Proposed County Budget

[kappy]

At the July 13, 2021 BOCC budget workshop, the proposed budget for the County showed a rolled-back rate of 3%. However, the budget did not include any revenue for the anticipated $229.5M increase in sales tax from Senate Bill 50. This law requires out-of-state retailers with no physical presence in Florida, to collect Florida sales tax. The Sumter County revenue from this $229.5M could be 2 million or more. Why wasn’t that included in the budget? Today’s Daily Sun front page headlines under Florida News reads, “Online Retailers, Seminole Tribe Contribute To Revenue Boost.”

Another item not considered is the estimated $25M for Sumter County from the American Rescue Plan Act. Although the U. S. Treasury has not completed its rules for the uses of the funding, they should include one time purchases of fire trucks and equipment and some other expenditures included in the budget. Yet no receipts are included in the budget proposal.

Additionally, the budget proposal does not include all the additional revenues received in impact fees this year to date. If all these items were included in the final budget, I believe that the rolled-back rate would be 10% or more. That rate would begin to offset the outrageous 25% tax increase imposed upon all County residents in 2019 and show that the three new Commissioners are keeping their campaign promise to roll back the increase that was due to the development below Rt. 44.

[Advogado]

The promise of rolling back our massive property-tax increase was premised upon increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee so that he, not the current residents, would pay for the infrastructure necessitated by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages. The Developer, through state legislation sponsored by the Developer's employee Brett Hage, made it impossible to accomplish this. Every time that we pay our county property tax, we are, in effect, writing a check to the Developer for the amount of the tax increase.

Thank you, Representative Hage, and also thanks to the remaining two Developer-puppet Commissioners (Breeden and Gilpin) who enacted the tax increase in 2019. Hopefully, all three will be ousted next year in the Republican primary.

[Stu from NYC]

The promise of rolling back our massive property-tax increase was premised upon increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee so that he, not the current residents, would pay for the infrastructure necessitated by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages. The Developer, through state legislation sponsored by the Developer's employee Brett Hage, made it impossible to accomplish this. Every time that we pay our county property tax, we are, in effect, writing a check to the Developer for the amount of the tax increase.

Thank you, Representative Hage, and also thanks to the remaining two Developer-puppet Commissioners (Breeden and Gilpin) who enacted the tax increase in 2019. Hopefully, all three will be ousted next year in the Republican primary.

How does Rep Hage get away with such a massive conflict of interest?

[Normal]

Developer's sweetheart impact fee so that he, not the current residents, would pay for the infrastructure necessitated by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages.


Any additional taxes always trickle down. What makes you think the Developer in any way shape or form would absorb any additional costs. Just raise prices and if you get something back from the state, that’s even better!

[JoMar]

The promise of rolling back our massive property-tax increase was premised upon increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee so that he, not the current residents, would pay for the infrastructure necessitated by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages. The Developer, through state legislation sponsored by the Developer's employee Brett Hage, made it impossible to accomplish this. Every time that we pay our county property tax, we are, in effect, writing a check to the Developer for the amount of the tax increase.

Thank you, Representative Hage, and also thanks to the remaining two Developer-puppet Commissioners (Breeden and Gilpin) who enacted the tax increase in 2019. Hopefully, all three will be ousted next year in the Republican primary.

I agree, we should thank Representative Hage and all the other legislators who did the right thing by passing the legislation. When you vote in inexperienced and patronizing Commissioners who are adept at making promises they knew they couldn't keep you need the Hages of the world who understand the negative impact they bring.

[Stu from NYC]

I agree, we should thank Representative Hage and all the other legislators who did the right thing by passing the legislation. When you vote in inexperienced and patronizing Commissioners who are adept at making promises they knew they couldn't keep you need the Hages of the world who understand the negative impact they bring.

So you are ok with a guy who is an executive working for the developer to not recluse himself in voting for this legislation?

I do have my doubts now about the new commissioners but what Hage did was very wrong.

[JSR22]

So you are ok with a guy who is an executive working for the developer to not recluse himself in voting for this legislation?

