Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Sumter County tax bill received today
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Old 11-04-2023, 07:25 PM
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Just ran the numbers on our tax bill. Total taxes up 13.5%. School taxes up 32.4%. School tax increase represents over 97% of total tax increase, so excluding school our taxes are basically unchanged. School tax mileage rate up 8.8%, but assessed value for school taxes up 21.6% (versus assessed value increase of 10% for other ad valorem taxes). School taxes represent over 53% of total ad valorem taxes.

Conclusions:
- As part time resident, we are getting screwed. Increased assessed values, and corresponding tax increases, are significantly greater than those with homestead status. It certainly doesn’t seem fair since part timers use less County services yet pay a greater share of taxes.
- A shell game going on with school taxes, 21.6% increase in assessed value for school versus 10% increase for county taxes. Why is our home assessed 24% higher for school taxes versus county taxes?
- Very large % tax increase on the heals of recent 25% increase. And that’s with zero increase in our district’s maintenance assessment and only $1 increase in fire (this year, stay tuned on that front).
- After the unexpected and ridiculously large school tax shock, we are finding it extremely difficult to get excited about the new charter school. Why should we?
- Since purchasing our Villages home 8 years ago, our annual Sumter County tax bill has increased by 55.9%. That rate of tax increases is unsustainable for senior citizens living on a fixed income. Over the same time period, the cost of living increases for social security add up to 25.8%. Put another way, Sumter county’s tax increases have outpaced social security’s cost of living increases by 30.1%. The county needs to learn to live with the same financial discipline as the residents paying the county taxes.