Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Numbers plummet to less than 100

By Kyle LoJacono

Three years ago the Hillsborough County parks department’s after-school program had nearly 6,000 children enrolled at 31 sites, but that number has shriveled to less than 100.

The mere fact it still exists seemed impossible a few short months ago when the Hillsborough Commission voted to eliminate the program, which cost the county $7.5 million to operate and served about 1,800 kids last school year.

Public outcry caused the board to reverse the move in September, after the current school year began. Commissioner Ken Hagan said the plummeting numbers has more to do with the fact that parents and guardians had to find alternative places to send their children.

“We did not approve the new program until after school started,” Hagan said. “Many parents were forced to make their after-school decisions prior to the program going into effect.”

The new program was scaled back in order to cut costs, including offering the after-school care at only 18 centers, including Nye Park in Lutz. Six of those sites have no children enrolled at them, while most have less than 10.

Hagan was the commissioner who first worked out the scaled-down program with parks department director Mark Thornton. They reduced the base price for a week’s care from $48 to $38, and also to as little as $20 for children receiving free or reduced-price lunches, to increase attendance.

“The program is outstanding,” Thornton said. “Unfortunately, the parents had to find other places because of the start of school, and they haven’t been back. We may not grow fast enough, and we may not be able to continue.”

Hagan added, “It wasn’t surprising parents found other places for their kids. We thought the lower price would bring them back, but as of yet it hasn’t.”

The program has until June to bring numbers to levels where it can pay for itself. The parks department is putting out fliers, reaching out with Facebook and YouTube and calling former customers to bring them back.

The commission had slated the after-school program for the chopping block for the last three years because of the large operating cost.

The board had decided it was able to maintain the program in less lean fiscal cycles, but a $50 million shortfall in the current budget made it too expensive to keep at its former level.

Commissioner Kevin Beckner has been one of the more outspoken members who would rather cut the program than lay off other county employees.

“How long do you operate at a loss before you decide to pull the plug on an operation?” Beckner said.

The new scaled-down program does allow the commission to drop any site that has fewer than 25 children enrolled. Currently, all locations have fewer than 25.

Thornton said they will not stop the program at any site just yet.

“We evaluate the program daily,” Thornton said. “We’re not going to give up until we either have a successful program or it’s not going to work.”

For more information on Hillsborough parks, visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/parks.

Pasco Commission veteran stops at seven terms

By Kyle LoJacono

In 1984 Pasco County lacked a library system, the county’s parks department operated only a small handful of facilities, and the major roadways were meant more for light traffic rather than the thousands of vehicles they accommodate today.

It was 27 years ago when Ann Hildebrand successfully ran for the Pasco Commission District 3 seat — a post she has occupied ever since.

Hildebrand fought to modernize the county, bringing forward legislation to create the first Pasco library system, expand parks and road infrastructure and transform it from a bedroom community into one people could live, work and play.

“I really think we’ve taken Pasco into the next century,” said Hildebrand, a Republican. “I think Pasco is a better place to live now and a big player in the region. It’s been a great ride, but it had to end sometime.”

Hildebrand, 73, said she will not seek an eighth term on the commission.

County records are sketchy going back to Pasco’s earliest days, so no one can say for sure if she is the longest tenured board member ever. Then again, no one in those same partial records served as many as seven four-year terms like Hildebrand will after her current one ends in January 2013.

“I love what I do and I’m doing what I love, so I’ve been really lucky,” Hildebrand said. “But there comes a time when you want to look at other venues and opportunities. … I’ll tell you one thing:  You’ll still see me out and about. I’m not going to just sit around and watch the grass grow.”

Hildebrand came to Pasco from Michigan, where she had been working as social worker. In 1984, she did not file the paperwork to run for the commission until a week before she had to.

By her own admission she was the unknown and the underdog in that first race, which included seven candidates.

“I guess the people liked what I said,” Hildebrand said. “The day I filed I don’t think I thought I was going to win the seat.”

One of the first things Hildebrand successfully pushed for was overhauling the sewer system and building an incinerator that converted garbage into energy for county residents.

Next up was creating Pasco’s first libraries.

“When I heard there wasn’t a library system in Pasco I was kind of taken back,” Hildebrand said. “It’s the kind of thing I expected every county to have. It just kind of shows where we were and where we’ve come.”

Linda Allen was one of the people initially brought on to create the first libraries in Pasco in 1987. She retired in February after 25 years with the system and said Hildebrand was always its biggest supporter.

“She’s the reason we have libraries in Pasco,” Allen said. “She said we have to have libraries and wouldn’t let the subject go until it happened.”

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Hildebrand worked to get parks and recreation centers built up from the Gulf Coast to the Withlacoochee River system in east Pasco.

Hildebrand’s big project during the last 10 years has been the Penny for Pasco sales tax, which pays for road improvements, building new schools and renovating existing ones and buying land for environmental conservation purposes.

