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City Commission directs staff to formalize hardship loan program for Ranches homeowners
Summary
City of Parkland staff presented a proposed hardship loan to help Ranches residents pay a special road assessment; commissioners directed staff to formalize the program, agreed on a 10‑year minimum residency threshold and a recorded 20‑year lien, and set a rapid timeline for mailing notices and accepting applications.
City of Parkland commissioners on Jan. 14 directed staff to formalize a hardship loan program intended to help a small number of Ranches neighborhood homeowners who may struggle to pay a recent special road assessment.
Kelly Schwartz, the city’s finance director, presented a staff‑designed assistance program framed as a loan rather than a grant. Schwartz said staff had identified 175 parcels in the Ranches, that 42% of those parcels lack homestead exemptions and that 102 parcels have homestead exemptions; five parcels are city‑owned. Using an average 2.5‑acre example, Schwartz said the initial prepayment for an eligible property would be about $19,983 and that the annual assessment would not exceed $2,033.70, though the final annual assessment will depend on the total prepayments and negotiated loan terms.
Schwartz…
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