I do have my doubts now about the new commissioners but what Hage did was very wrong.

Most of the people I want Hage gone. He is a Morse puppet.

[Dond1959]

To think impact fees paid by all businesses, not just the developer, will offset the tax increase is a fantasy. The commissioners who were elected know that and it is why they have not said a word on the main thing they ran on. Here is a novel idea, why not look for areas to reduce expenses in the county budget instead of increasing all categories.

[crash]

At the July 13, 2021 BOCC budget workshop, the proposed budget for the County showed a rolled-back rate of 3%. However, the budget did not include any revenue for the anticipated $229.5M increase in sales tax from Senate Bill 50. This law requires out-of-state retailers with no physical presence in Florida, to collect Florida sales tax. The Sumter County revenue from this $229.5M could be 2 million or more. Why wasn’t that included in the budget? Today’s Daily Sun front page headlines under Florida News reads, “Online Retailers, Seminole Tribe Contribute To Revenue Boost.”

Another item not considered is the estimated $25M for Sumter County from the American Rescue Plan Act. Although the U. S. Treasury has not completed its rules for the uses of the funding, they should include one time purchases of fire trucks and equipment and some other expenditures included in the budget. Yet no receipts are included in the budget proposal.

Additionally, the budget proposal does not include all the additional revenues received in impact fees this year to date. If all these items were included in the final budget, I believe that the rolled-back rate would be 10% or more. That rate would begin to offset the outrageous 25% tax increase imposed upon all County residents in 2019 and show that the three new Commissioners are keeping their campaign promise to roll back the increase that was due to the development below Rt. 44.

They bring in 4.2 million in impact fees each year and it all goes to pay for the new roads that cost $110 million over 10 years. The short fall is covered by gas taxes which were used for maintenance of the roads so the next 10 years less road maintenance. The previous year there was a 4% roll back and now the 3% roll back so 7%.

[Luggage]

How many concerned citizens wrote to the head of the legislature to throw this bum out


How does Rep Hage get away with such a massive conflict of interest?

[Luggage]

The tax increase was 50 million dollars

[Zenmama18]

How many concerned citizens wrote to the head of the legislature to throw this bum out

Just vote him out in the next election!

[Stu from NYC]

How many concerned citizens wrote to the head of the legislature to throw this bum out

No matter how many would write doubt they would get him out of office.

Best way is via the ballot box.

[Normal]

Taxes always trickle down to final pricing. Businesses aren’t out to lose or suck-up losses. The cost is always passed down to the final user from the top down.

[DIver0258]

At the July 13, 2021 BOCC budget workshop, the proposed budget for the County showed a rolled-back rate of 3%. However, the budget did not include any revenue for the anticipated $229.5M increase in sales tax from Senate Bill 50. This law requires out-of-state retailers with no physical presence in Florida, to collect Florida sales tax. The Sumter County revenue from this $229.5M could be 2 million or more. Why wasn’t that included in the budget? Today’s Daily Sun front page headlines under Florida News reads, “Online Retailers, Seminole Tribe Contribute To Revenue Boost.”

Another item not considered is the estimated $25M for Sumter County from the American Rescue Plan Act. Although the U. S. Treasury has not completed its rules for the uses of the funding, they should include one time purchases of fire trucks and equipment and some other expenditures included in the budget. Yet no receipts are included in the budget proposal.

Additionally, the budget proposal does not include all the additional revenues received in impact fees this year to date. If all these items were included in the final budget, I believe that the rolled-back rate would be 10% or more. That rate would begin to offset the outrageous 25% tax increase imposed upon all County residents in 2019 and show that the three new Commissioners are keeping their campaign promise to roll back the increase that was due to the development below Rt. 44.

