VIDEO about new Villages Fire District - your questions are needed

[Goldwingnut]

Many of you know who I am and what I do. I try to bring you the facts of what is happening in my videos. That being said I am undertaking a new project and I would like your inputs on it.

I am putting together a video that will address the Independent Fire District issue. I am putting together all the facts and information I have gleaned from my time working with it as a CDD Supervisor, an interview/meeting I had with Kenny Blocker last week, and from what I have learned as a Sumter County Commissioner. I'll look at the issue from all sides and discuss areas that others can't or haven't discussed. I intend to cover the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of this issue.

What I need from each of you is what your questions and concerns are so I can address the most pressing of these in the video. Please leave your question here in this thread, private message me, or email me.

Please spare us all any uneducated and uninformed rants of how this is going to screw over The Villages residents and is just a ploy to fatten the developer's pockets. For those posts, put them on that other website that hates everything about The Villages, it will gladly take your clickbait. My goal of this post is to get your questions and concerns and try to address them in the video.

Thanks,

[Dond1959]

Don, thank you for doing this. Clarification is needed for the following:
1. What will the BOCC process be for reducing the property tax assessment for the reduced budget requirements in 2023?
2. Is it possible to give an estimate for the impact on a $300,000 or $400,000 home? Could it show the fire levy and the potential reduction in property taxes?
3. A discussion of how we got here, with the BOCC appointing a committee to look at fire and ambulance services and the committee recommending combining Sumter and Villages departments.
4. A link or description on how to get your own homes estimated fire levy.


Thanks.

[Mleeja]

What happens if the Fire District is not approved in November? How is the new ambulance service tied to the Fire District? What happen to the ambulance service if the Fire District is not approved?

[Stu from NYC]

Thanks Don

How will this affect the response time when someone needs help quickly? To me that is much more important than a few dollars of cost.

[twoplanekid]

Hi Don,


1. Will the number of ambulances covering the Villages area increase, decrease or remain the same excluding spares compared to the previous ambulance service?

2. Will each firehouse have only one ambulance with another firehouse ambulance used to cover when that one is being used? How will that affect response time?

3. Will the ambulance in service as a first responder unit then transport that person to the hospital? How will that affect response time for other calls in that same area?

4. Will other fire vehicles respond with the ambulance?

5. Will ambulances respond to a fire call as a standard procedure?

6. If adding one ambulance per station, what is the anticipated additional personnel needed at that station?

I am trying to get a better understanding of the issues of "response time" and staffing.

Thanks for doing this!

[rustyp]

Community Development District 8 will host a question-and-answer forum on the upcoming vote on The Villages Independent Fire Control and Rescue District.

The official CDD 8 forum will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3 at FishHawk Recreation Center.

Residents are encouraged to bring their questions and concerns to this meeting.

[Goldwingnut]

Don, thank you for doing this. Clarification is needed for the following:
1. What will the BOCC process be for reducing the property tax assessment for the reduced budget requirements in 2023?
2. Is it possible to give an estimate for the impact on a $300,000 or $400,000 home? Could it show the fire levy and the potential reduction in property taxes?
3. A discussion of how we got here, with the BOCC appointing a committee to look at fire and ambulance services and the committee recommending combining Sumter and Villages departments.
4. A link or description on how to get your own homes estimated fire levy.


Thanks.

Thanks for the questions. Here's some quick answers to some of them.

1. Here's an earlier post with the description of what is happening on the county side of this issue - https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/independent-fire-district-cost-impact-information-333737/

2. & 4. Start with Florida Fire districts quicksearch (https://dtapf.com/simplified/villages) to find out the estimated fire assessment. I'll go into the math in more detail in the video.

3. I'll touch on this in the video but not in great detail. There is a wealth of information available online, I'd suggest with researching the Daily Sun's new article on the topic from last summer. The bottom line is that the response times for the ambulance service (AMR) to get onsite for transport sucked, the BOCC formed a committee to figure out what to do, the BOCC made the final decision to have the FDs take on the ambulance/transport service like most other FDs do in FL. An off shoot of this was the formation of an IFD. Our state representative put forward a bill for the formation and it passed with unanimous (I believe unanimous to be correct) approval by the house, passed by the state senate, and signed by the Governor, the next step is the public approval - the November 8th referendum.

Thanks again for your input.

[Goldwingnut]

What happens if the Fire District is not approved in November? How is the new ambulance service tied to the Fire District? What happen to the ambulance service if the Fire District is not approved?

The ambulance service is independent of the IFD referendum, it will stay at the fire stations whatever the outcome of the vote.

[Goldwingnut]

Hi Don,


1. Will the number of ambulances covering the Villages area increase, decrease or remain the same excluding spares compared to the previous ambulance service?

2. Will each firehouse have only one ambulance with another firehouse ambulance used to cover when that one is being used? How will that affect response time?

3. Will the ambulance in service as a first responder unit then transport that person to the hospital? How will that affect response time for other calls in that same area?

