PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Port St. Lucie neighborhood almost lost their community clubhouse after a consultant engineer made a mistake.
The error has led to a tax dispute between the neighborhood’s homeowners association and the city of Port St. Lucie, centering around the property.
City officials said their consultant engineer originally agreed with the homeowner’s association that the property didn’t have to pay a special assessment, but later changed their mind and reinstated the duty worth about $20,000.
WATCH: Error leads to tax dispute between HOA and city of Port St. Lucie
Kelly Finn, who is the president of the Veranda Gardens homeowners association, said the community didn’t know the city reinstated the tax. She said she got a notice from the St. Lucie County Tax Collector’s Office warning her about years of unpaid tax bills and a potential upcoming property sale.
"It was a very big surprise since we had a document saying that we were never going to have to pay this again," Finn said.
WPTV met Finn at one of our Let’s Hear It events. She shared a document showing the city of Port St. Lucie sent a letter to the county tax collector in January 2022, asking to “remove all future assessments” from the clubhouse and asking the tax collector’s office for a refund for past payment years.
WPTV also obtained copies of records from the tax collector showing the community received the refund. The records include a tax specialist from their office signing off on the refund and citing the reason as parcel entered in as error.
Finn told us their neighborhood got the exemption after showing the city a state law, which shows taxing authorities aren’t able to perform assessments on common elements within subdivisions.
"Ad valorem taxes and non-ad valorem assessments shall be assessed against the lots within a platted residential subdivision and not upon the subdivision property as a whole,” reads Florida code. “An ad valorem tax or non-ad valorem assessment, including a tax or assessment imposed by a county, municipality, special district, or water management district, may not be assessed separately against common elements utilized exclusively for the benefit of lot owners within the subdivision, regardless of ownership.”
The law defines common elements as property used for at least 10 years exclusively for the benefit of lot owners within the subdivision, properties not intended for private ownership and been dedicated to the public or retained for the benefit of the subdivision. The law also includes property required as drainage or retention ponds.
Finn said these new bills total around $100,000. She said it’s a hidden burden.
“This is a big thing,” Finn said. “You know this is $100,000. We're not talking $50 here.”
She said she assumed the bills were a mistake and started meeting with various government officials about the problem. Finn said she has been very disappointed with her various meetings with the city of Port St. Lucie.
“I’ve been incredibly disappointed with everybody I’ve talked to at the government because they smile and nod,” she said to WPTV’s Ethan Stein. “And they never answer the questions and explain. I asked questions to one of the finance personnel and she said ‘I don’t know, I didn’t bring my laptop.'"
WPTV wanted to talk with the city of Port St. Lucie about the situation. But the city declined to make anybody available to speak on camera about the situation with the Veranda Gardens homeowners association. A city spokesperson said it would only answer questions in writing.
Scott Samples, a strategic communications manager for the city of Port St. Lucie, said a consultant engineer originally made the decision to exempt the property then changed its mind in June 2022.
“The City worked with its consulting engineers, who initially agreed that it could and a letter was sent to the St. Lucie Tax Collector’s office requesting a refund on the parcel,” Samples said in email. “However, after further review the consulting engineer determined in June 2022 that their initial conclusion was incorrect and the assessment needed to be added back onto the parcel as agreed upon by the developer in 2015.”
He said the city became aware of the issue in February 2025 and acknowledged it’s working with the neighborhood to come to a resolution. Samples also said the city wanted to emphasize that these are not taxes.
“Also, just we wanted to emphasize that these are not a tax, but rather a special assessment,” he wrote to WPTV.
Finn told us the property association has begun reaching out to lawyers and preparing to sue the city over the dispute.
"The most frustrating part is not being able to solve this problem," she said.
