Golf community teed off over fees

Article Courtesy of The Tampa Tribune

By LAURA KINSLER

Published September 24, 2009

SAN ANTONIO - Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club is threatening to double homeowners' fees after the residents refused to buy the struggling golf course and country club.

Homeowners are outraged by a letter - on stationery from the defunct Transeastern Homes - that informed residents the golf course owner would stop making mortgage payments on the course and clubhouse, double homeowner fees and cut services.

"It's a threat to the community," homeowner Don Mounts said. "They're trying to force us to purchase the amenities."

"They" is Transeastern founder Robert Falcone, who kept the community's golf course and country club after TOUSA-backed Engle Homes took over development of the retirement community. The company charges homeowners a monthly amenity fee of $125 for access to the swimming pool and clubhouse.

Falcone's TBG&CC Recreation LLC also receives thousands of dollars every time a house is sold in the community. But with TOUSA mired in bankruptcy and new home construction ground to a halt, Falcone sought to unload the golf course and country club. He began negotiating with a group of neighborhood association presidents this year, but those talks broke down.

"He wanted over $6 million," Mounts said. "The Presidents' Council came back and offered him $3.8 million. He rejected it in less than an hour."

The letter, which was posted on bulletin boards throughout the community, references those negotiations and states:

"To help cover debt service and club operations, the club is amending the Membership Plan to allow the monthly amenity fee to increase from $125 to $185. We will also be implementing a $750 food minimum per household for the restaurant."

Mounts said the food charge equates to a fee, and with those added charges, a homeowner would go from paying $1,450 a year to $2,920.

Management also plans to eliminate meal services, stop heating the pool this winter and possibly close the executive nine-hole golf course. Club manager Rich Unger did not return phone calls.

"As always, we welcome continuing dialogue with the Presidents' Council to help facilitate a potential sale of the club operations from the Falcone Group directly to the residents of Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club," the letter stated.

The negotiations have been controversial from the start because only the TOUSA-controlled Master Homeowners' Association has authority to buy the amenities. Domenic Gualtieri, a vocal critic of the association, said the presidents' council overstepped its authority when it made an offer without allowing the homeowners any say in the matter.

Gualtieri also pointed out that Falcone cannot unilaterally raise fees. The threatened increases would have to be approved by the master homeowners association, which has not addressed the matter.

TOUSA executives from Jacksonville and Orlando hold a majority vote on the board. Deer Hollow resident Joan Hedlund represents the only homeowner voice on the board. None returned phone calls.