4. Will other fire vehicles respond with the ambulance?

5. Will ambulances respond to a fire call as a standard procedure?

6. If adding one ambulance per station, what is the anticipated additional personnel needed at that station?

I am trying to get a better understanding of the issues of "response time" and staffing.

Thanks for doing this!

Thanks Rick, most of this isn't about the IFD but I can answer most of these based on the interview I had with Kenney Blocker as I asked similar questions.

1. Currently AMR runs approximately 6 ambulances to cover Sumter county, it may be a few more but not many. Starting 1 October each VPSD fire station will have an ambulance so the number for just the VPSD covered areas will be 8 or 9 Plus the county fires stations will also have 6 ambulance units stationed at their fire stations.

2. Just as with the fire trucks, when a unit is out on a run the other units from other stations would respond if there was a second call in their area. Yes, there may be a slight increase in response time but not appreciable because we have so many stations close together.

3. Yes, these are first response and transport units, so yes there will be some downtime during patient handoff at the hospital. Just as in #2 the other stations provide backup coverage when a unit is occupied.

4. The station responds to calls as a team so they have all their assets available to deal with a situation.

5. See #4

6. Staffing has already been addressed, my understanding is that the rapid response vehicles are being retired and replaced by the ambulances at each station, most of the staffing changes are lateral.

Bottom line is with more units there is more flexibility and less impact on response times for service.

Hope this helped.

Thanks,

[Goldwingnut]

Thanks Don

How will this affect the response time when someone needs help quickly? To me that is much more important than a few dollars of cost.

VPSD assets normally arrive at an incident in under 5 minutes. With the ambulances becoming an integral part of each station, the ambulance response time should be the same. There will be more resources (ambulances) available providing greater flexibility on deployment when there is a lot of activity, this should greatly reduce the response times over what was experienced by many with AMR.

[Rainger99]

Can you provide background on how services are provided now? I live in Wildwood - do they provide any fire or ambulance service to the residents? If not, who provides it now? Is it the Villages, the County, or some other entity?

And what is the current budget for fire and ambulance services? Are there different budgets depending on whether you live in Wildwood or outside Wildwood?

You are a great source of information. Thanks.

[twoplanekid]

Thanks Don for your response. With double the ambulances in service, response time should dramatically improve.

I can also understand why costs to Sumter county residents living outside of the Villages might increase. And agree with you that “my understanding is that the rapid response vehicles are being retired and replaced by the ambulances at each station, most of the staffing changes are lateral.” So, there should be very little or no increase costs for payroll, fuel and building space needed for this change by Village residents. The new ambulances will be depreciated over their service life so their cost will be spread out.

I understand you believe that the costs for Villages may actually go down? Slight increase in new costs less what county will not charge Villagers for this ambulance service will be the new Village cost. Yet, I hear from District staff that Villagers cost will increase by not just pennies. So, I am still a little bit confused by the cost increase issues. Plus, how will the passage or failure to pass the new Fire District affect the cost issue.

[TrapX]

Don,

1. Regardless of what the actual amount of my new FD tax will be, will my county tax bill be reduced by that exact same amount (or more). "Yes" is what many expect. If "no" then how much (specific amounts) and why will that be different? I'm not looking for referrals to calculators or generalities. Will every taxpayer still pay the exact same amount (or less), if it should pass?

2. The fire chief and news articles indicate services will improve only if district is passed. Many people are saying better response times are worth extra costs, and use those higher costs as justification to passing the district. Yet others (including yourself) say district is just a different method of funding FD, and has nothing to do with how services are provided or response times. Which is true, and why is contradictory information coming from officials?

3. Are there going to be management and overhead services created that are new or duplicates of county services? Such as HR, purchasing, maintenance, construction, billing, payroll, legal, accounting, etc. Who pays for that? How much? Is that included in the new district tax? If those new things are needed, wouldn't that take away funds for actual fire/EMS services?

4. How much will the county charge for dispatching? Who pays for that? How much? Is that included in the new district tax?

5. Please discuss the new fire station planned to be built on land already purchased on Warm Springs. Who pays for that building and equipment? Costs? Is building already funded?

6. As an independent body, since the fire district be a smaller entity than the scale of the county, would that result in paying higher costs for supplies as a result of buying things separate from the quantity discounts gained with the county?

7. Will TV residents' county tax still include money allocated to pay for fire services delivered in other parts of the county but not in TV? If yes, exactly how much? If the rest of the county has to pay more for their fire services, how will that effect my tax bill?

8. There have been, and will be, meetings discussing this issue. Please arrange to release all video recordings of those meetings.

9. Please address the many comments referring to how district taxes can go up at will. What prevents that from happening? Is that information true in some part?

10. Will there be any obligation to lower district tax rates over time? Will vehicle purchase frequency be stretched? Many other fire departments replace vehicles at a significantly older age as a large cost savings.

