Heritage Harbour approves budget, installs reserves

HERITAGE HARBOUR — After nearly 30 hours of public meetings and workshops, Heritage Harbour South Community Development District supervisors on Sept. 1 approved their 2012 Fiscal Year budget, which establishes the district’s first installment of emergency reserves as well as as funding for road and stormwater management repairs and maintenance.

“They went through a long and difficult process, but I think at the end of the day, (supervisors) got what they wanted,” District Manager Jim Ward said. “They had a public participation process that brought people in, and they listened to the community.”

The new budget is about $540,000 compared to the initial, proposed budget of more than $1 million.

“You have opened the process up,” resident Tom Bakalar told supervisors. “You’ve listened. You’ve responded. You’ve taken more than your share of criticism. I think it’s time to move forward (with the budget).”

Many residents, however, remained critical of the budget and the process by which it has been developed. Home-owners of smaller units, in particular, raised concerns that their assessments were increasing more than those of homeowners of larger lots, because the district is using a new methodology for assessing homeowners.

An attorney for Lighthouse Cove, who spoke on behalf of the community’s HOA board at the meeting, said the board believed the new assessment methodology is unfair.

Chris Brandt, general manager of the Stoneybrook Golf Club, also has stated the golf club’s new assessment — an increase of more than $35,000 annually — is not fair.

Brandt is slated to meet with a representative of the district’s asset management company to discuss what, if any, parts of the district’s water management system are within the golf club’s boundaries. Assessments will be reduced, according to findings, with no resulting assessment increase to homeowners, District Manager Jim Ward said.

Additionally, residents said having $100,000 in reserves for a hurricane or other natural disaster, as supervisors had planned, was too high. They also said the district is paying too much for management services.

As a result, supervisors agreed to reduce reserves to $50,000 and to keep a portion of road and streetlight utility services with the HOAs — a savings of about $25,500 — after Supervisor Joseph Jaudon pushed for more cuts to further reduce assessments for homeowners.

Jaudon originally asked to eliminate completely the $100,000 in reserves, about $66,000 in roads and streetlights and another $15,000 in administrative and other costs, but the motion failed and was modified.

“The good news is the ill-planned 207% increase in the original budget was eliminated,” resident Tom Tullio said after the meeting. “Quite a few vocal owners were helped by one very determined board supervisor. It’s just too bad it took so many expensive meetings to get us back to reality.”

Supervisors postponed to Sept. 27 other agenda items, including consideration of an annual contract with Morris-Riley Development to provide asset management services.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].