Hildebrand also stretched out to work with other governments in the region by serving on a number of planning boards, such as the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) and Tampa Bay Water.

“From where the county was before she got on board to now, she’s really helped improve the quality of life,” said District 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano. “Parks and libraries all evolved under her tenure.”

Next up for the District 3 seat

Hildebrand’s departure leaves a void on the five-member board. The freshly revamped District 3 stretches from Holiday in west Pasco to Wesley Chapel, but stays mainly between the SR 54/56 corridor and the boarder with Hillsborough County.

Anyone who wants to fill the District 3 seat must live within its boundaries but is elected by all voters in Pasco.

Three people have filed as candidates for the District 3 Republican primary: GOP activist Wil Nickerson, former Pasco Mosquito Control board candidate Nikolas Tzoumas and healthcare marketer Chris Gregg.

Gregg is the only one of the three who has received any campaign contributions as of Nov. 3 — a $100 deposit given to himself.

Lutz Patriots hope to send ‘tons of stuff’ to soldiers

By Kyle LoJacono

The Lutz Patriots are gearing up to send care packages to U.S. soldiers serving overseas in time for the holiday season but need a little help from the community.

The group, which formed in March of 2003 during the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, will have a packing party on Saturday, Nov. 26 to prepare as many packages as possible for the troops. The boxes will include items like snack foods, hygiene products and entertainment.

“Basically anything to make their lives a little easier,” said patriot member Bruce Hockensmith. “We like to send as much as we can, so we’re asking anyone who can to donate a few things so we can give them a nice treat. We want to send tons of stuff.”

The packages will be mailed right after the packing party so they reach the troops by Christmas.

Hockensmith was a sergeant in the Army and served in Germany from 1965-68. He said getting care packages was a little thing that helped him get through the tough times.

“I remember serving and how much it meant to me just getting a letter from home,” Hockensmith said. “For those young men and women far away from home, the least we can do is make them feel a little more comfortable.”

The patriots send packages to the troops on a regular basis but try and make a big push right before the holidays. They also receive cards from soldiers thanking them for the kind gesture.

“Seeing pictures and reading letters from the troops lets us know that the soldiers are getting the gifts we send,” said patriot member Judy McCray. “It’s always a thrill to see those letters.”

Anyone interested in donating to the cause should e-mail . Hockensmith said the group will pick up items right up to Friday, Nov. 25, or donations can be dropped off on any Friday from 4-5:30 p.m. when the patriots wave American flags in front of the Old Lutz Schoolhouse on US 41.

By B.C. Manion

Banks aren’t the only ones left holding the bag when homeowners foreclose on their houses. Homeowners associations feel the brunt, too.

When homeowners foreclose on their properties and stop paying their homeowner association fees, everyone living in that community pays the price, said Jim Flateau, president of the Pasco Alliance of Community Associations.

“When somebody doesn’t pay, that puts more heat on the others,” he said.

Abandoned properties also drive down values in neighborhoods.

When a prospective buyer drives into a neighborhood to look at home, and the house next door has three-foot weeds, the potential sale is lost, Flateau said.

The general quality of the neighborhood is affected, too, when homeowner associations are unable to collect fees that are typically used for the upkeep of common areas, he added.

Issues such as those prompted the biggest turnout in recent months at the Pasco Alliance of Community Association’s meeting this month at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center.

More than 50 people representing homeowner associations, condominium associations and neighborhoods showed up to listen to a presentation by Steve Mezer, an attorney with Bush/Ross, who specializes in legal issues pertaining to homeowner and condominium associations.

Mezer is well aware of the problems the associations are facing.

“Some of you have foreclosures with weeds up to there. The houses, with squatters in them. The houses where people who are living in them are not paying you, and they’re not paying them. You’ve got all of these combinations.

“I’m not sure which is worse – you’ve got the squatter, the person living there for free, or the totally abandoned homes, with the weeds up to there. Which would you prefer to have? None of those are good scenarios for you,” Mezer said.

He alerted those at the meeting: “You may get marketed by all kinds of people. Attorneys. People who want to buy your liens, attorneys who want to buy your liens. Companies that want to buy your liens and buy your bad debt.

“The arrangements that these people want to make, first of all, I’m not sure that they’re legal, but secondly, anything that they can do with that bad debt claim, you can do, too.

If there’s a property that is delinquent in homeowner association fees, a lien can be attached to the property and the association can foreclose on the property, Mezer said.

One popular strategy is for the homeowners’ association to place a lien on the property, foreclose on it and rent it until it loses the title when the mortgage foreclosure case is completed, Mezer said.

Typically, if a mortgage foreclosure case has been dismissed, it will take at least a year before a new case would be heard – making it safe for the homeowners association to rent out the home for a year.

On average, foreclosure cases are taking two years or more, he said.

