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Article Courtesy of The Sun
Sentinel
By Linda Trischitta
Published February 4, 2009
Diela Narrabe may be
forced to leave her Deerfield Beach condo next month, even though she's
done everything right.
Narrabe is one of 28 unit owners — out of 168 — in the Deerfield Palms
condo association who still pay their monthly maintenance fees, which are
used to pay the community's water bill.
Residents owe the city
$90,000. If they don't pay $12,929 by the first week of
March, the city is threatening to turn off the water.
Because the community has master meters rather than
individual unit gauges, the city can't separate owners who
are current on their bills from delinquent customers.
If the water goes away, so will Narrabe, a golf club
employee and mother of two who says she could not afford
both her mortgage and rent on another place.
"I don't know what to do,"
she said. "If they evict us, that's my big problem.
If I was by myself, that's another thing. But my two
little daughters? We can't live without water."
Associations with unpaid utility bills also are an issue
in Coral Springs, |
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Deerfield
Palms condo resident Diela Narrabe who is up to date on her bills,
the condo maintenace company says. Out of 168 units, 140 are not
paying their condo maintenance fees at Deerfield Palms. The city
will cut off its water Feb. 9 because more than $90,000 is owed. |
Lauderhill,
Boca Raton and Tamarac, and the problem is likely to spread as joblessness
and foreclosures keep climbing.
From December 2007 to December 2008, unemployed workers in Florida increased
80.9 percent, from 415,495 to 751,753, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. In 2008, there were 47,387 commercial and residential properties
in some stage of foreclosure in Broward County
23,399 in
Palm Beach County, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif. The range
covers owners late with mortgage payments to those who have lost their
properties.
Armando Fana, director of the Miami office of the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, estimated more than 80 units in Deerfield Palms are
in some form of foreclosure.
"I understand that a lot of people [are in foreclosure] but they are
still living here using the water, and they should continue to pay for
it," Narrabe said. "It's not fair that the people that pay have to
pay for the others."
The community cannot afford a lawyer to chase maintenance fees, said condo
board president David Brenelus; nor could the association purchase
foreclosed units and pay those monthly fees.
In the fall, Deerfield Beach officials began discussing the water bill
delinquency with Deerfield Palms, a community of seven yellow, two-story
buildings and 600 residents just west of Dixie Highway. After the units were
converted to condos in 2006, residents paid $119,000 to $201,000 for them.
The city, which borrowed $17.5 million last year to improve and expand its
water plant, must repay the debt through water sales, City Attorney Andrew
Maurodis said. If those obligations are not met, he said, "all the
other people paying water and sewer rates could have a rate increase."
In Tamarac, spokesman Andy Berns said the city is negotiating with two
condominiums: Arbor Keys, with 232 units, owes more than $193,000; and
Southgate Gardens, battered by Hurricane Wilma, has 108 units and is $21,700
in arrears.
"I cannot imagine a scenario in which we would turn off the
water," Berns said. "Because we recognize many residents are
living there and paying their bills, we believe it would be unfair for us to
penalize them for the actions or inactions of their association."
Boca Raton Treasurer Carol Himes Hannigan said her city tries "to work
closely with associations if they come up on the shut off list. We have had
associations [fall behind] and it's typically just a phone call or the bill
is lost. We've been able to come to a resolution."
In Lauderhill, the city this month told some residents of Stonebridge
Gardens' 416 units they risked having their water turned off. Assistant City
Finance Director Sean Henderson said of the community's four associations,
condo one owes $110,124; condo two has a plan to repay $30,000 over six
months; condo three owes $135,954; and condo four is up to date.
"We've found some condo and homeowner associations are struggling, when
you add their bills from hurricane damages and foreclosures," Henderson
said. "We negotiate bills all day."
Jonathan Graham, who owns a unit in Stonebridge Gardens condo two, said
Hurricane Wilma forced him out of his condo for two-and-a-half years. He
hopes the community and city can arrange a payment plan.
"If unit owners pay their fees when due, the association can support
itself," Graham said.
In Coral Springs, five to 10 communities have been in arrears at times, said
Financial Services Director David Russek.
"We were able to work out payment plans for them to get back on their
feet," he said. "It's not with interest and may be a little bit of
a loss for the city. We're not earning a lot on investments anyway because
of the markets."
"I don't know what the solution is," Narrabe said. "The
problem is so big."
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