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Article Courtesy of Palm Beach Post
By Meghan Meyer
Published July 19, 2007
For retirees living on fixed incomes, even the
smallest of expenses hits hard. So when condo boards and community
managers imposed a series of fee increases and assessments, most recently
a $35.76-a-month recreation-fee increase, a group of Kings Point retirees
said they'd had enough.
On Wednesday they filed a petition with elected
officials, including County Commissioner Burt Aaronson. About 200
residents signed it.
"We are outraged," said Poline Belote, who
helped organize the petition. "Where is the money going?"
The petition asks for an independent financial audit
of Point Management, the company that manages Kings Point's clubhouse,
buses, roads and other common property in the complex west of Delray
Beach.
Reached while out of town Wednesday, Point
Management President Mike Hyman hadn't received the petition. Most of the
fees listed were imposed by individual condominiums, he said. Point
Management handles only the recreation budget.
"It's a very well-written and put together
document, and it means well," he said. "But it's fraught with an
awful lot of misunderstanding about what the condos are responsible
for."
The petition complained that maintenance fees have
increased an average of more than $100 a month for each unit and that some
hurricane repairs haven't been made despite assessments of up to $1,800.
Those assessments came from the individual
condominiums, not Point Management, Hyman said.
"We're trying not to burden people with
increases," he said. "We're sympathetic to the issue of
residents on fixed incomes."
His company, which develops the recreation budget on
the advice of a 21-member board of residents, did announce a $35.76
recreation-fee increase for next year and a $3 charge to subsidize the
cafeteria in the clubhouse.
"It has terrible conditions and terrible
food," said Belote, adding that she never ate there. "It's
privately owned. Why should we pay for it?"
The company is required to operate a restaurant in
the clubhouse, Hyman said. Residents will receive credits on debit cards,
which they can use in the facility, he said.
"It's something we think is a service for the
community," Hyman said. "It will improve the level of the food
and the look of the restaurant."
The recreation fee hasn't increased in five years,
he said. Expenses, meanwhile, have mounted.
"Looking back, we probably should have done
this along the way," he said.
Other groups at Kings Point have complained about
the fees, too, said Ludmila Ovsey, who helped organize the petition.
"People here live on fixed incomes," Ovsey
said. "Some don't even have food on their tables. We're trying to
help, not just for us but for everyone."
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