11. How will existing assets be handled? Such as fire stations, vehicles, supplies, equipment?

12. How will co-mingled funds in any retirement or insurance accounts be handled?

13. What surplus of funds is in county reserves for future costs, how will those funds be divided?

14. Will any supervisor, or person, with any ties to TVFD be prevented from voting or controlling any taxes or assets?

15. If passed, but becomes evident that it will be unexpectedly very costly, or unmanageable, or just isn't working well, is there a way to dissolve?

In your answers, please be specific and with details, costs, responsibilities, and dates.

If your response contains words like "likely", "may", "depends", "could", "possibly", etc, please explain all factors that would be necessary for that to happen. Along with the likelihood of all those factors happening.

[Altavia]

TrapX, interesting list - I'm curious to know what you did for a living?

[teamC]

Thank you for doing all of this Don!
I am wondering about logistics.

#1- Do we have a 911 system that can assign/allocate & track firetruck needs for fires?

A fireman in NY and he said that the boroughs "loan/share" coverage if needed. It's crucial to know what type of trucks are where and what areas are left "uncovered" (or short staffed) and how fast you can get trucks and men on site. A centralized 911 service would do this.

#2-Will each station have the types of trucks needed?
7 Types of Fire Trucks and What They Do – FirefighterNOW (https://firefighternow.com/7-types-of-fire-trucks-and-what-they-do/)

The majority of homes in the Villages use steel beams for construction which melt or cause cave ins faster.The excerpt below was taken from (What About Steel in Home Construction? - Fine Homebuilding (https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/framing/steel-home-construction))
Wood has a somewhat predictable rate of burn—lightweight steel frames seem
to fail all at once, and without warning. In wood-frame construction, “the
loads usually shift and form a lean-to type of collapse. When this steel structure failed, it
acted more like a beer can being pressed in from both ends in a pancake-type collapse.”
All of this makes response time critical.

[Goldwingnut]

Lots of good questions, thank you, keep them coming!

One area that seems to have a lot of interest is increased overhead costs caused by the IFD. VPSD's overhead costs and support is all clearly defined in the budget for the upcoming year. Yes, there will be some tweaks to the budget for FY24 as the operating costs become more clearly defined and identified around the ambulance service, Sumter County FD will have the same learning curve with their ambulance service. Currently both FDs operate on separate budgets and are independent in their accounting, purchasing, and other support services including HR and payroll. I'm not privy to all the anticipated cost impacts on the VPSD side, but I'm working on that, there is one area that I know will be an additional cost, 911/dispatch service, the county will continue to maintain and supply the service for all of the county. VPSD will have to pay for a portion of these costs, according to the tentative budget that was passed last week by the BOCC that proposed amount for FY24 will be about $500K (sorry I don't have the exact number, I didn't bring my notes from the office home with me today after reviewing the budget number). Sumter County FD will have a similar allocation to pay back to the General Fund just like VPSD for this service. In this case it makes good sense not to have to build a new dispatch center and have to route calls between the two.

The VPSD budget for FY23 is about $26.5M of which $17.5M comes from the county general fund. The combined fire department budgets that come out of the county general fund are about $38M of which only about $9M comes from the $124 MSBU fire assessment on your tax bill, the rest comes from the county property taxes most of us pay. I say most because there are many properties throughout the county that because of property values and exemptions pay no property tax, only the $124 MSBU, based on home values here in TV there are few if any that fall into this category.

Many of the questions that I've received so far (many in emails) stem from not knowing how things are currently being done. From that aspect most things will remain unchanged.

I've probably spent over 40 hours so far digging into the IFD issues in the last year and probably will spend about the same in additional hours getting the information needed to produce the upcoming video. I, like the rest of you, want to know that this is or is not the right decision for The Villages. Since moving here to TV over 8 years ago I have been a skeptic of anything that "staff" proposed or said. I was a pain in the side of the district staff until June, and since then I am a pain in the side of the county staff because of my skepticism. Skepticism not because I think there is some hidden agenda (but there may be), but skepticism to make sure the right decisions are being made.

[twoplanekid]

Skepticism not because I think there is some hidden agenda (but there may be), but skepticism to make sure the right decisions are being made. :thumbup:

[Great]

Don
Thanks for this effort to share information

My question is - how will the taxation be impacted for the thousands of villagers that live in Lake County?
Or Fruitland Park?

Last time I asked this question about 6 months ago, I was told that the details for those villages had not been worked out yet.
Hopefully someone has those cost impact details by now?

Again thank you Don

[crash]

What happens if the Fire District is not approved in November? How is the new ambulance service tied to the Fire District? What happen to the ambulance service if the Fire District is not approved?

The ambulance service starts in October and will not be affected by if the independent fire district passes or not.

[crash]

Don
Thanks for this effort to share information

My question is - how will the taxation be impacted for the thousands of villagers that live in Lake County?
Or Fruitland Park?

Last time I asked this question about 6 months ago, I was told that the details for those villages had not been worked out yet.
Hopefully someone has those cost impact details by now?

