Quote:
Originally Posted by Carla B
I see this as a massive PR failure by The Developer. If the Sumter County Commissioners had introduced small increases in property taxes over the years, instead of the BIG increase, it may have gone unnoticed or at least created less fury. His commissioners may well have retained their seats. Then the Developer wouldn't have needed to rely on the State to resolve the problem to his liking.
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If they had reduced the discount the Developer currently gets, AND increased the taxes by small percentages, then everyone would have had to chip in a few bucks, and no one would have felt more than a day's annoyance when the first bill came in.
The amount of work the Developer does in order to expand the Villages is staggering. I actually feel they SHOULD get a discounted impact fee per unit, because of it. But I also feel it shouldn't be as significant as it currently is. In addition, I ALSO feel that taxpayers should expect to pay more every few years, rather than pay stagnated taxes for 14 years and then get a sudden shock to their systems.
A bit of both would have gone a LONG way to make this a seamless, painless shift in funds from individual to county/state. The government was in charge of making this happen, and they chose the wrong way of doing it. And now we are ALL paying the price. Taxpayers and Developer.