The up side is that the homeowners association can make sure its fees are paid out of the rental income and can make sure the property meets its deed restrictions, he said.

On the down side, many homes that are in foreclosure have been stripped – making it a costly proposition to get them ready to rent.

“Candidly, most of my boards don’t want to get into the rental business. If the market were better, we would have been talking about sales. But that’s really not a reality for most of you,” Mezer said

When a house has been abandoned, it is not a good idea for a member of a homeowner association to go in to inspect its general condition, Mezer said.

“I would probably not go in, if I could avoid going in there because the claims they’re going to make against you for not securing the property. Something is missing or damaged. When the copper turns up missing, ‘I saw the guy out there. He was in there the other day with his truck and the copper ends up missing,’” Mezer added.

In some cases, it may be best to approach the homeowner who is in foreclosure but has not moved out to see if they want to stay in the house and rent it.

“I prefer you talk over the phone and don’t go knocking on the door, if somebody owes you money. You never know what’s on the other side of that door,” Mezer said.

A representative of the homeowners’ association can tell the owner: “We’re going to go ahead and take title of your home. If you want to stay there and rent it back from us, you can do that. You can stay there, but you have to pay us. If you don’t pay us, we will evict you,” Mezer said.

 

 

 

By B.C. Manion

If billboards, balloons, banners and signs are any indication, then building activity is increasing in northern Hillsborough, central Pasco and east Pasco counties.

Drivers along thoroughfares throughout those areas will see plenty of homebuilders vying for their attention.

Just a few of the builders with something cooking include:

–Lennar, with new homes at Concord Station, off SR 54 in Land O’ Lakes

–Southern Crafted Homes, with homes in Stonegate in the $170s to $500s and villas at Devonwood in the $150s

–D.R. Horton, with homes on the north side of SR 54, east of Livingston Road and a The Greens at Hidden Creek off Eiland and Championsgate boulevards

–Cardel Homes, in a new phase in Country Walk off Meadow Pointe Boulevard

–Ryland Homes and William Ryan Homes, with homes in Ashton Oaks off SR 54

–Seven Oaks has new models and builders in its community, off SR 56.

–Ashton Woods Homes, with luxury semi-custom townhomes at Crenshaw Reserve on US 41 in Lutz

Billboards tout homes being offered by other builders, too, including Arthur Rutenberg Homes and Mercedes Homes, and there are multiple builders sending out news releases about their latest offerings.

The signs of activity are more abundant than in recent months – and this comes despite a housing market that has taken a beating for the past couple of years.

High unemployment and poor investments triggered a record rate of foreclosures – and an oversupply of inventory — coupled with foreclosures and short sales — caused prices and values to plummet.

The apparent uptick in activity may reflect an expectation that many have that housing prices will stabilize within the next six months, said Mario Polo, a broker associate for Keller Williams, who compiles a monthly sales report of new and existing homes sold in Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

“If they’re putting them in the ground now, they’ll be ready for spring. That’s the selling season,” Polo said. It takes four to six months to put a home in the ground, he said.

While price stability may be coming, Polo predicts that values will decline in the short term as foreclosures flood the market during the next 30 to 60 days.

“Lenders will be releasing foreclosed properties they have been holding,” Polo wrote in his report, which uses data from the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors Mid-Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service.

The job market is another major issue, Polo writes. “Unemployment is still our No. 1 problem,” he notes. Tougher lending standards and appraisals are hindering sales, too.

Despite those issues, Jim Deitch, chief operating officer for Southern Crafted Homes expects his company to continue to fare well.

“We’ve continued to defy the market, if you will,” Deitch said. “Our sales are up 26 percent.”

The company is building homes in Stonegate, Devonwood in Land O’ Lakes and The Preserve at Quail Woods in Wesley Chapel.

Deitch said the homebuilder’s customers tend to be empty nesters, doctors, military personnel, nurses and people who work in the financial services industry.

A good portion of the company’s buyers is doctors who have relocated because they will be working at the new Trinity Hospital on SR 54 when it opens. Nurses have been attracted to the homebuilder’s offerings, too, particularly in Devonwood, because they don’t want to have to worry about maintaining their property, Deitch said.

Southern Crafted Homes aims to fulfill its customers’ desires, Deitch said.

“We will pretty much do any change that the customer wants. That includes adding square feet, customizing the space and meeting the individual needs.”

In one case, it meant changing the design of the garage to accommodate a customer who has a passion for cars; in others, it has meant customized media or billiard rooms.

Deitch said he has seen tremendous changes in the Pasco market, since he came into the area. “When we started in 1990, there was nothing up here,” he said.

While Polo expects prices to slide in the short term because of an increased number of foreclosed properties on the market, Deitch expects housing prices to increase long-term as the costs go up for land, concrete, shingles and other materials.

Homebuilders cannot put themselves in a position of trying to compete with short sales and foreclosure, Deitch said. “It’s not a sustainable business model,” he said.