[villages07]

The CDDs are a form of government and, as such, are required to publicly disclose details of their plans and actions.

There is a tremendous amount of information on the www.districtgov.org website (you may have to copy/paste this link into your browser).

Go to this site, on the main menu line, click on "Your District" and then from the list of choices click on either Village Center or Sumter to get info on the 2 commercial/central districts.

These central CDDs are the ones that manage the amenity fees. On the main page for each of the central CDDs is a link to Proposed FY10-11 budget. Click on this link and it'll bring up a large pdf file with detailed revenue and expense items.

For legal expenses, Village central CDD .... 08/09 actual expenses were $127K; 09/10 budgeted was 80K - spent thru first 7 months of this fiscal year - 36K; proposed budget for FY10-11 is $150K.

For legal expenses, Sumter central CDD .... 08/09 actual expenses were $20K; 09/10 budgeted was 80K - spent thru first 7 months of this fiscal year - 77K; proposed budget for FY10-11 is $100K.

These are basically government entities and they do face various legal issues during the course of a year. It appears as though they have budgeted up to $250K between them for legal expenses into next year. I don't know where Ms Ritchie got that $209K was spent on the IRS issue so far. That figure doesn't match what is published by the CDDs.

Do your research, attend the open meetings each of these two central districts (and your own numbered district) hold, and base your opinions on the facts. I know I still don't fully understand the inter-workings between the two central CDDs and probably lots of other stuff, too.