Again thank you Don

This is only for Sumter county. The non Sumter county portions of the Villages will still be serviced by the Villages fire department under interdepartmental agreements just as they are now. The closest unit will respond in Lake and Marion counties and could be those counties fire departments or The Villages fire department. Those counties will not pay the independent fire district tax.

[crash]

Lots of good questions, thank you, keep them coming!

One area that seems to have a lot of interest is increased overhead costs caused by the IFD. VPSD's overhead costs and support is all clearly defined in the budget for the upcoming year. Yes, there will be some tweaks to the budget for FY24 as the operating costs become more clearly defined and identified around the ambulance service, Sumter County FD will have the same learning curve with their ambulance service. Currently both FDs operate on separate budgets and are independent in their accounting, purchasing, and other support services including HR and payroll. I'm not privy to all the anticipated cost impacts on the VPSD side, but I'm working on that, there is one area that I know will be an additional cost, 911/dispatch service, the county will continue to maintain and supply the service for all of the county. VPSD will have to pay for a portion of these costs, according to the tentative budget that was passed last week by the BOCC that proposed amount for FY24 will be about $500K (sorry I don't have the exact number, I didn't bring my notes from the office home with me today after reviewing the budget number). Sumter County FD will have a similar allocation to pay back to the General Fund just like VPSD for this service. In this case it makes good sense not to have to build a new dispatch center and have to route calls between the two.

The VPSD budget for FY23 is about $26.5M of which $17.5M comes from the county general fund. The combined fire department budgets that come out of the county general fund are about $38M of which only about $9M comes from the $124 MSBU fire assessment on your tax bill, the rest comes from the county property taxes most of us pay. I say most because there are many properties throughout the county that because of property values and exemptions pay no property tax, only the $124 MSBU, based on home values here in TV there are few if any that fall into this category.

Many of the questions that I've received so far (many in emails) stem from not knowing how things are currently being done. From that aspect most things will remain unchanged.

I've probably spent over 40 hours so far digging into the IFD issues in the last year and probably will spend about the same in additional hours getting the information needed to produce the upcoming video. I, like the rest of you, want to know that this is or is not the right decision for The Villages. Since moving here to TV over 8 years ago I have been a skeptic of anything that "staff" proposed or said. I was a pain in the side of the district staff until June, and since then I am a pain in the side of the county staff because of my skepticism. Skepticism not because I think there is some hidden agenda (but there may be), but skepticism to make sure the right decisions are being made.

Thanks Don and stay skeptical because it is the staff that proposed doing away with the Villages fire department not any of the previous commissioners. I like that you do your own research and that you keep us informed so that we can all take your information and make our own descision.

[bluecenturian]

What are the fees associated with the split of the district from the county ?

If the the villages has a separate fire district which has a fire tax will village residents still be paying county fire taxes ?

[JamesLove]

Thank you Commissioner Wiley.

I don’t understand the geography. Take Warm Springs avenue for example. There is a fire station just west of SR44. South of 44 are the major population areas of Southern Oaks (Villages of Chitty Chatty, Bradford etc.). Going west along Warm Springs there are numerous pockets of non-Villages residential and commercial properties, albeit with a smaller census than the Villages.

Will the non-Village properties be included in the new Fire District? If not, how will responses to these properties be funded?

Thank you again.

[Bill14564]

Thank you Commissioner Wiley.

I don’t understand the geography. Take Warm Springs avenue for example. There is a fire station just west of SR44. South of 44 are the major population areas of Southern Oaks (Villages of Chitty Chatty, Bradford etc.). Going west along Warm Springs there are numerous pockets of non-Villages residential and commercial properties, albeit with a smaller census than the Villages.

Will the non-Village properties be included in the new Fire District? If not, how will responses to these properties be funded?

Thank you again.

This map (https://www.districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/DISTRICT_MAP_11X17_03102022.pdf) is off the Districtgov.org -> Departments -> Public Safety page.

Properties inside the black line will be serviced by the independent district (if it passes)

[HospitalCoder]

Many of you know who I am and what I do. I try to bring you the facts of what is happening in my videos. That being said I am undertaking a new project and I would like your inputs on it.

I am putting together a video that will address the Independent Fire District issue. I am putting together all the facts and information I have gleaned from my time working with it as a CDD Supervisor, an interview/meeting I had with Kenny Blocker last week, and from what I have learned as a Sumter County Commissioner. I'll look at the issue from all sides and discuss areas that others can't or haven't discussed. I intend to cover the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of this issue.

What I need from each of you is what your questions and concerns are so I can address the most pressing of these in the video. Please leave your question here in this thread, private message me, or email me.

Please spare us all any uneducated and uninformed rants of how this is going to screw over The Villages residents and is just a ploy to fatten the developer's pockets. For those posts, put them on that other website that hates everything about The Villages, it will gladly take your clickbait. My goal of this post is to get your questions and concerns and try to address them in the video.

Thanks,

Thank you so much for this effort. Many of us are torn on which way to vote on this issue.

[crash]

This map (https://www.districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/DISTRICT_MAP_11X17_03102022.pdf) is off the Districtgov.org -> Departments -> Public Safety page.

