WEST PALM BEACH — Almost a year after developer The Related Group privately pledged $250,000 to the Northend Coalition of Neighborhoods the day before a city commission vote on a Related Group condo, intrigue over the money persists.

Related says there's still $215,650 in an escrow account overseen by Related's law firm, Carlton Fields.

But how the other $34,350 has been spent is not entirely known. And now, with new leaders in charge of the neighborhood group who had nothing to do with the pledged cash, the matter has been turned over to the authorities.

"All I can say is this has now been passed on to much higher authorities," said Bob Beaulieu, the new president of the Northend Coalition of Neighborhoods. "It's now out of our hands, and other people are looking at it." He did not specify which agency is reviewing the matter.

Steve Allred, the former president of the coalition who helped broker the agreement with Related, hasn't returned phone messages and hasn't responded to written questions left at his antique shop.

Rod Tinson, Allred's business partner who also signed the agreement, hasn't returned phone messages or responded to written questions left at his house.

Iangelic Batista, formerly the coalition's chief operating officer, has said some of the money was spent on hurricane supplies and on attorneys' fees related to refiling the group's corporation papers with the state. But she wouldn't share receipts.

According to the agreement, the money was to be spent only on certain items - from video monitors and off-duty police officers to signs and landscaping to first-aid kits and tarps for hurricane recovery.

Barbara Salk, a Related Group vice president, said she's asked for receipts to verify how the $34,000 has been spent, but hasn't received them.

"She has not gotten that. She has asked repeatedly," said Carey O'Donnell, who handles public relations for Related.

Beaulieu doubted that Related has been steadfast in pursuing the records.

Salk "has told us that she had no contact with Steve or Ian from the middle of June onward," he said.

Adding to the controversy are allegations that when Allred and Batista took control of the coalition, the group became a mouthpiece for development rather than a watchdog on crime and code-enforcement issues in the north end of the city.

They point to the way Tinson himself has profited from development efforts. In 2000, the city sold an 8,586-square-foot piece of land on Northwood Road to Tinson for $5,000, or 58 cents per square foot. At the time, the county property appraiser listed the land's value at $23,612. Despite criticism from a resident that they were giving the land away, commissioners approved the bargain-basement price on the understanding that Tinson planned to use the land for the antique shop he was moving from downtown to the struggling Northwood area.

Howard Warshauer, a former commissioner not then on the board, argued on behalf of Tinson at the meeting when the sale was approved, saying Tinson planned on "making it into something beautiful."

But there was no written requirement that the land be developed and Tinson never used the land for his shop. It's still vacant, just as it was when it was sold, and the shop sits on land next to it.

In March, Tinson sold that lot, plus another 10,128 square feet of land, back to the city for $1,210,000. That equates to $64.66 per square foot, 111 times what Tinson paid for the lot six years ago. The city, which plans to seek developer proposals for a mixed-use project in that area, paid similar per-square-foot prices for other land nearby.

Terri Murray, executive director of Northwood Renaissance, a nonprofit economic development group in Northwood, said seeing the land stay vacant was disappointing.

"From the community's perspective, there was an expectation that it would contribute to business development."