By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Coronado Place HOA has been issuing speeding tickets. Arizona law gives Association-Governed communities the authority to ticket residents for speeding on its private roads.
But homeowners claim these fines are invalid for various reasons. So several have not paid the speeding fines of $100.
The HOA responded by sending letters threatening to shut off water to units of owners who fail to pay their speeding tickets. That prompted owners to contact Matthew Schwartz at KVOA TV to investigate. An attorney contacted by Schwartz says that Arizona statute does not allow HOAs to shut off utilities as a penalty for speeding on private roads and not paying their tickets.
One owner is threatening to counter sue the HOA if they shut off his water for disputing tickets he received for vehicles that don’t even belong to him.
Coronado Place HOA later back-tracked and said that they made an “administrative error” and that water shut off letters were only supposed to go to those owners who are past due on assessments, not to those being fined for traffic violations on association roads.
But that begs the question: what happens when the unpaid fines morph into past due assessments? Can the HOA shut off the water utility in that case?
As you can see from the video, the board President won’t talk to the reporter. Owners are now said to be organizing petition for her recall.
N4T Investigators: HOA hassle