"I don't know anything about those bills," said vice-mayor Myra "Lady" Taylor after a recent city council meeting.
"Those bills are not mine," said the president of Vankara: A Learning Exchange.
City records, however, reflect an unpaid $28,881.73 balance in nine separate accounts for Vankara Schools located on the 13400 block of Alexandria Dr.
In a previous interview Ms. Taylor said, "the buildings were rented by some people who ran some kind of a school" but could not "remember" the renters' names.
Perhaps county records will jog the city official's memory as to the name of the mystery educators who were leasing property worth millions on Vankara's compound for three years.
Worth a total assessed value of over $2 million, the seven buildings were sold for a paltry $100 each by the Taylors in December 2008, according to Miami-Dade property records.
So who scored on the sweet-heart sale? New Beginning Enrichment of S Fla. -- a business that shares the 2398 NW 119th St. address with New Beginning Enrichment Center, Inc. State records lists Ms. Taylor as that corporation's vice-president.
Later reversing herself, Ms. Taylor remembered the buildings were leased to "the MLK center or the MMAP(Metro-Miami Action Plan Trust) program downtown."
Showing financial favoritism for Opa-locka's elite is not news to one former commissioner.
"That's not right to allow Taylor to run up a $30,000 bill for years and not pay it,"said former commissioner Steve Barrett.
"She has to pay what she owes to the city just like everybody else."
Mr. Barrett recently won a 2006 class-action law suit against the City of Opa-locka for water billing practices that Judge Victoria Sigler said were "illegal." The litigation is now known locally among Opa-lockans as "the friends and family plan."
The litigation earned its infamous nickname when city assistant finance director Faye Douglas testified that her office regularly waives late fees, penalties, interest and chooses not to disconnect service for city officials, employees, their friends and family members.
Non-royal Opa-lockans are not privy to the special treatment.
"The selective enforcement of the cut-off policy, as applied by the city, is arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory," Judge Sigler wrote in the court order on Oct. 18, 2007. She ordered "the friends and family plan" to stop and because the commission never approved the utility department's practice of compounding interest on late fees, Judge Sigler deemed it "illegal."
A $275,000 proposed settlement was approved on a consent agenda by all five Opa-locka commissioners on Oct. 14.
Judge Sigler has set a hearing for Dec. 16 to determine if the court will approve the deal.
"This will set the system straight for life," Mr. Barrett said. "The law says there is no difference between rich and poor, everyone is supposed to be treated equally."
But is the family and friends plan truly just a part of Opa-locka's dark history?
A July 22, 2005 county document shows MMAP's Trust authorized executive director John Dixon to enter into a lease with the vice-mayor's husband, Rev. John Taylor, "to house the Martin Luther Jr. Academy at the Vankara School site located at 13331 Alexandria Drive."
The $110,000 a year lease bought "15,269 square feet of air-conditioned and heated office space," a vacant lot, basketball court and playground.
Until the Academy closed its doors in July 2008, Mr. Dixon says the academy leased only four buildings on the Vankara compound.
Upon hearing about the overdue account he was "shocked."
"A $30,000 water bill," said MMAP Executive Director John Dixon. "Nobody would keep your water on with that kind of a bill. We paid all the bills associated with the [MLKJA] school."
Both parties signed a release agreement lease agreement, drafted by county attorneys, on Aug. 28, 2008. In addition, the Taylors were also paid $9,600 for a list of property damages.
A $5.13 final balance in MMAP's name was posted on Sep. 23, 2008 for the 133317 Alexandria Dr. address popped up on a customer history report from Opa-locka.
"Of course we'll pay that," Mr. Dixon said.
Vankara's executive director says there are other water bills that are the responsibility of MMAP.
"They leased a total of five buildings," said Elvira Smith, who is also the vice-mayor's sister. "Those water bills were supposed to be in their name. The city should've been aware of what was going on. Somebody flubbed up."
Ms. Smith says she did not close the water accounts before MLKJA moved in.
"I was assuming the bill was going to MMAP," Ms. Smith said. "Even if the bill did come here, I would've given it to them."
Ms. Smith says Vankara has only four water accounts and admits the bills are overdue, but would not say how many years the school has owed the money to the City of Opa-locka -- or exactly how much is owed.
Vankara's director says she recently signed a schedule agreement with the water department, but did not provide a copy.
Opa-locka maintains a list of customers who owe money to the city, but the accounts receivables list for Oct. 21 does not include Vankara Schools' $28,881.73 multiple-years-old water bill.
Interim Bryan K. Finnie said, "I'll have to check on that and make sure they are on that list."
The manager says any landlord disputes with MMAP or the county are Vankara's responsibility.
"The city is not going to lose any money on this," Mr. Finnie said. "Liens will be placed on the properties and those liens will protect the city down the line."
The City of Opa-locka may not have to go far to find the new property owners: New Beginning Enrichment of S Fla.
The State's website lists vice-mayor Taylor as an officer in the corporation.
