[Goldwingnut]

The impact fee is determined by each municipal government and is designed to cover the costs of upgrading and/or providing additional infrastructure to support development they approve. Our unique demographic here in Sumter County with its predominantly age restricted/55+ development(s) skews this number because there is little need for additional schools (very few children in The Villages), recreation facilities, and additional infrastructure to support the new development is provided by the developer through the use of the CDD development bonds.

For example, if you look at other developments, they would rely on the city/county to bring in the water and sewage mains into the new development and then add these costs into the impact fee calculations. The higher impact fee is then added to the individual home cost. In Sumter County the developer is responsible for nearly all infrastructure requirements and includes these in the development bonds, which is passed onto the homeowner. Either way, the new homeowner pays the costs, the advantage of the way The Villages is developed is they've taken out the additional layer of government bureaucracy that wastes both time and money to do the same job. Imagine how slowly things would move in The Villages if they had to wait on the county to put out to bid, make a decision, coordinate, and then run the work, the developer would go out of business waiting.

The developer also isn't responsible for upgrading the existing county roads to support the development that was approved by the county or city. Why? Because that is exactly what the impact fee if for! CR468, 501, 470 all have to be upgraded to support the approved development and the fees for this come from the impact fees. These fees continue to be paid with each new home. What happens to the money once the county gets it is another issue, perhaps mismanagement, perhaps incompetence, in either case, we the taxpayers ultimately have paid the price.

Some compare the building of Morse Blvd and Buena Vista to the upgrades to 468 & 501, this is folly. Morse and Buena Vista did not exist prior to development so the developer was responsible for 100% of the cost to build these roads. The county did not pay for these roads, we did as homeowners through the development bonds on each of our homes, no one else north of CR466 or elsewhere in the county paid a dime for these roads. 501/468 have been county roads, and the county's responsibility for decades, take a look at the historical maps on Google Earth of the area and you will see they have existed for decades. The county is benefiting from The Villages upgrading these roads. The developer already has the manpower and equipment mobilized and can upgrade these roads for the county at a lower cost per mile than the county government can, and they get paid for this work by the county.

If there is an issue with the impact fees it is the county's fault. The fee is discounted 66% for age restricted communities in a county where 90% of the development is age restricted communities? What genius thought that made any sense? Does it benefit the developer? Once again NO, they will just roll any fee into the cost of a new house when it is sold. Does anyone really think that an additional $1500 in the price of a house here in The Villages will stop a sale? It won't, the buying demographic for The Villages is predominantly not price motivated.

I do not champion the developer in this discussion, I am trying to champion the facts. The fact is that our county government is not looking out for the long term interest of ALL THE RESIDENTS of Sumter County. They are only looking to make themselves look good. The low taxes and impact fees in Sumter County are not because of any work the government has done, it is in spite of everything that they have done that private industry has flourished and grown that has kept our taxes in check.

It is time for us as residents to muster up more than digital courage and stand up and be heard. We can vent on social media all we want and it does absolutely nothing to change things, when we stand before our government leaders and say, "No, not any more" things start to happen, but it takes more than one voice, it takes all of our voices. The best thing that can happen at these workshops is that they have to be canceled and moved to a larger facility so that our voices can be heard.