Properties inside the black line will be serviced by the independent district (if it passes)

Areas outside the black lines could be serviced by the Villages fire department also on interdepartmental agreements the closest available unit responds.

[Goldwingnut]

What are the fees associated with the split of the district from the county ?

If the the villages has a separate fire district which has a fire tax will village residents still be paying county fire taxes ?

No there is no "Fee" associated with the split, there are some administrative costs for both Fire Districts that are necessary to get all the paperwork and agreements in place, much of that is already happening.

No, simply put, there will be 2 fire districts in Sumter County and you will only pay one assessment, for the fire assessment based on the location of your property.

[pdmracing18]

Greetings Don and thank you. Will there be any deduction on our property tax directly related from Sumter County relative to withdrawing from their fire district/ems service?

[PugMom]

What happens if the Fire District is not approved in November? How is the new ambulance service tied to the Fire District? What happen to the ambulance service if the Fire District is not approved?

excellent question. :posting:

[arbajeda]

I understand that anything said about future taxes is speculation but there should be enough information available to compare current budgetary items to projected. Same row/column categories, current expenditures vs anticipated. This should be apples to apples. It also should give enough info to estimate funding shortfall in dollars (if any).

[dougawhite]

Don - I'm curious that once you become a BOCC Commissioner if the infamous Sunshine Laws will prevent you from engaging in this type of internet blog discourse that occurs outside of a public meeting setting?

[Bill14564]

Don - I'm curious that once you become a BOCC Commissioner if the infamous Sunshine Laws will prevent you from engaging in this type of internet blog discourse that occurs outside of a public meeting setting?

He became a Commissioner when he was appointed by the Governor back in June.

[Jhrath7@gmail.com]

Many of you know who I am and what I do. I try to bring you the facts of what is happening in my videos. That being said I am undertaking a new project and I would like your inputs on it.

I am putting together a video that will address the Independent Fire District issue. I am putting together all the facts and information I have gleaned from my time working with it as a CDD Supervisor, an interview/meeting I had with Kenny Blocker last week, and from what I have learned as a Sumter County Commissioner. I'll look at the issue from all sides and discuss areas that others can't or haven't discussed. I intend to cover the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of this issue.

What I need from each of you is what your questions and concerns are so I can address the most pressing of these in the video. Please leave your question here in this thread, private message me, or email me.

Please spare us all any uneducated and uninformed rants of how this is going to screw over The Villages residents and is just a ploy to fatten the developer's pockets. For those posts, put them on that other website that hates everything about The Villages, it will gladly take your clickbait. My goal of this post is to get your questions and concerns and try to address them in the video.

Thanks,

I think I am most concerned about the differences between what we have now and the cost per home and what it will become. Service is important to an aged community

[jump4]

Many of you know who I am and what I do. I try to bring you the facts of what is happening in my videos. That being said I am undertaking a new project and I would like your inputs on it.
,

Don,
Thank you for doing this! It is unfortunate that the newspaper is unable or unwilling to do this. It is also unfortunate that recent VHA/VPSD meeting failed to properly educate residents (glossy videos instead of clear answers). I also think it is unacceptable that the leaders from Sumter and The Villages have not come together to jointly author a FAQ document or host forums. I believe nearly all residents are extremely confused about the IFD vote because local leaders and the Daily Sun always conflate two separate issues (1-new ambulance service, 2-IFD vote) leading to rampant misinformation and assumptions (I don’t know if this is intentional…). I hope you can change the messaging and present the facts in a clear, simple, succinct way. Note that I am interested in fair taxing and good fire/ambulance service throughout the county; not just in The Villages. In addition to your video, it would be helpful if a written document was available with FAQs, a chart comparing outcomes for a Yes and No decision in November, and list of pros/cons.


***FAQs (with my draft answers for some):
Q - Is Sumter County doing anything to improve ambulance service?
A - Yes, on Oct. 1, 2022 new county-owned ambulances and EMS personnel will be located in all fire stations within SC and The Villages. County-wide, there will be an increase from 6 ambulances to 14 (or 15). The Villages Public Safety Department will provide timely, enhanced ambulance service to Villages residents.

Q - Will we lose this new ambulance service if an Independent Fire District is not created?
A – No. The Nov. 8 vote on whether to create an independent Fire District in 2023 is completely separate from the prior decision by local government to purchase and run ambulances. The Nov. 8 vote will not change that.

Q - Will a Yes vote on Nov. 8 result in better ambulance service?
A - No, the new ambulances and EMT personnel will continue to provide the enhanced ambulance service Villagers desired.

