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LEGAL THEFT?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
April 17, 2015
We
are permanently hearing stories about embezzlement and fraud in
Florida’s community associations.
But how about this: Our legislature is actually
“Stealing” annually money from the Condo Trust Fund – and
that’s a proven fact!
According
to Fl statutes (FS 718, 719, 721, and 723) the associations have
to pay a determined amount annually into the so-called Florida
Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Trust Fund. For
condominiums it’s $4 per unit annually. But, according to the
official accounting of the Division
of FL Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes, only a part of
the funds collected were actually used for the purpose intended
– and collected.
In
2014 – for example -- the Trust Fund collected a total of
$ 13,645,998.54. But $ 4.5 million of this money was transferred
to General Revenue,
meaning this “left-over” money was used for other purposes
as intended. Meaning condo-owners, who were told that the $4
collected annually would be used to finance a regulatory agency
that has the powers and duties as described in FS
718.501(1)
were deceived about the
use of the money that was collected from them.
Instead
of using the collected funds for the purpose as described, the
folks in charge in
Tallahassee
make sure that they understaff the Division and hire cheap and
often incompetent help to have lots of money left-over to
finance some more of their other pet-projects with condo-owners
money.
Instead
of hiring some competent folks, they just pay low wages, wages
that will never attract real talent. And the results are obvious
– on a daily basis. I hear daily complaints from owners about
the incompetence of Division employees and their unwillingness
to take the necessary action to stop the shenanigans in these
community associations. The results of their incompetence and
unwillingness to take the action required by law are often
horrifying.
If
you figure that the transfer of “Excessive Cash” in 2014 was
just a one-time occurrence, here are the numbers from the
official financial report of the last five years:
2010
$ 1,986,000.00
2011
$
1,149,960.00
2012
$ 5,800,000.00
2013
$ 3,000,000.00
2014
$ 4,500,000.00
A
TOTAL OF $ 16,435,960.00 was removed (or stolen) in the last
five years from the funds the folks living in these community
associations paid in good faith, believing that the money would
be used to their benefit! WRONG!
That’s
exactly why CCFJ, Inc. is trying to reduce the fees to be paid
annually by these owners to $2.
Why
should these folks pay extra taxes – other citizens don’t
have to pay? What reasonable explanation could there be for
this extra taxation?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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