Quote:
Originally Posted by njbchbum
Advogado - This impact fee has been in effect since 2015...what is the bruhaha all about now - and why? Have Sumter County residents not enjoyed stable or even lowered taxes for 15 years? Seems to me that the BOCC failed to maintain a 'rainy day fund' which might have offset the impact of this increase.
How is it that you expect Villages voters to overturn One Sumter when it exists because of their votes - which cannot be overcome by the number of voters in the rest of the County? Do you believe that the Villages voters wish to change their priority status that they seem to enjoy now?
Will you be a candidate for the S.C. BOCC?
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To address your points and questions:
Why no rainy day fund for the infrastructure? It is not raining. Instead, the Developer is massively expanding The Villages, which will earn him billions but will necessitate a massive infrastructure expansion. Impact fees, not rainy day funds (which are taxpayer dollars) should be used to pay for such infrastructure expansion.
Yes, the present impact-fee schedule (which gave the Developer a sweetheart rate of $901 versus $2,600 for ordinary builders) was adopted in 2015—i.e., before the massive expansion of The Villages was on the table. But it was supposed to be revised at least every 5 years. It was NOT revised when the Developer announced his massive expansion. Instead our taxes were increased. Why was this done? I think that the answer is obvious.
Why overturn One Sumter? I believe that there are valid reasons, but whether or not it is overturned we need to get rid of the Developer's toadies presently serving as Commissioners. That is the point I am trying to make, and I don't want to get sidetracked into a debate on One Sumter.
Will I be a candidate for the Board of County Commissioners? No. I am too old and don't know enough about local politics. My only objective is to see Commissioners elected who are honest, competent, and independent of the Developer.