The ultimate result, she predicted: “We’re going to have foreclosures all across this county.”

The elected officials who discussed the issues at two workshops last week aren’t promising comprehensive fixes — especially not fixes that will produce quick, dramatic change.

As far as easing the impact of the reserve requirements on condominiums, state Sen. Jason Pizzo, chair of the Broward Legislative Delegation, was blunt: “There is not going to be a state bailout as it relates to condominiums at all. There won’t be.”

Surfside

For decades, many condominiums didn’t set aside enough money to pay for future long-term maintenance costs, and the consequences were vividly illustrated by the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside in which 98 people were killed.

State law was changed in the aftermath of the disaster. “Surfside was certainly a wake-up call,” said state Rep. Chip LaMarca of Lighthouse Point.

The new law potentially means large payments to boost reserve accounts, which are equivalent to rainy-day funds to cover large, expensive repairs, and probable special assessments to fund major structural repairs. It goes into effect in 2025.

Bogen and County Commissioner Steve Geller said they’d like to see some delay in the ramping up of reserves.

Geller said some changes are needed. “But I hope that those changes would not include repeal of the law, because there really is a problem with these condominiums with their structural soundness,” he said.

Associations have often voted to waive setting aside money for reserves, something the new law prohibits for funding for projects related to structural integrity such as the roof, load bearing walls, electrical systems, plumbing, windows and foundations, among other items.

Geller recalled his time representing Hallandale Beach in the state Legislature in the 1980s and 1990s. Some residents didn’t want to pay at the time for problems they hoped would have to be addressed after they were no longer alive.

“I would go to people and say, ‘You know, you need to stop waiving your reserve. …’ They would say, ‘Young man, young man, I’m 77 years old. I’m not going to worry about what’s going to happen in 10 years. Let my children worry about it because they’ll own the condo then. And the problem is that we had so many people that just kept waiving and waiving and waiving.”

Geller said he’d like to see some extra time. “You can’t go from 40 years of ignoring it (and) say you must be in full compliance in five years. So I think the solution that makes sense is just to stretch out that period,” he said.

But, he added, the deadline to start saving shouldn’t be pushed off. “If you just extend it for five years, they’ll still do nothing until the fifth year.”

LaMarca said “lengthening the glide path” for repairs issues identified in a condominium’s structural reserve study “would be helpful.”

All of Broward’s elected county commissioners and state legislators are Democrats, except for LaMarca. He’s a member of the minority party in Broward and the overwhelming Republican majority that controls the state Legislature.

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