A GROUP of homeowners have been left stunned after each receiving a $60,000 bill.

Households that are part of The Villas of Carillon HOA in Pinellas County, Florida all received a letter informing them of the new fee.

Homeowners are furious after being sent a letter from their HOA requesting payments of $60,000 from each of themCredit: WTSP

The Villas of Carillon HOA resident Chris Hu called the special assessment fee a ‘shocking surprise’ that he initially did not think was realCredit: WTSP

“I was in shock, I immediately started texting other neighbors,” Tammy Rodeffer, who lives in the HOA community told CBS News affiliate WTSP.

The letter informed all 165 HOA members that they must pay around $60,000 for a special assessment.

Each household was given options on how they would like to pay the exorbitant fee.

“I thought, wow, this is real?” homeowner Chris Hu told the outlet.

“A total surprise. It’s a shocking surprise,” he said.

The new pressure on families in the neighborhood comes as the HOA faces a “significant financial challenge moving forward,” the letter seen by WTSP states.

It comes after the same mistake was made by the board for 20 years which saw it fail to fully fund its reserves since it was formed.

An assessment of the HOA’s reserves allegedly concluded that it does not have “adequate funds” to fix on-site issues that the “association has been struggling for years to properly address,” the letter said.

It informed homeowners that the HOA is at a “critical point” regarding improvements and repairs.

“The Association is now at a critical point with respect to capital improvement projects requiring community-wide balcony repairs, waterproofing, garage flat roof replacement, and painting,” the letter states.

There are also concerns from the board regarding its future status regarding insurance as it faces these “critical” issues.

The 165 households overseen by the HOA were given four options for paying the $60,000 bill.

One is to pay the total amount in four quarterly installments from October 1.

The second is to pay it in 32 quarterly installments of $1,875 over eight years.

Or, they can pay $11,650 in four quarterly installments to find immediate improvement projects.

The final option is to accept an increase in the monthly HOA fees from $575 to $1,200 for eight years.

A meeting was scheduled for June 20 for residents to vote on the special assessment plan.

Rodeffer has expressed her concern for all members of the community as she questions why the HOA is demanding such a large amount of money out of the blue.

“There will be a lot of people that lose their home either they have to sell or they can’t make these payments,” she said.

“They’ll have a lien put on their house, foreclosures.

“I’m concerned about the overall community,”

“As we get older, as buildings get older, you need more maintenance, you need more reserves, and I think the can may have been kicked down the road a little bit on this,” homeowner Nancy Radde added.

The HOA’s attorney declined to comment on the issue when approached by WTSP.

On the HOA’s website, the board that took over in 2022 has addressed some questions posed by disgruntled homeowners.

“How could this have happened? Why weren’t we notified about the Assessment sooner?” one homeowner asked.

“I have no confidence in the board,” they added.

“The current reserve funding situation is the direct result of the previous Boards’ budget planning practices and the communities’ general sense of complacency in allowing volunteer Board members to act on their behalf with little interest or attention from the community on long-term financial preparedness for major capital expenses,” the board replied.

“This Board is, for the first time in over a decade, attempting to ‘right that ship.'”

The U.S. Sun has reached out to the board’s management company for comment.

Meanwhile, members of all HOAs in Florida, including those at The Villas of Carillon are set to benefit from a new law that will be introduced in a couple of weeks to crack down on overzealous HOAs.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed in HB 1203 earlier this year in an effort to tackle the issue of hefty HOA fines being dealt out over petty issues that can lead to late fees, legal fees, and property liens.

The bill “includes some of the strongest reforms in state history,” the Republican told the Sun Sentinel.

Fellow homeowner Tammy Rodeffer is worried about residents losing their homes as a result of the $60,000 feeCredit: WTSP

Nancy Radde has accused the HOA of kicking the can down the roadCredit: WTSP