Jay Appi file photo
Fixing the leak at Winters Run.
The members of a Fair Haven Heights condo association have voted to pay their entire $138,000-plus overdue water bill — and will now try to collect from the complex’s former property manager, whom they accuse of failing to promptly address the leak that left them in such a financial mess.
Members of the the Winters Run Condominium Association took that vote on Monday night.
The vote marked the latest step in their effort to resolve $138,776.40 in water debt at the Lexington Avenue condo complex, stemming from a yearslong leak that reportedly went unaddressed by the property’s previous management company. That leak caused the complex’s monthly water bill to jump up from under $1,000 to $7,000 a month.
Click here to read a previous article all about the Winters Run condo complex’s water debt woes and bankruptcy bid.
Owners of 10 of the complex’s 30 condominium units gathered on Zoom to decide whether or not to endorse a so-called “consensual plan,” which would see the association repay the full $138,000 debt to the Regional Water Authority, or a “non-consensual plan,” in which the association would try to get bankruptcy court permission to pay back roughly $20,000.
Winters Run Condominium Association President Ken Krayeske laid out the two options during Monday’s Zoom meeting. He also described an alternate, “non-approved” plan of trying to get permission to pay a total of $120,000 over five years, instead of $138,000 over four.
“The RWA is a difficult partner to converse with,” Krayeske told the owners.
At a public comment session with the RWA’s Consumer Affairs Committee earlier on Monday, Krayeske expressed his frustration with what he characterized as the water company’s “aggressiveness,” calling the RWA a “utility bully.” “I’m not sure what universe we’re in,” Krayeske said, “because it’s not the same universe.”
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the water company said, “The RWA is working with the independent Office of Consumer Affairs to reach an amicable solution” with the Winters Run condo complex.
Meanwhile, the association has sent a demand letter claiming over $400,000 in damages to its former property manager, Alan Barberino, who condo owners claim neglected the leak and passed on costs from the increasing water bills to tenants. That money would be helpful, but, Krayeske said, “it might take two years” of legal battles before Winters Run sees any of it, if the community ever does.
The condo association declined to share the details of their suit. In outline, though, the association is claiming that Barberino Property Management “failed to meet” the “heightened duty” created when the company was licensed as a community association manager by the Department of Consumer Protection.
Barberino did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.
Monday’s condo association vote to repay the full $138,000 was unanimous.
Jon Matson, the owner of unit 15 at Winters Run, said he voted for the consensual plan for financial management reasons. The plan provided a firmer understanding of what he’d be paying: “It’s a fixed amount, it wouldn’t change, it’s limited to four years. An additional hundred dollars is definitely a gut punch, but it’s something manageable,” Matson said.
The full consensual plan works out to approximately $96 per condo per month for four years, while the unapproved plan works out to around $67 per condo per month over that span.
Matson, who’s owned at Winters Run since 2018, said he didn’t know about the leak until Krayeske took over as association president. All he knew was that he was seeing his condo fees “increase increase increase” with no explanation.
Krayeske described the non-consensual plan — of trying to pay only $20,000 — as “playing chicken.” “I don’t want to play chicken with other people’s money,” he said.
“We think it’s deeply unfair of the Regional Water Authority,” Krayeske said, to claim liens on individual condo owners even though individual condo owners were not notified of the leak and are not responsible for paying the water bill.
Winters Run also presented the alternate $120,000, five-year proposal to the RWA on Tuesday.
The Winters Run condo association is next scheduled to appear in bankruptcy court on June 20. It will present its final water-debt-repayment plan to the court on Monday, June 24.