Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldwingnut
So obviously this post was a waste of my time. Many keep going on and on with their misinformation without trying to get the facts, only believing what they want to believe.
I’ve had my head buried in the county budgets for the last 5 years, this past year every more so. I’ve presented you with the facts based on years of experience of reviewing these budgets. I have not agenda here beyond sharing facts with all of you. If it’s good it’s good and if it’s bad it’s bad, I’m indifferent as long as it’s factual.
Do I like where I live? Absolutely! The villages is an incredible community and Sumter County could not possibly be any better in my opinion. Some think I have some bias for the village or think I receive some kind of compensation from them, neither is true. But I do have an affinity for a job well done. I worked 20 years in commercial construction, as a project manager for a majority of that time, to manage a project on a scale such as this is a testament to their ability. When it’s good I let you know and when it’s bad I don’t hesitate to let loose with both barrels.
Generally I try to be positive, if you want negativity the pseudo-news site and Nextdoor are where you should go.
I’ve received the developer’s ire on more than a few occasions over my videos, the stuff I reveal, and sharing my opinion, I stopped caring long ago what they think of me.
Deal with facts and not speculation and innuendo and enjoy life a little more.
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I for one want to say that this was not a waste of time, you managed to clarify some things that I wasn't aware of!
I did not realize that in last year's budget the $124 fire assessment only covered a small portion of the $35 million for the 2 fire districts and the balance came out of the general fund. I always felt it was unfair that I was paying the same fire assessment as Walmart, but now that I see that was only a small portion of the expense, commercial buildings are indeed paying more of a fair share. In the proposed budget, the general county assessment is being DECREASED, from 5.59 to 5.19.
The biggest challenge faced by the county commission is the VERY large increase in the fire budget, primarily from The Villages fire district, which has a proposed increase of almost 100 percent (from $17,934,640 last year to $34,636,054). We asked for a greatly improved ambulance service and this apparently is the price for that request. From looking at the budget, it would appear that the commission just received a lump sum request from the Villages fire district, as there wasn't a detailed breakdown as there was from the fire district for the rest of the county (which, by the way, had a modest increase from $18,884,269 to $24,240,265).
So where do we go from here? The commission has some difficult decisions. First, deciding how much we actually want to pay for improved service. If we want to keep these proposed funding levels, the money has to come from somewhere. If we keep the old system, do we apply a moderate increase to the $124 assessment per lot and increase the county assessment above and beyond the previous year? Or do we implement something like the new proposed system, where the fire assessment actually reflects the total cost of the services?
I'm not sure we pay our commissioners enough for these kinds of decisions!