Quote:
Originally Posted by twoplanekid
That is also my understand so why the cost increase if we vote for the Fire District? As all Village CDDs have a percentage of their funds allocated for District staff, I am sure that a new Fire District would also have funds used for this same purpose which is reasonable. However, the more CDDs created with more funds going into the district staff funds pot doesn't seem to reduce the funds my board is always required to provide. Is there a cost saving? I am not sure.
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It's complicated.
Today you pay $124 plus about 1.63 mils for fire service. The 1.63 mils funds both the VPSD and the SCFD.
If the IFD is put in place and IF a separate tax is levied on the non-Villagers for the SCFD and IF the Sumter County BoCC doesn't increase taxes THEN you will only pay something like $124 plus about 0.99 mils for the VPSD. HOWEVER:
- The BoCC *might* continue to fund the SCFD through the general fund which means we will be taxed for that as well
- The BoCC *might* take the opportunity to effectively increase taxes by not reducing the millage as much as they should (they would still talk about a decrease but it would be less of a decrease then we would expect)
Overall cost savings? Probably not. The VPSD will still have the same expenses as before. The IFD will require five new commissioners and any administrative costs that go along with that (printing costs, scheduling costs, lawyer costs, etc). Much of this would probably be accomplished through utilizing the staff on the VCCDD similar to the other CDDs but there would be some nominal cost for that.
The benefit of the IFD, the reason for a "yes" vote, is the protection of the VPSD and the new ambulances from any changes by the BoCC. The ambulances are part of the VPSD as of this month and only because the BoCC decided to go that route. There is nothing preventing them from deciding next year to take the service away from the VPSD and go with a centralized, Sumter County ambulance service. During the discussions for the ambulance one of the members of the ad-hoc committee voted to merge the VPSD and SCFD. He was in an advisory position at that time but he is now one of the BoCC. There is nothing preventing the BoCC from deciding to essentially end the VPSD by voting to merge the two. A vote for the IFD is a vote to protect the VPSD from the BoCC.