OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Residents in Osceola County are accusing the board for Concorde Estates Community Development District of spending roughly $900,000 in 20 days with no receipts as to how.
It’s now got the attention of state auditors, lawmakers and investigators.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted unanimously in November to launch an investigation into Concorde Estates.
So what is a community development district? In the state of Florida, tens of thousands of people live in these neighborhoods. This is a mini-local government created to build and maintain the community. It handles development and maintenance of things like roads, landscaping, parks, and amenities. It pays for these through assessments on the homeowners who live there and is reflected on their annual property tax bill.
So, the money at the center of the controversy are residents’ money.
9 Investigates planned to ask Concorde Estates board members at the scheduled meeting Wednesday, but majority of members, including the chairman, didn’t show up.
More than a dozen residents and two board members were at the Holiday Inn where the meeting was scheduled.
Hotel staff tell me Concorde Estates didn’t even reserve a conference room.
Channel 9 was there as the only two board members that showed up, Robin McNeil and Walter Klass, made calls to the board’s chairman and attorney to try to get more information-- on where other board members were at and if the meeting was still happening.
Around the scheduled start time of the meeting, the District updated its website, saying the meeting was canceled but gave no reason as to why.
“The fact that you’re a board member, and you just found out that the meeting was just canceled within the last five minutes,” Channel 9 said to board member Walter Klass.
“It’s disheartening because this has been going on for a long time,” Klass replied.
Residents and some board members saying they haven’t had a meeting since June when they asked questions about how the board was spending their money.
“We want see where it has been spent,” said Aidee Velez.State Senator Kristen Arrington writes in this letter to the state’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee that her office has received numerous complaints about the district’s financial management and transparency, including the alleged misuse of $900,000 of residents’ district fees.
According to her letter requesting the audit, when the Osceola County Tax Collector’s office deposited nearly $2 million into the districts account in December 2024, nearly half of it was spent within 20 days.
Klass, who was on the board at the time, says he never voted on it. McNeil, who was nominated to the board afterwards, say he hasn’t been able to learn how this money was spent.
“I want to know what’s going on. I’m on the board, and I cannot even talk to any members because they don’t want to answer questions,” Klass said.
“It’s the $900,000 question that we want to know. Well, that’s what the audit committee, they’ve got to find out,” McNeil said.
We reached out to the board chair and its attorney by email and by phone why the meeting was canceled and how the $900,000 was spent. We even tried to reach the chairman at his home and the District’s clubhouse. We have not heard back.
Officials tell me the Auditor General is putting together a plan for an audit now. It should formally start in the coming months. We will continue pushing for answers, but eventually, the board will have to answer to the state.
Statement from State Senator Kristen Arrington:
“I am saddened to hear that the Concorde Estates CDD continues to lack transparency with its residents by canceling a board meeting after it was scheduled to begin. Since the audit of Concorde Estates was approved on November 17th by the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, my office has not received any updates, as the legislature was on holiday break. We have been informed that an audit will take place this year, as findings must be submitted for the 2027 Session.
In light of this news, I want to highlight SB 1180. I am proud to sponsor this bill, which would establish a recall process for CDD board members. Currently, residents living in CDDs have no legal recourse to respond to circumstances like these. Through this legislation, I aim to give residents meaningful tools to resolve matters like these and help prevent them in the future.”
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