Q - How will the outcome of the independent fire district vote on Nov. 8 affect the fire and ambulance service residents receive in Sumter County, both at my house inside the Villages and at a restaurant where I eat outside of the Villages (e.g., personnel, equipment, performance & service level agreements)?
A –

Q - What is the estimated county-wide cost difference for the contracted versus govt-owned ambulance service (assume 2022 prices)? Since the number of ambulances is more than doubling, will there be a significant increase in cost to residents? If so, will this be funded by increased fees on the property tax bill, or by billing each trip to the patient’s medical insurance.
A -

Q – The Villages website states that an IFD is needed to “provide the self-governance and autonomy that better focuses on our planned community and independent financial sustainability of the services to The Villages, and surrounding areas.” Related to this:
---Has Sumter County ever denied adequate funding to VPSD for fire service?
---Do you have any reason to think Sumter County would not provide adequate funding to VPSD for ambulance service?
---If the Independent Fire District expenses ever exceed the budget, how would that district cover the shortfall?
---What is the estimated cost to setup and run a new separate administrative bureaucracy (board members, office to handle assessments, office to handle billing, etc.)
---Would this autonomy result in Villages residents receiving less timely fire and ambulance service when they travel just outside the bubble (e.g. Lowes @ Trailwinds Village)? If IFD is passed, would Sumter County (SC) have an adequate tax base to fund good fire and ambulance service outside of SC
---Will the VPSD radios and SC radios be able to communicate with each other?
---In areas such as Warm Springs Road where there is a mixture of many Villages and non-Villages properties will SC respond to some and VPSD respond to others? If so, this does not seem efficient.
A -

Q - To prevent residents from being hit with huge ambulance transport bills, will the new ambulance service be contracted, in-network with major health insurance companies?
A -

Q - According to The Villages website (The Villages Independent Fire Control and Rescue District (https://districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/independent-fire-control-and-rescue-district.aspx)), the “proposed method” of funding the IFD will “support future fire stations, apparatus and personnel”. How are these additions to support The Villages’ growth currently funded? The developer? Impact fees? Property tax bill?
A -


***Proposed rows for a chart (with values to be entered for Yes and No vote outcomes):
Avg. Number of fire & rescue personnel per Villages fire station
Avg. Number of fire vehicles per Villages fire station
Avg. Number of ambulances per Villages fire station
Fire target response time to Villages home
Ambulance target response time to Villages home
Ambulance target response time to non-Villages restaurant
Estimated fire/rescue tax for a home with a market value (excluding land) of $430,090 [from slides presented at 9/14 VHA/VPSD meeting]: $359.25 if vote no; Range from $394.64 to $725.99 if vote yes
Estimated fire/rescue tax for a home with a market value (excluding land) of $178,930 [from slides presented at 9/14 VHA/VPSD meeting]: $236.42 if vote no; Range from $258.19 to 416.53 if vote yes


***Pros/cons list:
Pros of voting Yes:
• Tax bill will itemize complete amount of tax (including both the flat non-ad valorem and the ad valorem amounts) attributable to fire and rescue services.

Cons of Voting Yes:
• Would increase, possibly even double, the tax residents pay for fire/rescue service (with no increase in service)
• Requires creating a new administrative bureaucracy (board members, office to handle assessments, office to handle billing, etc.)
• Initial board members are appointed and will not be accountable to voters for 2-4 years

[Bridget Staunton]

Your a great guy to do this work

[Goldwingnut]

Don - I'm curious that once you become a BOCC Commissioner if the infamous Sunshine Laws will prevent you from engaging in this type of internet blog discourse that occurs outside of a public meeting setting?

First, I am a BOCC Commissioner, I have been since June.

Second, Florida's Open Meeting or Sunshine Law is only "infamous" if you chose to ignore and violate it as some have chosen to.

Third, the open meeting law basically states that I cannot engage in communications with others on the board about items that may come for decisions before the board without a prior public announcement of that meeting.
1) the November vote is a referendum before the people that will be affected by the IFD issue, those that would be in the IFD. It is not something that the BOCC will be voting on. Now, after the vote, if it is approved, then there are a great many decisions that may come before the board in which case things are a little different but discussing in an open/public forum is still not prohibited.
2) I make no secret of my identity. I am expressing my opinions and sharing my knowledge with the public, I am not engaging in communications with other board members. Even if I was, as stated in 1) above, this is not an issue that is coming before the BOCC for a decision.
3) If another BOCC member were to assume a pseudonym and engage me in conversation and I am unaware of their actual identity, then I believe I am innocent of any Open Meeting law violation because I did not knowingly or intentionally violate the law, however the other member would likely be guilty. Fortunately, this is a very unlikely scenario, but not one that I have not considered.

I have been engaged with this topic from the early discussions and am much more aware of the detail than the vast majority of the residents that will be affected. I am sharing public information with those who have not or do not know how to find and/or analyze all the available information. I am not in any way attempting to have any communications that may be in violation of the State of Florida's Open Meeting (aka Sunshine) Law.

On November 8th I will cast a vote, not as a BOCC Commissioner, but as a resident that will be affected by the formation of the IFD, just like most of you reading this. What changes for me is on November 9th I, and the other 4 County Commissioners, will have to deal with the many ramifications of the outcome of that vote, no matter which way it goes.

