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Disputed Budget Strikes a Nerve
Posted Aug 26, 2008 by Northeast News Staff
Updated Aug 27, 2008 at 05:31 PM
CORY LAKE ISLES—A double dose of budget meetings Tuesday exposed some frayed nerves in this New Tampa gated community.
The community development district board met in the morning expecting to award contracts for security and landscaping. But Tropical Storm Fay had delayed the bids a couple of days, which meant the board didn’t have enough time to evaluate the bids and had to approve a budget that night without knowing who its two largest contractors will be.
The budget has been contentious, with homeowners facing a potential $1,100 increase in assessments.
Supervisors said they made an effort to reach out to a wide segment of the community by posting an online survey on the property owners association Web site. The survey asked residents whether they would support paying higher fees for specific items, such as renovating the beach club or keeping roving security officers.
After the morning meeting, Supervisor Suzanne Manzi grew so enraged she began shaking and yelling about the survey, and how her opponents used a porn site to “spread their filthy lies.”
Jean Rugg, the district’s record keeper, said that of the 114 completed surveys, only 65 appeared to be legitimate. Nearly 40 were traced to a single user who filled out the survey using fake names and e-mail addresses. Another 15 were disqualified for other reasons.
“Apparently, we have several dead presidents living in Cory Lake Isles,” Rugg said.
During the evening meeting, homeowners who elected to speak during the public hearing were required to stand at a lectern as two armed sheriff’s deputies watched them from about 15 feet away. If it was meant to intimidate homeowners, the move didn’t stop then from lobbing insults at board members and calling on them to resign.
“What is your opinion of the homeowners in this community that you feel the need to hire off-duty sheriff’s deputies to protect yourself from us?” demanded Adam Ringhof, husband of candidate Kerri Ringhof.
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Reader Comments
Por (Stephanie Fischetti) on August 29, 2008 (Suggest removal)
Homeowners Associations and property management companies have too much power. Many people living in condos and townhomes are falling behind in homeowners fees across the nation. Meanwhile, associations persist in making expensive and unnecessary “improvements”, restricting residents’ rights, even while creating outlandish budgets that exaggerate actual costs. Homeowners are being bilked out of their money, and many would prefer homes that do not have associations. Associations bring in the strong arm of the law to defend their unethical actions when they are not supported by residents.
Suggest removalPor (George209) on September 02, 2008 (Suggest removal)
At first, I thought the Police were there to arrest some of the Board members.
No one used their real name on the survey out of fear of retribution or some kind of lien on their home. It seems the board cares more about palm trees and the Developer’s contracts than they do about the families that live in Cory Lake Isles. To look homeowners in the eye and even argue with us for a $1,100 INCREASE in fees is offensive to me. The three sitting CDD supervisors being sued for FRAUD should worry less about defending their biased surveys and worry more about their own legal troublesm, and how they almost got away wtih taking $500,000 of homeowners money to defend themselves.
Suggest removalPor (Samantha Barnes) on September 02, 2008 (Suggest removal)
Just another lame excuse for inefficiency and corruption. Tropic Storm Fay delayed the landscaping and security contracts? You mean the storm that missed Tampa by a few hundred miles? How stupid do they think we are? They are going to give the contract to the Developer in some un-advertised Board meeting, even though that same “contractor” has threatened to sue the Board. completely corrupt!
Suggest removalPor (ron fitzgerald) on September 03, 2008 (Suggest removal)
last year the board ignored fl law and granted the mtc & operations contract to the developer (gene thomason) w/o the mandatory bid process .. now they’re attempting to skirt the process again even though the bids are much lower than the current contract(s) the board has granted .. this is tantamount to theft. they are required to consider the low bidders. no one is interested in their so called “encyclopedic” knowledge . these people are blatantly in violation of their oaths as public servants .. they are going .. and soon .. just not soon enough for this particular budget exercise .. completely incompetent and borderline criminal
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