[RCT]

Originally Posted by Lauren Ritchie

Hello Villagers,

I'm Lauren Ritchie, the Sentinel columnist who wrote the 3/1 column about the Villages and the IRS. I've been reading your notes about how my columns are "slanted."

Yes, they are. They are supposed to be slanted. That's what the Sentinel pays me to do. I am not a news reporter. Those folks are paid to get all sides of the story and lay it before you without comment.

I'm a columnist, which means that I write opinion. I'm paid to research, form an opinion and write it in a way that convinces readers. I DO have an opinion about this IRS investigation and about the way that the developer has used the community development districts to his benefit -- at terrible expense and liability to Villages residents. Do you realize, for example, that the outstanding bond debt on each of your homes is roughly $18,000? I wonder whether you would have bought your place if that had been tacked onto the purchase price up front? And, in addition, that $18K is the face value. Over the life of the bonds, homeowners will pay another $18K-$20K in interest. (Consider that the amortization schedule of the $64 million in bonds the IRS is investigating is about $134.5 million over the life of the bond.)

I have a second column about the IRS investigation that is to be published on Wednesday. If you don't get the paper, you can access the column online at www.orlandosentinel.com/lake and look for my picture with a list of columns by it.

In any event, I hope this helps you understand what I do. Regardless, the real question here is about the validity of the bonds, not what anyone might write about them.

Lauren

The thing you are not stating is, that in most other communities, these fees ARE included in the price of the home. Impact fees for infrastructure ARE a reality that almost every developer has to pay the city, town, state, etc. where they are. There is NO way around this, the only question is wether it is totaled in the price of the home, or separated, as TV's chose to do. Now, the interest is alot, IF you choose to do it this way, if you pay it right away, then of course, that interest isn't a factor. I respect what you say about you are a columnist, but get ALL the facts, please, BEFORE you make YOUR opinion public.