The failure of the county commissioners extends beyond impact fees. The Villages developer sells roughly 200 new homes a month. Using basic data from the tax rates web page this results in approximately $1500 on a home valued at 184K. The median home price in The Villages is 318K that translates to $2600 per year for each home. The average number of new homes sold each year is slightly over 200 per month. This works out to be over 6 million dollars per year in new tax revenue. This compounded over the years since the tax increase now is effectively 18 million a year in new revenue from just new homes sales. Each new home owner pays a bond to the county for the infrastructure to build the homes in an area. We haven't added revenue from new commercial property. Instead of focusing on the impact fee issue (even though the commissioners can increase impact fees beyond the limits in the law by meeting criteria) we should be pressing the commissioners on how they are using the new revenue.

[dewilson58]

Each new home owner pays a bond to the county for the infrastructure to build the homes in an area.

:ohdear::ohdear::ohdear:

[charlie1]

I am tired of hearing that the impact fees would reduce property taxes. By law, the impact fees are only available to fund improvements to the infrastructure, not maintenance. They have no impact on property taxes unless property taxes are used for improvements to infrastructure! What this means is that they can build NEW roads, widen old roads, change intersections to improve traffic flow, etc. with the impact fees. They can not use it to repave roads, fix infrastructure or perform maintenance to existing structures. Makes sense since the impact fees fund the growth and improvements required by development! The commissioner just voted to transfer the EXCESS fund (over $3 million) from this year into future years reserves for infrastructure. Every year in the last 4 years they have had excess funds due to impact fees. The reserve account is now over $12 million. Lesson that should be learned, before voting for inexperience people in government positions, do your research. They may not be able to deliver what they promise!

[Bilyclub]

I am tired of hearing that the impact fees would reduce property taxes. By law, the impact fees are only available to fund improvements to the infrastructure, not maintenance. They have no impact on property taxes unless property taxes are used for improvements to infrastructure! What this means is that they can build NEW roads, widen old roads, change intersections to improve traffic flow, etc. with the impact fees. They can not use it to repave roads, fix infrastructure or perform maintenance to existing structures. Makes sense since the impact fees fund the growth and improvements required by development! The commissioner just voted to transfer the EXCESS fund (over $3 million) from this year into future years reserves for infrastructure. Every year in the last 4 years they have had excess funds due to impact fees. The reserve account is now over $12 million. Lesson that should be learned, before voting for inexperience people in government positions, do your research. They may not be able to deliver what they promise!

Have you ever been South of 44? Millions of dollars spent on improvements of County roads. I think the figure tossed around is Sumter County is paying 110 million worth of road improvements.

[Bilyclub]

Each new home owner pays a bond to the county for the infrastructure to build the homes in an area.

:ohdear::ohdear::ohdear:


That statement alone shows you have no clue on how things work in TV.

[Altavia]

What's the problem?

[Advogado]

The Developer's supporters who attack the failure of the new Commissioners to increase the Developer's sweetheart impact fee to finance a rollback of our massive property-tax increase ignore reality. The failure is due to the campaign by the Developer to protect his impact fee. The campaign includes harassment of the new Commissioners through the Angeliadis fishing expedition, the attempts to find some violation of the Sunshine law, the packing of Commission meetings and of their parking area, propaganda in the Daily Sun disguised as news, and the use of the Developer's employee, Brett Hage, to enact state legislation crippling the ability of local governments to finance new infrastructure through impact fees.

The complaints by the Developer's supporters are reminiscent of the guy who kills his parents and then complains about being an orphan.

[Advogado]

I am tired of hearing that the impact fees would reduce property taxes. By law, the impact fees are only available to fund improvements to the infrastructure, not maintenance. They have no impact on property taxes unless property taxes are used for improvements to infrastructure! What this means is that they can build NEW roads, widen old roads, change intersections to improve traffic flow, etc. with the impact fees. They can not use it to repave roads, fix infrastructure or perform maintenance to existing structures. Makes sense since the impact fees fund the growth and improvements required by development! The commissioner just voted to transfer the EXCESS fund (over $3 million) from this year into future years reserves for infrastructure. Every year in the last 4 years they have had excess funds due to impact fees. The reserve account is now over $12 million. Lesson that should be learned, before voting for inexperience people in government positions, do your research. They may not be able to deliver what they promise!

