Quote:
Originally Posted by ton80
I understand all of that. My point is that the Commissioners need to watch how the money is spent. If too much money is continually spent and spent perhaps unwisely as you mentioned, they will continue to add debt to satisfy their appetite. The debt will not be reduced despite the high tax rate increase.
Another point is should we have confidence in County management that did not realize that they had a problem? All of a sudden a large tax increase is necessary. Where is the emergency you allude to? I would like to see where the extra $33.3 M per year is going. Don't you?
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It isn't "all of a sudden." It was reported about for the past couple of years - that this need has been accumulating steadily. They should have imposed small tax increases every couple of years, but chose not to increase them at all for 14 years. Inflation happens, new costs and needs happen, population (and therefore infrastructure needs) happen, more schools are needed to be built because of more people (remember the Villages aren't the only people who live in Sumter County and they DO hire people with kids, who come to the area for jobs.
So all these expenses have increased, but taxes remained the same for 14 years. Eventually, someone said "hey you know what? We really need to get this under control." And they all agreed, and boom. Tax increase. They had 14 years of inflation to make up for.
But they could have made the increase less, by increasing impact fees. A bigger impact fee, a smaller tax increase. Each contributing more than they did, but none of them bearing the entire burden of the need.
Also, the budget and expenses for the county is a matter of public record. You can see a line-item accounting of it if you want. And, as I mentioned, I live in Lake County. If I felt something in my county wasn't being done efficiently I would absolutely check with the county's public records to confirm/assuage my concerns.