Wheel Estates Tenants Question Rate Hike Request
 The Wheel Estates Tenants Association is requesting a $40 rent increase to cover operations and a capital project. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Wheel Estates tenants are split over the need for a rent increase to continue infrastructure improvements at the park.
The Wheel Estates Tenants Association, which purchased the park nearly two years ago, is asking for a $40 hike, bringing the monthly lot rentals to $385.
The association had initially had requested the increase last December but withdrew the request after the Mobile Home Rent Control Board noted it had used incorrect figures. It returned with two petitions, as requested by the board, for a $25 increase for general expenses and $15 for its Phase 2 capital improvements to the water system.
More than a dozen tenants attended Tuesday's public hearing with the Rent Control Board, which will determine at its next meeting whether and how much an increase should be.
"The magic number," as board Chairman Wayne Wilkinson put it, encouraging residents to speak at the public hearing portion.
Several spoke on both sides of the issue, although it was noted that the tenants association had approved a budget that will require an increase. About 100 households in the nearly 200-lot park are association members; 187 of the lots are occupied.
"I think it's really unfortunate that the park is where it is right now because the previous two owners didn't do anything for so long that now we're faced with all these major projects coming up quicker than we had anticipated," said Mary Ellen Eliasen, a member of the association's board, adding there had been frequent breaks in the old water lines that forced the project to be moved up. "I don't want a rent increase either but there are projects that have to be done."
Eliasen said she lived in the area of the park that would benefit from the $505,433 Phase 2 project; Phase 1, a $1.3 million project that affected about half the park's water lines, was completed in late 2013. About a quarter of the park's lines had been replaced under a previous owner.
However, James Cables, a director of the association, saying he was speaking as a member, argued the $25 general operations hike was not needed and that three board members were among those voting against the budget. Toting up budget line items he said were one-time buys or excessive amounts, he calculated the operations increase could be cut in half, making the total increase with the water project included only $25.
"After going over and over these figures, I'd say we had a spending problem," he said.
The board, too, questioned a number of items in the budget, quizzing association President Sandy Overlock and Vice President Jesse Martinez on various issues, from credit card payments to reimbursements for a damaged car to salaries. Several figures did not add up, they said, asking for more information on the park's assessment and loan payments.
Both Martinez and Overlock each receive $15,000 as managers; association also contracts out its accounting and collections operations, has a full-time maintenance man and currently hires someone to help with plowing.
"When we first began this, we believed we needed two full-time employees and now we're seeing maybe we can do with one employee," Martinez said. He defended his and Overlock's salaries. "We're on 24/7, just because we leave the office doesn't mean we aren't getting calls from home."
He said the association is trying to pay what it can in cash as it tackles major projects. The water line project, for example, is budgeted at $462,000 and another $40,000 for related costs; the association plans to bond for $400,000 and spend $105,000 out of reserves, including the purchase last year of $58,000 in materials ahead of the work.
Wilkinson asked what the park plans to do about the front entrance, noting the long, steep, curving roadway has drainage issues.
"I would think that would be a priority soon rather than later," he said, asking if it would mean the association would be looking for another increase sooner. "It's an emergency nightmare up there because there's not other entrance."
Martinez said he did not expect that project to come up during his term but added the association was seeking grants that could subsidize it.
"If an emergency were to happen, I'd say we have to funnel any funds we have in that direction," he said.
Gregory L Armstrong, a tenant but not a member of the association, said the first phase should be completed before embarking on more work, bringing in photos of his and his neighbor's driveways that were still unfinished.
Bonnie Andrews said revenue was missing from the rental increase application, such as the sale of a mobile home and rent from Zumba classes and questioned the need to pay for two managers when an outside contractor was doing the accounting and collecting and the original budget proposal had been reduced.
"It's like it's their own private little piggy bank," she said. "I think anybody who is in the position of management should not [live] in the park. It should be somebody with no ties to the park."
Wilkinson said the board would review the application and residents' statements. He anticipated taking a vote after deliberations at the Tuesday, March 3, meeting.
One resident advised the board that the attendance didn't reflect the interest in proposed rate hike.
"I'm sure you noticed there's not a lot of people here tonight but that's not because they're not interested," she said. "It's because we have a lot of elderly and they don't want to come out in the cold.
"I just wanted you to know they are interested"
Tags: mobile home park, rent control,