[Bridget Staunton]

Q: will taxes increase for an appraised value of $400000

Q: will the 911 response time be the same as Sumter county

Q: what is the benefit to The Villages community vs. having Sumter County fire department handle calls

[quietpine]

Hey Don. I was in a life or death situation unable to walk. My doctor called an EMS ambulance to transport to the hospital. The Villages fire department arrived in minutes and began emergency aid. Then we waited in the Dr’s office walking distance of the Villages hospital, and waited… Finally the ambulances arrived and redid what the fire station responders did before transport to Leesburg hospital. Along the way the EMT did other stuff he said probably wasn’t needed but there was a trainee in the vehicle and they needed to learn. It took one hour to get to the ER where they were waiting for me as well. Bottom line: the current service (AMR) is not responsive and performs poorly. It will cause needless injuries and deaths as long as it continues. The bill that we got for a short ride to the hospital was so outrageous that my insurance denied most of it but their out of state third party billing agent ignored the insurance company and pressed us for the full amount. We need a responsible, responsive and local EMS service that isn’t driven by profit only.

[Goldwingnut]

Don,
Thank you for doing this! It is unfortunate that the newspaper is unable or unwilling to do this. It is also unfortunate that recent VHA/VPSD meeting failed to properly educate residents (glossy videos instead of clear answers). I also think it is unacceptable that the leaders from Sumter and The Villages have not come together to jointly author a FAQ document or host forums. I believe nearly all residents are extremely confused about the IFD vote because local leaders and the Daily Sun always conflate two separate issues (1-new ambulance service, 2-IFD vote) leading to rampant misinformation and assumptions (I don’t know if this is intentional…). I hope you can change the messaging and present the facts in a clear, simple, succinct way. Note that I am interested in fair taxing and good fire/ambulance service throughout the county; not just in The Villages. In addition to your video, it would be helpful if a written document was available with FAQs, a chart comparing outcomes for a Yes and No decision in November, and list of pros/cons.


***FAQs (with my draft answers for some):
Q - Is Sumter County doing anything to improve ambulance service?
A - Yes, on Oct. 1, 2022 new county-owned ambulances and EMS personnel will be located in all fire stations within SC and The Villages. County-wide, there will be an increase from 6 ambulances to 14 (or 15). The Villages Public Safety Department will provide timely, enhanced ambulance service to Villages residents.

Q - Will we lose this new ambulance service if an Independent Fire District is not created?
A – No. The Nov. 8 vote on whether to create an independent Fire District in 2023 is completely separate from the prior decision by local government to purchase and run ambulances. The Nov. 8 vote will not change that.

Q - Will a Yes vote on Nov. 8 result in better ambulance service?
A - No, the new ambulances and EMT personnel will continue to provide the enhanced ambulance service Villagers desired.

Q - How will the outcome of the independent fire district vote on Nov. 8 affect the fire and ambulance service residents receive in Sumter County, both at my house inside the Villages and at a restaurant where I eat outside of the Villages (e.g., personnel, equipment, performance & service level agreements)?
A –

Q - What is the estimated county-wide cost difference for the contracted versus govt-owned ambulance service (assume 2022 prices)? Since the number of ambulances is more than doubling, will there be a significant increase in cost to residents? If so, will this be funded by increased fees on the property tax bill, or by billing each trip to the patient’s medical insurance.
A -

Q – The Villages website states that an IFD is needed to “provide the self-governance and autonomy that better focuses on our planned community and independent financial sustainability of the services to The Villages, and surrounding areas.” Related to this:
---Has Sumter County ever denied adequate funding to VPSD for fire service?
---Do you have any reason to think Sumter County would not provide adequate funding to VPSD for ambulance service?
---If the Independent Fire District expenses ever exceed the budget, how would that district cover the shortfall?
---What is the estimated cost to setup and run a new separate administrative bureaucracy (board members, office to handle assessments, office to handle billing, etc.)
---Would this autonomy result in Villages residents receiving less timely fire and ambulance service when they travel just outside the bubble (e.g. Lowes @ Trailwinds Village)? If IFD is passed, would Sumter County (SC) have an adequate tax base to fund good fire and ambulance service outside of SC
---Will the VPSD radios and SC radios be able to communicate with each other?
---In areas such as Warm Springs Road where there is a mixture of many Villages and non-Villages properties will SC respond to some and VPSD respond to others? If so, this does not seem efficient.
A -

Q - To prevent residents from being hit with huge ambulance transport bills, will the new ambulance service be contracted, in-network with major health insurance companies?
A -

Q - According to The Villages website (The Villages Independent Fire Control and Rescue District (https://districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/independent-fire-control-and-rescue-district.aspx)), the “proposed method” of funding the IFD will “support future fire stations, apparatus and personnel”. How are these additions to support The Villages’ growth currently funded? The developer? Impact fees? Property tax bill?
A -


