[Villages Kahuna]

Somewhat surprisingly, the three candidates that challenged the three developer-supported Incumbents for positions as Sumter County Commissioners won the Republican Primary convincingly. The challengers will have to win the General Election in November, and there will be lots of developer-designed and funded challenges, probably for write-in candidates. The upcoming weeks will be interesting as this will be the first time in at least a decade when the Sumter County Board won’t be cleanly “in the pocket” of The Villages Developer.

What’s at risk for the Developer? Lots of things. Without a lot of study, how about...

—A repeal of the major change which has the new roads and infrastructure in the new southern end of The Villages funded by the taxpayers rather than the Developer as had been the practice until this year. The result of the change was a 25% increase in property taxes. The challengers all ran with the repeal of those tax increases as a major plank in their platforms.

—The possible repeal of the “One Sumter” procedure for the election of County Commissioners. The change in the electoral process goes back almost fifteen years and was designed and sponsored by the Developer. The result of the electoral change was that the County Board could be controlled by three members, all of whom have turned out to be choices of the Developer and financed by them. The result of course was pretty much complete control of the Board in getting anything the Developer wanted approved.

—There are lots of other decisions facing the County Commissioners that will effect all Villages residents living in Sumter County (the vast majority of us). Not the least important issue might be approval of the re-zoning of the Hacienda Hills CC parcel to permit the construction of a high-rise 286-unit apartment building.

So it’ll probably be important for all of us to begin to pay lots more attention to local Sumter County politics. You can be certain that the Developer will be very creative approaching the General Election and beyond, trying to regain control of the Sumter County Board. Keeping local politics in the control of the taxpayers will take our collective, continual attention.