You are right about one thing, and one thing alone. The new Commissioners didn't deliver on the property-tax rollback. However, that is because the Developer used his employee, Representative Brett Hage, to sponsor legislation prevent the delivery by making it impossible to increase the Developer's sweetheart impact fee. The stench of what is going on here is overwhelming.

[john352]

How does Rep Hage get away with such a massive conflict of interest?

For the 2022 primary election, we need a good candidate to run against Hage. We need someone who will not place any special interest groups above the majority of the voters.

[dewilson58]

For the 2022 primary election, we need a good candidate to run against Hage. We need someone who will not place any special interest groups above the majority of the voters.

Kinda like was done for the County elections.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[dewilson58]

You are right. The new Commissioners didn't deliver on the property-tax rollback. However, that is because..........

they had no plan, they had no experience and are just now learning.

Welcome back, this topic brings you out of hibernation.

[Advogado]

they had no plan, they had no experience and are just now learning.

Welcome back, this topic brings you out of hibernation.

They had a plan; they had the experience. They were beaten down by the economic and political power of the Developer.

[Bogie Shooter]

they had no plan, they had no experience and are just now learning.

Welcome back, this topic brings you out of hibernation.

Hibernation? No, somebody moved a rock.

[Advogado]

For the 2022 primary election, we need a good candidate to run against Hage. We need someone who will not place any special interest groups above the majority of the voters.

Absolutely right. We also need competent, independent Republican candidates to challenge Breeden and Gilpin-- if the Developer tells them to run again.

[graciegirl]

They had a plan; they had the experience. They were beaten down by the economic and political power of the Developer.

That developer. He does one heck of a good job.

We are number one in this country. His team built homes and his family also built an ethical network of businesses that they have passed on to others. None have run them as well as The Morses. They don't seem to be in it for money. They have much more than they need. They must feel like my friends who are dentists, if they retire than the business might not be the same as when they run it.

My name is Grace Helene Gantner and I don't gain anything for supporting the Morses.

Except I get to LIVE here................

[GPGuar]

I agree, we should thank Representative Hage and all the other legislators who did the right thing by passing the legislation. When you vote in inexperienced and patronizing Commissioners who are adept at making promises they knew they couldn't keep you need the Hages of the world who understand the negative impact they bring.
Yeah right, good joke!

[Joe V.]

The promise of rolling back our massive property-tax increase was premised upon increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee so that he, not the current residents, would pay for the infrastructure necessitated by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages. The Developer, through state legislation sponsored by the Developer's employee Brett Hage, made it impossible to accomplish this. Every time that we pay our county property tax, we are, in effect, writing a check to the Developer for the amount of the tax increase.

Thank you, Representative Hage, and also thanks to the remaining two Developer-puppet Commissioners (Breeden and Gilpin) who enacted the tax increase in 2019. Hopefully, all three will be ousted next year in the Republican primary.

Back to avacdos and sweetheart deals and puppet slurs.

[Joe V.]

Just vote him out in the next election!

Good luck. He won last election with +65%.

[Joe V.]

They had a plan; they had the experience. They were beaten down by the economic and political power of the Developer.

I disagree with the contents of this post.

[Shellshack]

Mr and Mrs Jones. I this house costs $200,000 to construct plus $20,000 in development (impact) fees. I can charge you $200,000 and you pay the fees, or I can charge you $220,000 and I pay the fees.
Either way you will live in a wonderful community which is clean, relatively crime free, has one third of the property taxes you had in Illinois, none of the income taxes. We bought in and are glad we did. I cannot understand people who choose to complain after they voluntarily moved in knowing exactly what they were getting.
Finally, I was of the understanding that these threads were to be free of politics. Can we now start using these as a political forum??Endorsing or opposing specific candidates or parties seem rather political to me???

[kappy]

My intention for posting this thread is to show that the budget should be rolling back the county tax by much more than the 3% in the proposed budget. Remember, it is not only Sumter County Villagers who pay property taxes. All Sumter County property owners will benefit from a larger than 3% roll back. It may not matter to most Villagers however, there are many Sumter County property owners who were hurt by the 25% County tax increase in 2019.

