THE VILLAGES - Some neighbors in this retirement community's Santo Domingo Village get a sinking feeling when they talk about the retention pond behind their homes. The pond, dubbed Logo Bonito, has been the site of some 14 sinkholes over the years, they say.

Residents Fran and Joe Cagner said in February, the latest sinkhole drained the pond they paid a waterfront property premium to live beside in just 12 hours. The problem seemed to be fixed when, under a directive of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the board of supervisors for Village Community Development District No. 2, voted to install a synthetic liner at the bottom of the pond. The liner went in last month at a cost of $127,000, and was paid with the District 2 contingency fund. This week, heavy rains began to refill the pond with water.

But for the Cagners and other neighbors, concerns linger about potential damage to the liner and the financial impact of taking $127,000 out of the contingency fund.

From his home adjacent to Logo Bonitio, Hugh Buchanan snapped photographs as contractors laid down the liner. Friday, Buchanan appeared before the district's board of supervisors with a collection of photographs showing torn and damaged areas on the liner. He said he believes tractors and bulldozers rolling across the pond bottom tore up sections, including one area near the last sinkhole.

"Our concern is that for two-and-a-half years the neighbors on this pond have tried to get something done about these sinkholes, because the water would just drain and leave an ugly pond bottom," Buchanan said at his home Thursday. "We think we're going to be stuck with what we had before. It's not going to hold water and it's going to drain faster than other ponds with a liner."

Village Center district engineer Marty Dzuro said contractor Steve Counts Inc. did address neighbors concerns about the installation and offered an extended five-year warranty on the liner. The warranty, however, does not cover sinkholes.

"I don't think there's anyone in the world who would guarantee against a sinkhole," Dzuro said.

Joe Cagner said he was concerned residents will see an increase in their monthly $104 assessments to replenish the contingency fund. Melinda Short, with the Village Center district finance department, said the fund would be replenished over two to three years without an increase. After Friday's meeting, Short said she did not have an updated figure on how much was now in the fund.

Meanwhile, Cagner and Buchanan said they would wait and see if the water level in the pond again dropped while their monthly assessment rose.

Water district spokesman Michael Molligan said his agency would do an on-site inspection of the work at Logo Bonito, but the visit was not yet scheduled. Molligan said that over the years, the administration of the various community development districts in the Villages always acted properly in the face of a recurring problem with sinkholes by filling the holes with cement and clay. He said Southwest water district ordered the synthetic liner after traditional solutions continued to fail. Molligan said sinkholes pose a potential health threat because surface water containing pesticides and other chemicals seeps into the aquifer.

Nick Jones, chairman of District 2, said he asked the developer about the possibility of reimbursing the district for the expense of putting in the liner. He said the answer was no. The developer, however, did pay to install a liner in another pond in Santo Domingo, he said, but that was on condition that the pond be filled with recycled water to be used for for golf course irrigation.