We need to remember the reason we went down this path to establish an independent fire district. The previous Sumter County commissioners decided to form a committee to recommend what to do with the fire department’s given the issue with ambulance response time. That committee, which included newly elected commissioner Jeff Bogue, recommended that the Sumter County and Villages fire departments be combined. There was immediate outrage from Villagers and the commission backed down and the idea of the IFD was born.
The purpose of the IFD is to take it out of Sumter County politics and ensure the Villages will have our own Fire Department addressing the needs of our citizens.
If you read the post from Don Wiley (Goldwingnut) he did a good job trying to explain what is going on. Bottom line, we will see a reduction in our county taxes because they will not be funding the Villages Fire Department. We will not know the exact amount of the cost until next June. But Don stated based on his analysis he does not believe there will be a significant overall change in what we pay. Your county taxes should go down and your fire assessment will go up.
I am interested in how you determined the 15% to 25% increase in the property taxes, do you mean fire assessment? The fire assessment is different from property taxes and no one has stated county property taxes will go up (as Don Wiley stated property taxes will go down because the county will no longer have to support the Villages Fire Department).
As a veteran myself I am very much in favor of establishing the IFD to get the Villages Fire Department out from under the political influence of the county commission.
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