[Bill14564]

Mr and Mrs Jones. I this house costs $200,000 to construct plus $20,000 in development (impact) fees. I can charge you $200,000 and you pay the fees, or I can charge you $220,000 and I pay the fees.
Either way you will live in a wonderful community which is clean, relatively crime free, has one third of the property taxes you had in Illinois, none of the income taxes. We bought in and are glad we did. I cannot understand people who choose to complain after they voluntarily moved in knowing exactly what they were getting.
Finally, I was of the understanding that these threads were to be free of politics. Can we now start using these as a political forum??Endorsing or opposing specific candidates or parties seem rather political to me???

Mr. and Mrs. Me bought our house in 2018. As far as I know, the $20,000 was included in the price we paid. In 2019 our property tax (along with tens of thousands of our neighbors) was increased by 25%, in part to pay for the new roads South of 44 rather than increasing the impact fees on that new construction. All of us pay more in taxes so that Mr. and Mrs. Jones don't have to pay as much in fees. The issue is much more complex than that but that is the basic complaint.

[Villages Kahuna]

You hit it right on the button!

[charlie1]

Have you ever been South of 44? Millions of dollars spent on improvements of County roads. I think the figure tossed around is Sumter County is paying 110 million worth of road improvements.

Have you even looked at the Sumter County Finances? In Fiscal year 20/21 they budgetted $25 million for ALL capital improvements in the county. Please look at the county budget and expenses over the last couple of years. It does not support that Sumter county came anywhere near $110 million in Property taxes to pay for new roads!

[Bilyclub]

Have you even looked at the Sumter County Finances? In Fiscal year 20/21 they budgetted $25 million for ALL capital improvements in the county. Please look at the county budget and expenses over the last couple of years. It does not support that Sumter county came anywhere near $110 million in Property taxes to pay for new roads!

Nobody said 110 million a year. 110 million is the figure for the Sumter County portion of the expansion South of 44.The County has 5 years to pay off invoices from the developer for road improvements according to their agreement. The agreement also gives the County more time to pay off other projects like 15 years for the Southern Oaks Bridge. Meggison Road from 44 to Warm Springs cost just under 30 million according to the County. Looking at the budget for 2021 on page 241 the projections for 2021, 2022 and 2023, the Buena Vista Extension is coming in at a total of 20 million. That's 50 mill right there. On page 238 there are projections for 2023, 2024, and 2025, of 26 Million total for roads already built in Southern Oaks. Thanks for the tip to read the budget.

[Northwoods]

You are right about one thing, and one thing alone. The new Commissioners didn't deliver on the property-tax rollback. However, that is because the Developer used his employee, Representative Brett Hage, to sponsor legislation prevent the delivery by making it impossible to increase the Developer's sweetheart impact fee. The stench of what is going on here is overwhelming.

Wow. I must have missed the part of the campaign slogan that said "IF WE CAN INCREASE DEVELOPER IMPACT FEES, then we will roll back a 25% tax increase.
They ran on the promise of rolling back the tax increase. They've failed.
Face it - the new commissioners have been totally outplayed by The Developer. You can whine about why they can't deliver. But the fact is, they haven't delivered.
The new commissioners have dug in their heels and adopted a very anti-developer agenda. That's been their Achille's heel. If they would try to find common ground and negotiate (If they would have negotiated the Developer's offer of 40% Impact Fees would we be further ahead?). But... they can't. And it's the residents of Sumter County that suffer.

