industry, relies heavily on retirees. Meanwhile, our state government follows their lead to lure more elderly, trusting people to Florida without improving their living conditions.

For many years homeowners' activists from all over Florida have called for reforms of the laws regulating the housing industry. There are many laws -- looking great on paper -- but without any teeth. The existing laws are more or less used to appease the consumers who ask questions. Only after you fall for all the great words backed up by fraudulent contracts and promises, you will find out that these laws are more or less unenforceable. Your own money will even help to defend the violations against YOU!

Many Florida Statutes will give consumers a false sense of security. However, if you do not have large sums of money available to pay for legal fees, your chances to defend your rights are very small. Even then the outcome of these lengthy and frustrating lawsuits are very dubious, to say the least.

Retirees in Florida are losing their homes to foreclosure, not because they didn't pay their bills as required, but because the laws of Florida leave them unprotected.

Little mistakes might cost you your home and your life-savings!

The nice lady organizing the social potluck dinner in your community might be the wife of the board president of your association. So don't bring the wrong cake! You might find yourself at the wrong side of violation letters -- like bushes not trimmed or too many weeds! And some of these associations are very eager to enforce these "violations" by putting liens on your property and then foreclosing on it. You wouldn't be the first kicked out of your own home by a deputy with your private belongings next to you on the curb.

Just read the many stories about problems in these homeowners' associations or the Condo-wars raging in South Florida!

And there are some real horror stories like the story of the homeowners in the Eagles Reserve HOA in Pinellas County, where most likely more than 120 homeowners will either lose their home or have to pay more than $100,000 on top of the original purchase price. Their pleas to government agencies were ignored. These citizens, many retirees among them, are left to fend for themselves. An unbelievable example of the huge problems!

In the last two sessions of the Florida Legislature so-called Task Force bills were introduced. In both cases the members of the Florida House of Representatives made serious efforts -- 14 members sponsored the bill. But in both years the Senate made sure it failed. While the bill was totally ignored by the Senate in 2002, Senate members in 2003 changed the wording before the first committee hearing and were unwilling to listen to amendment proposals. In the end, homeowners' activists had to ask House members to kill the bill for fear it would do more damage than good! Please read the article:"HOW TO KILL A PERFECTLY GOOD IDEA!"

Our Governor who could create a Task Force by executive order to circumvent the obviously non-functioning legislative process, has been approached twice. So far he has not responded.

Common Sense would dictate, as it does in normal business, that improvements are necessary to attract more retirees. But where is Common Sense? Most likely not in our State's government!

Admittedly, retirees are BIG business. It is obvious that Florida is trying to attract more retirees to get their money -- without being willing to protect their rights. Retirees from all over the nation should heed the warning of the ones who have already fallen into this trap of a warm climate:
DON'T MOVE TO FRAUD FRIENDLY FLORIDA !
Stay where you are, even if you have to shovel snow! You're definitely much better off shoveling snow than losing your shirt!

55 and over

In just a few short years and for the first time ever, a very large proportion of the North American population will all be over 55 years old.

Clubhouse Electric Meter

When the veterans memorial was put up they had to get their own meter untill they found out how much it would cost. No new meter. Joe Hunter and the veterans agree to pay the CDD $10.00 a month for use of the electricity. The developer runs the restaurant and ballroom and the CDD runs the rest of the building all with the same meter. Please explain this to me. Veterans pay $10.00/mo and the CDD pay $280,000 for most of the clubhouse. The restaurant and ballroom pays nothing. This doesn't make sense. What a deal. Another sucker.