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Originally Posted by Hancle704
I have read many of the postings about this issue and think that if more cancer care comes to TV, that's great. If folks wish to donate their time and funds that's admirable. There is just something about this that keeps me wondering if this is deja vu all over again.
After justifying the need and what seemed like a long drawn out battle with LRMC about the construction of a small hospital in TV there was not much time that passed and it became obvious to all, that this original 60 bed hospital with no surgery capabilities and a strained ER Dept was not large enough to handle the near term growth of the tri-county senior population. So shortly after it opened it was proposed by our local State Rep that a Hospital Taxing Authority be created with funds just coming from Sumter County Village Residents who lived in the proposed Hospital Taxing District. It was conceived to be similar to the Hospital Taxing District created for a portion of Lake County to support LRMC.
There was much discussion about this especially after it was learned that a portion of the funds raised would be given to a Morse Family Foundation.
We were told that the much needed expansion of TVRH would never take place unless this taxing district were created. After much furor, it was put on the ballot and the proposal was defeated.
Suddenly, deals with LRMC were worked out and both hospitals went through major expansions and within a few years after residents were told it couldn't happen without the added tax, construction began and TVRH was expanded to the larger facility with increased surgical services and an expanded ER Dept. that exists today. I guess my point is that, maybe there is more to this than what we are being told about the need to have fund raising to equip the new Moffitt Cancer Facility in TV.
I tried searching on TOTV to see if there were posts about the Taxing District, but I guess all that preceded TOTV. I'm sure there is still more info available in the public domain about what transpired several years ago and how it is starting to sound like what is happening today.
As I have gotten older my memory is not as sharp, so I invite others who have a better recollection of the failed Hospital Taxing District to share with newer Villagers what took place then and why it seems somewhat similar to what is being presented now.
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Oh yes Hancle704, your memory serves you well. I remember the vote to impose a special tax only to Sumter Cty, to expand LRMC. What's wrong with this picture, sez I. The developer requests just Sumter Cty to pay for this expansion and yet this building services THE PUBLIC! That was a no-brainer that the Sumter Cty citizens were not buying into such an unbalanced situation and of course it didn't pass. I'll bet that if one digs deep enough into the "archives" of the POA publications, they will find the documentation verifying it all.
Unfortunately, even though the developer succeeded in building a phenominal community that continues to flourish, and for which the residents are all happy campers, this does not excuse the fact that the developer seems to have become greedy, extremely unethical and dishonest in so many instances and above all so very antisocial and uncommunicative. Does he think he can get away with all this greed just because we all love living here? He's digging himself a hole that is becoming much deeper than the lawsuit he lost between he and the POA a few years ago.
Speaking of the POA....We must all rally round and give our full support to the POA because they happen to truly care about the residents and they have proven themselves to be mighty in their efforts to do what's right for the residents.
Am stepping down from the soapbox. g'nite.....barb1191