[Luggage]

You all are missing the basic point that taxes went up 50 million dollars. Yes something needed New roads but it's still 50 million dollars that the existing homeowners are paying. The actual tax base when you're with 3 to 4,000 homes and a few million square feet of new businesses every year is about 3% more. To be fair besides New roads the county will need new police and fire substations as well as sewage and water pipes etc depending on who pays what but the fact of the matter is over the next 10 years the citizens are getting screwed on the order of close to half a billion dollars to pay for a new residents to move here instead of it being part of the infrastructure tax. The reality is when it's done this way the developers have less cost and can sell a home cheaper and slow down their own need to put money up front. One other thing I will mention is that almost always a municipality can borrow money cheaper than a private Corp so that it does actually save somewhat for the county itself. If you don't want to pay these big taxes and you don't have to approve a developer building more homes and you can rezone land to farms instead of housing and simply stop the development

[geobet]

As a 16 yr resident of TV, I am constantly amazed by the newbies who move here because it’s a great place to live, and then begin demanding change because their way is better.

[Stu from NYC]

As a 16 yr resident of TV, I am constantly amazed by the newbies who move here because it’s a great place to live, and then begin demanding change because their way is better.

Does this mean we cannot question anything that the developer decides to do?

This is a great place to live but amazed as to what the developer is able to do.

[Advogado]

Wow. I must have missed the part of the campaign slogan that said "IF WE CAN INCREASE DEVELOPER IMPACT FEES, then we will roll back a 25% tax increase.
They ran on the promise of rolling back the tax increase. They've failed.
Face it - the new commissioners have been totally outplayed by The Developer. You can whine about why they can't deliver. But the fact is, they haven't delivered.
The new commissioners have dug in their heels and adopted a very anti-developer agenda. That's been their Achille's heel. If they would try to find common ground and negotiate (If they would have negotiated the Developer's offer of 40% Impact Fees would we be further ahead?). But... they can't. And it's the residents of Sumter County that suffer.

During the campaign, Estep, Miller, and Search were very clear on the subject. Their proposal was to roll back the 25% property tax increase by increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee. It was the Developer's puppet Commissioners' protection of that sweetheart impact fee that necessitated the missing revenue being made up for with the tax increase.

The Developer, through his political and economic power, has been successful in continuing to protect his sweetheart impact fee. That is more than merely a defeat for Estep, Miller, and Search. It is a defeat for all the residents of Sumter County, who continue to pay for county infrastructure that should be paid for by the Developer.

[Normal]

If you were to take a look at the Citrus Grove, Hawkins or St. Catherine areas, you would be able to estimate typical pricing averages or means at about 460k (Not exact, but close). County taxes on that price are about 6289 dollars per year per unit.

That said, the windfall just from 100 homes would be a staggering 628,900. Remember this is just for a 100 homes at the average. There are literally 1000s of new homes south of ChittyChatty that have been built and sold the past couple of years. The income should be more than adequate for maintenance in the county. And there should be more than 3% taken off of taxes! If a “District” has 4,000 homes, then District 13 brings in a whopping 25 million dollars alone.

[Northwoods]

During the campaign, Estep, Miller, and Search were very clear on the subject. Their proposal was to roll back the 25% property tax increase by increasing the Developer's sweetheart impact fee. It was the Developer's puppet Commissioners' protection of that sweetheart impact fee that necessitated the missing revenue being made up for with the tax increase.

The Developer, through his political and economic power, has been successful in continuing to protect his sweetheart impact fee. That is more than merely a defeat for Estep, Miller, and Search. It is a defeat for all the residents of Sumter County, who continue to pay for county infrastructure that should be paid for by the Developer.

Maybe EMS shouldn't have promised something that, obviously, they couldn't deliver.
Again... they have been outplayed. EMS should have known they were up against a " machine" with political and economic power.
I continue to say that they need to negotiate with the Developer. You can whine and point fingers and say why you couldn't deliver what you promised, or you can look at the situation and figure out how to deliver the best you can for residents of Sumter county.

[graciegirl]

Maybe EMS shouldn't have promised something that, obviously, they couldn't deliver.
Again... they have been outplayed. EMS should have known they were up against a " machine" with political and economic power.
I continue to say that they need to negotiate with the Developer. You can whine and point fingers and say why you couldn't deliver what you promised, or you can look at the situation and figure out how to deliver the best you can for residents of Sumter county.

I think next time the votes are counted most folks will have figured it all out.