Residents of complex that needed emergency fix will have to pay over $8K each

The amount of money that residents of a Henderson townhome complex will need to pay back to the city after the city stepped in to repair the complex’s crumbling water system was approved at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

But it wasn’t yet clear how long residents of the complex would have to pay off the bill, which amounts to over $8,000 per household.

“We need to be transparent,” said Councilwoman Carrie Cox, who represents the ward where the complex, Somerset Park, is located.

Mayor Michelle Romero and City Council members Dan Shaw, Dan Stewart, and Jim Seebock voted in favor of it. Cox was the sole vote against the item.

Residents received a letter from the city in August informing them that they could be displaced, leaving them fearing homelessness. The letter stated that the complex, near Sunset and Pabco roads, had a broken water system that frequently leaked and created sinkholes.

The letter stated that if Somerset’s homeowners association could not arrange repairs by Sept. 10, two weeks after the letter was taped to residents’ doors, the city would shut off the water, which would effectively force residents out.

According to the HOA’s management company, CAMCO Homeowners Association Management, the association had been plagued by financial mismanagement, as a result of a previous management company, and couldn’t afford the repairs.

After residents reacted with concern, the city agreed to front the cost of repairs, which ended up being $682,293.74, according to council meeting documents posted on the city’s website.

85 units owe $8,026.99

Residents from the 85 units in the complex would have to pay the city back in form of a tax lien. Split equally, each of the 85 units would owe $8,026.99. An additional $150 lien fee would be added if residents don’t pay the $8,026.99 up front. Payments would start on Aug. 18, 2025, and residents would have to pay four times per year.

Somerset resident Joann Miller, 71, told the Review-Journal that she felt “totally distraught.” Miller, a retiree from Detroit, said she was on a pension and didn’t have the ability to pay off over $8,000.

What is not specified in the agenda item is how long residents would have to pay the repair bill.

More years for residents to pay would mean cheaper installments. For example, if residents had one year to pay (excluding the lien fee), their installments would be $1,003.37. If residents had two years to pay (excluding the lien fee), installments would be $668.92.

It was up to the Clark County Treasurer’s Office, not the city, to determine how many payments residents would have, said Romero during the meeting.

Residents spoke in the meeting’s public comment session, saying that the city had promised them two years to pay the lien.

“We were promised two years and that payments won’t be over $300,” Somerset resident Tyler Perez, 34, told the Review-Journal.

Other residents expressed gratitude to the city for stepping in.

“I want to say, if y’all didn’t step in, it would not have been good,” said Hugh Craig, 78. But Craig said he also had the same concerns as other complex residents.

“The city should’ve said they didn’t know how long we would have to pay it off,” said Craig.

In a letter given to residents on Nov. 26, the city referred due dates for payments to the Clark County Treasurer’s Office.

However, in an earlier Sept. 12 letter from the city, it stated, “The total cost will be based on the completed project cost and distributed across eight (8) quarterly invoices and sent to individual homeowners on their tax statement.”

“It was stated from the city what the repayment plan was, and now we’re coming back and saying, ‘Oh, we have no control.’ I have a problem with that,” Cox said during the meeting.

‘We want to work with both sides’

Cox motioned to push the agenda item to January in order to provide residents with more information. Cox said she wanted to figure out how much time residents would be given to pay off the bill before voting.

Her motion failed with City Council members Shaw, Stewart, and Seebock voting against it. Cox and Romero voted in favor of the motion.

Shaw expressed concern that someone could purchase the property and be unaware that there were liens on the property.

“For example, someone could come in, buy one of these condos, pull the title report and it wouldn’t show any thing due. And, they could buy this condo and not know that there’s an assessment that’s coming down to them,” Shaw said during the meeting.

Seebock made a motion to approve the item, but with the condition that city staff had to report in January how many payments residents would have to make.

Seebock’s motion passed with Mayor Romero and Councilmembers Shaw, Stewart, and Seebock voting for it. Cox was the sole vote against the motion.

Romero said it was likely that the Clark County Treasurer’s Office would give residents at least two years.

“We are trying to reach out to (the treasurer’s office) to determine exactly how many pay periods that will be. We haven’t heard back yet, but the typical one is for eight cycles, and we’re hoping that it will be that or even longer,” said Romero.

However, Romero wanted to protect the city’s public funds as well.

“But again, that’s public dollars, and it does need to be paid back. So we want to work with both sides. We want to protect the public money, but we also want to protect the homeowners to the greatest extent possible,” Romero said.

“Even if it’s the treasurer’s office that is not getting us the information, then we have an obligation to wait until we have that information so that we can be fully transparent,” Cox told the Review-Journal.

Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com. Follow @annievwrites on X or @annievong.bsky.social.