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Heritage Isles CDD Voting Snafu Cleared Up

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2008

NEW TAMPA - All Heritage Isles homeowners will be allowed to vote in the community development district races after all.

A mix up regarding the Heritage Isles CDD map has been corrected, clearing the way for all residents to vote in the Nov. 4 elections, said Kathy Harris, Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson's chief of staff and legal counsel.

New absentee ballots will be mailed to Heritage Isles residents who requested them next week, Harris said. The two CDD races will be appear on all Heritage Isles ballots Nov. 4.

Until today, Heritage Isles property addresses in the original Spicola Tract had been mistakenly omitted from the district map the Supervisor of Elections Office uses to create election ballots.

Heritage Isles residents Larry and Janet Maahs discovered the omission when they received absentee ballots for the general election. Their ballots did not include the Heritage Isles CDD races.

CDD officials said 38 residential properties on Coral Key Drive, Liberty Bell Drive, Saltwater Run Place and Lucaya Drive were affected.

Representatives from the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Office and Severn Trent Services, the company that manages the Heritage Isles CDD, said they are investigating to determine what happened.

District manager John Ricciardi said the 38 residences are officially in the CDD, and the homeowners are being assessed for fees set by the taxing authority. Severn Trent Services, the company that manages the Heritage Isles CDD, had not provided the supervisor of elections office with some appropriate information, he said.

"While the legal description of the CDD included the Spicola Tract, the map sent to the Supervisor of Elections Office did not include the tract," Ricciardi said.

"It's unfortunate that it occurred," he said.

Heritage Isles, which is in danger of defaulting on its bonds, will have choices in two of the three seats up for election. Neighborhood watch leader Barbara Adams is challenging incumbent Bill Martello. Incumbent Frank Camara faces former supervisor Jack Meehan, who resigned from his post in July but is still listed as a qualified candidate to run for election in November. Steve Stark, who ran unopposed, will serve another term.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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