Amidst Rising Costs Board Forgoes Opportunity to Realize Millions: Move Appears to Prioritize Illegal Overnight Rental Interests

In March of 2024, it came to light that the tiered billing system, enshrined in our Rules and Regulations since 2016 was not being enforced by Marquis. Correcting this error would have meant huge revenue for the Roney Association.

The added bonus was that the revenue in question would actually have almost exclusively been collected from illegal overnight renters who have excessively high guest card usage. The amounts they would have owed are staggering: $1 million dollars each in 2023 and 2024 with a conservative projection of $1 million dollars in 2025 - bringing the grand total for three (3) years to approximately $3 million dollars.

So what happened?

At the Nov 2024 Thanksgiving eve board meeting, amidst unanimous unit owner opposition of those present, the Board saw fit to amend the rules and reduce guest card fees to $50. The Board's action felt like blatant disregard for the best interests of the overwhelming majority of unit owners - those that do not exceed their 20 free guest cards per calendar year (425 units or 75% of the Roney). Instead, they appear to prioritize minority interests of those who had already greatly profited from years of non-enforcement. In our opinion, with this decision, they essentially eschewed their fiscal responsibility while perpetuating the compromised safety and well-being of the community.

Why Haven't You Heard about the Millions in Forgone Revenue?

Despite a petition from 25% of unit owners asking that the entire Roney membership be informed of the billing error and the amount, the Board has refused to share this information. Guest card billing data and usage data for the entire community was therefore requisitioned from Marquis and shared. Here are the numbers.

*Actual Uncollected Guest Card fees in 2023 $1,045,900

*Actual Uncollected Guest Card fees in 2024 $1,120,200

Projected uncollected Guest Card fees for 2025 $1,000,000 

Total Estimated Loss to the Association in 3 year period $3,166,100

So why didn't the board seize the opportunity to close the illegal overnight rental loophole, take advantage of the untapped revenue stream and deliver a win-win for the community?

We believe the answer for us lies in some revelatory data:

Our review of the data requistioned from and provided by Marquis shows, in our estimation, that certain board-affiliated units have a history of high guest card counts. These high card counts suggest that board members reap financial benefit from their decision to drastically reduce guest card fees.

For reference - board-affiliated units are below:

Lynn Nunes: 327, 422, 435, 743, 812, 905, 1043.

Daniel K: Ph16, PH17

Andres Lizerralde: 1525

While Association Counsel has opined that Board members are able to benefit from their decisions, Counsel has also indicated that these decisions must benefit the community at large, not just to a select few. Guest card data shows that only a minority of unit owners, just 25% of the community, benefits from these changes. The units with the highest guest card usage benefit the most.

The Big Picture:

From our perspective, it is less about the money and more about the transparency and holding board members accountable for their actions. If the board was truly interested in enforcing the 30-day minimum for rentals and eliminating illegal overnight rentals, they would have convened a fining committee which would have empowered Marquis to take decisive action. If and when illegal overnight rentals are eliminated, guest card revenue would be negligible. While they are rampant, however, guest card fees should be strictly enforced and remitted to the Association. One million dollars per year would have been a welcome bonus to unit owners, possibly offsetting the large maintenance increases we have been experiencing.

We believe there is so much more concerning information that the board seems unwilling to share with owners about how their decisions truly impact the community. We are unit owners, not detectives, but we feel unit owners should be privy to the data. For this reason we have launched this website. We encourage you review the data and information and draw your own conclusions.