City Picks Up Tab For Harder Hall Bills, Taxes
By MANDY SHEETS

SEBRING — The city will foot the bills for security, electricity and insurance at Harder Hall, as well as pay about $150,000 in real estate taxes.

Marsha Rydberg, attorney representing the city in the bankruptcy case, said if taxes remain unpaid at the site, the Highlands County tax collector could sell tax certificates for the property. By paying the taxes due, the city will prevent the sale of such certificates.

Bills for security, electricity and insurance will cost the city about $13,000 per month, city attorney Michael Swaine said.

Rydberg said the taxes and bills will be paid with money from the city’s loan, which the city is authorized to use for this capacity.

“The loan is not unlimited though,” Rydberg said. “We can do it at this point, but we do need a conclusion in the near future.”

Councilman Jeff Carlson said he supports the city paying the bills because it is no cost to taxpayers.

“We are not out any money because we will get our money back through the sale of the property,” Carlson said. “This is not costing the taxpayers any money, in fact, by doing this we are protecting the taxpayers’ money.”

Brian Gant, an attorney representing Kenwhite, a New York-based investment company said, at a Feb. 14 hearing in Miami, that Kenwhite would cease payment of these bills after Judge Laurel Myerson Isicoff denied its plan to take over the project.

Bankruptcy trustee Ken Welt, of Hollywood, Fla., has assumed management of the case. Welt has administered more than 30,000 Chapter
7 and Chapter 11 cases, according to his Web site.

The trustee will work with potential buyers to try to sell the property for a profit that will repay about 160 creditors who have filed claims against the hotel, including 63 Sebring businesses and 11 businesses and contractors in Highlands County.

A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28 to hear a motion that would allow the city to foreclose on the property. Rydberg said she is unsure whether she will still argue for this motion because the situation could change before the hearing.