[gmcneill]

During my 33 years of employment in a fairly reponsible position with Florida city, I attended my share of strategic planning, community development and economic development meetings, P&Z sessions, neighborhood improvement meetings, resident outreach presentations, and the like. I certainly understand and do appreciate the position of those who believe that their Wildwood has been and continues to be fine just the way that it is and who resent the unsolicited discussions by non-Wildwoodians to effect change in their city. I truly get that.

Setting aside the reasons why municipal adminstrators generally support community development and economic development intitiatives for their agency community, I will list a few very, very simple reasons why Wildwood's economic environment matters.

Commercial and business development in Wildwood:
1. Provides Villages residents with more shopping options for groceries, clothing, dining, entertainment, home furnishings, and so on and on and on....u
2. Provides tens of thousands of Villages residents with the convenience of shopping closer to home.
3. Results in increased assessed value of existing commercial properties.
4. Results in the purchase and development of unimproved commercial properties.
5. Increases the population (people seeking employment in the new businesses) of the city and, more importantly for Villagers, Sumter County.

The Points:
Items 1. and 2. above combine to create a demand for services, goods, and products. That demand creates business opportunities, which create employment opportunites for Wildwood residents and increases the revenue stream for the city. You can imagine for yourself the resulting innumerable tangible and intangible benefits to the residents and to the city.

Items 3. through 5. above increase the county tax base, thus resulting in increased tax revenues. Increased revenues enable the county administration to leave the millage rate status quo or to lower the millage rate (which lowers my tax obligation) without reducing levels of service provided to or made available for all of us.

Items 4. and 5. above increase the number of county tax payers. The greater the number of us who share the tax burden collectively, the lower the amount we pay individually, generally speaking.

Again, the above is a partial list of very basic reasons why Wildwood matters.