ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — People who live in the Villas at Carillon townhome community said a planned vote on a $60,000 per household special assessment was tabled Thursday evening.

“I’m happy because it bought us some time. I’m sad that it had to come to this,” said resident Nancy Radde. 

Radde was one of the residents in the community’s 165 townhomes to receive a letter earlier this month from property management company Management & Associates.

The letter said a special homeowners association meeting would be held to vote for the special assessment, which would upgrade or repair things like roofs, garages, drainage, etc. for the entire neighborhood.

It included a limited proxy ballot that listed four options residents could choose from to pay the assessment: pay $60,000 by July 1, 2025, in four quarterly installments of $15,000; pay $60,000 in 32 quarterly installments of $1,875 over eight years; pay $11,650 in four quarterly installments of $2,912.50 by July 1, 2025, for immediate repairs; and increasing HOA monthly dues from $575 to $1,200 for eight years, beginning in October.

Documents said the option to pay $11,650 could mean homeowners would be assessed $48,000 to do the remainder of the work at a later date.

“My reaction right away was, ‘Oh, my goodness, most people can’t afford that,’” said Radde.

“I was in shock,” said resident Tammy Rodeffer. “I started texting all my neighbors, ‘Did you get this?’”

Management & Associates told Spectrum News their lawyers advised them not to comment to media.

Information included in the documents sent to residents says: “Our community has a 20-year history of waiving the decision to fully fund the Villas of Carillon Reserves. The Association is now at a critical point with respect to capital improvement projects requiring community-wide balcony repairs and waterproofing, garage flat roof replacement, and painting.”

It said the association also needs to start raising money for barrel tile roofs.

“We’ve been told that we need a new roof because we may not be able to get insurance,” said Rodeffer. “So, it’s kind of a couple of different things coming together all at once, but I don’t feel comfortable enough yet from the letter to make this type of decision yet.”

Rodeffer and Radde said they wanted to see the measure tabled so the community could look into ways to bring down the cost of repairs.

“The numbers quoted to come up with this amount, we believe, includes replacing the roof with the same type of roof we have today. So, we would like them to explore different types of roofs,” said Rodeffer.

Spectrum News was not allowed inside Thursday’s special meeting, but it was packed.

Residents lined up down the hallway outside the meeting room at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park.

According to Radde and Rodeffer, 110 residents signed a petition asking that the vote be tabled. Radde said that’s what ultimately happened at the meeting, and the vote was not immediately rescheduled. She said the next step is for residents to get to work.

“The first thing we’re going to do, unfortunately, is try to come up with a new board — to terminate this one, dissolve this one,” Radde said. “Come up with a new board, come up with several committees. We have some really great talent — people who know engineering, people who know finances.”

She said neighbors have already talked about ideas for reducing costs and decreasing that $60,000 special assessment.