[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Currently, the developers are paying only 40% of the cost and the existing homeowners are paying 60% of the cost. Is that a fair number to charge homeowners in order to be competitive and attract new business? Is a 30% discount more appropriate? I don't know the answer, that's why I/we hire/elect Commissioners to look into the situation and determine where the balance point is. The first step in that is reviewing impact fees and making recommendations.

Bill, there's a problem with the numbers you're giving that changes the picture a bit. One must go back to the impact fee study that was done to flesh out additional information.

First off, the 100% number is not the cost, it is the "maximum defensible" value that was determined by calculations in the impact fee study, it is not the actual costs incurred by the county, that number is substantially less and varies year to year and is running between 75% and 85% of the "maximum defensible" amount. The study takes this into account when it recommended a 43% value for impact fee.

Second, there are "credits" that are taken into account for the impact fee assessment. These credits come from fuel taxes levied by the state and county for impact assessment, right not in Sumter County that amounts to about $0.19/gallon of fuel and totals between 30% and 40% of the impact fees. About 80% of these fees are collected at the I75 exists in Sumter County and the Oakahumpka service plaza from people passing through Sumter County and having almost no impact on our roads, and we thank them for their contributions to our community.

There are a few other calculations, assumptions, and adjustments to the total impact fee picture, but in the end the study came up with 43% of the "maximum defensible" remaining that needed to be paid for by ALL the developers in Sumter County. The County Commissioners decided on 40% across the board for all property types (not just The Villages). The other 3% comes from the general tax rolls and could be considered an investment in the county. That investment pays huge dividends in additional property and sales taxes that are raised by the new developments.

One last thing to consider, Florida law requires that with no other changes, if the impact fee collected from one source is increased then relief in kind must be given to the other sources. So, if the impact fee charged to builders is raised then the fees collected (credits) must be reduced, we would be giving up the gas taxes collected locally, and in essence paying people to pass through Sumter County.

Continuing to portray the 40% number as a "sweetheart deal" that somehow only The Villages developer is getting is both dishonest and neglects the rest of the facts of the situation.

As far as the road costs that were a part of the 2019 25% tax increase, the majority of that was for resurfacing of Morse and Buena Vista Blvds and the result of poor planning by the county, a failure to put money away for repair costs they knew were coming. They were too busy touting "no tax increase for 14 years" to take care of business. The real question one has to ask but nobody is (except me) is what happened the next year. The road resurfacing was a one-time cost and represented about 50% of the tax increase, we should have seen a 10-12% decrease in 2020 but didn't. Why you may ask. Because for 2020 every department in the county fattened up their budgets with 10 to 20% increases. Of course, you can't see these increase in the 2020 budgets because they only forward when they present the budgets, they don't show how much it increased from the previous year. To see this, you have to pull the 2019 budget proposals and painstakingly compare it line item by line item to the 2020 budget, only then does the truth of the mismanagement of the county come to light.