***Proposed rows for a chart (with values to be entered for Yes and No vote outcomes):
Avg. Number of fire & rescue personnel per Villages fire station
Avg. Number of fire vehicles per Villages fire station
Avg. Number of ambulances per Villages fire station
Fire target response time to Villages home
Ambulance target response time to Villages home
Ambulance target response time to non-Villages restaurant
Estimated fire/rescue tax for a home with a market value (excluding land) of $430,090 [from slides presented at 9/14 VHA/VPSD meeting]: $359.25 if vote no; Range from $394.64 to $725.99 if vote yes
Estimated fire/rescue tax for a home with a market value (excluding land) of $178,930 [from slides presented at 9/14 VHA/VPSD meeting]: $236.42 if vote no; Range from $258.19 to 416.53 if vote yes


***Pros/cons list:
Pros of voting Yes:
• Tax bill will itemize complete amount of tax (including both the flat non-ad valorem and the ad valorem amounts) attributable to fire and rescue services.

Cons of Voting Yes:
• Would increase, possibly even double, the tax residents pay for fire/rescue service (with no increase in service)
• Requires creating a new administrative bureaucracy (board members, office to handle assessments, office to handle billing, etc.)
• Initial board members are appointed and will not be accountable to voters for 2-4 years

Some good questions here, thank you. There are also some inaccurate statements, as well as lack of understanding of what is happening in the process and how our local governments work under Florida law.

I have to leave for a BOCC meeting in about 15 minutes but I'll touch on a few of my pet peeves in the world of misinformation before I have to go and then try to get back to the rest later this evening.

The initial board members yes will be appointed by the Governor's office. These will be residents of the IFD. Any resident of the IFD that is a Florida resident and eligible under Florida law to hold this position may apply for this position. In other words, this could be you or one of your neighbors. Reality check here, our Governor is a Republican, it is highly unlikely that he will appoint a Democrat to one of these positions, if he was a Democrat he wouldn't appoint a Republican, that's politics, there will be whining about it, to bad, get over it. As far as accountability goes, there will be the exact same accountability to the other residents as there is for the Governor, a Senator, a CDD Supervisor, myself and the other BOCC Commissioners, if they screw up or do something so egregious, they can be removed from office, and on election day if they are running to keep the seat, they will be held accountable for their actions.

There is very little new bureaucracy to be established with the formation of the IFD, both fire departments already operate independently on an administrative and financial level, this won't change. There are interagency agreements in place and a shared communication and dispatch system that will not go away, we learned those lessons 21 years ago.

The double taxing of the IFD is a myth perpetuated by those without an understanding of the work going on in the county to determine the costs of the Sumter County Fire Department, work to address the FY24 budget, and a lack of understanding of the math involved - budget amount, IFD property values, and the number of residents in and outside of the IFD. I'll go into detail on this in the video.

More later.

Thanks,

[Goldwingnut]

Greetings Don and thank you. Will there be any deduction on our property tax directly related from Sumter County relative to withdrawing from their fire district/ems service?

That is being worked now, the BOCC in July hired a 3rd party company to do the analysis to determine the amount of the total change that will affect the budget and our property taxes. We should have the information back before the end of the year and can then start refining the numbers in the FY24 budget.

[jump4]

Don,

The Villages has posted a calculator to allow residents to see estimates of what they would pay on their property tax bill for fire & ambulance service if the IFD is created. The link to this calculator is at The Villages Independent Fire Control and Rescue District (https://districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/independent-fire-control-and-rescue-district.aspx)

Under the proposed calculations for the IFD, three items are added up to determine the total fire/ambulance cost. For the third item, this calculator arbitrarily calculates 1/10th of a mil instead of the permitted 1.0 mil, thus estimating a cost that may be hundreds less than the actual. Why is the Villages basing the estimate (used in the calculator and recent VHA/VSPD presentation) on 1/10th mil?

Also, why doesn’t the calculator list what residents are currently paying for fire/ambulance service on their home?

[jump4]

Some good questions here, thank you. There are also some inaccurate statements, as well as lack of understanding of what is happening in the process and how our local governments work under Florida law....

The initial board members yes will be appointed by the Governor's office. These will be residents of the IFD. Any resident of the IFD that is a Florida resident and eligible under Florida law to hold this position may apply for this position. In other words, this could be you or one of your neighbors. Reality check here, our Governor is a Republican, it is highly unlikely that he will appoint a Democrat to one of these positions, if he was a Democrat he wouldn't appoint a Republican, that's politics, there will be whining about it, to bad, get over it. As far as accountability goes, there will be the exact same accountability to the other residents as there is for the Governor, a Senator, a CDD Supervisor, myself and the other BOCC Commissioners, if they screw up or do something so egregious, they can be removed from office, and on election day if they are running to keep the seat, they will be held accountable for their actions.
....

To clarify, my earlier statement "Initial board members are appointed and will not be accountable..." refers to the fact that some of these will apparently not face their first election for 2 years and some not for 4 years.

[Goldwingnut]

To clarify, my earlier statement "Initial board members are appointed and will not be accountable..." refers to the fact that some of these will apparently not face their first election for 2 years and some not for 4 years.

The way that Florida works it in a case such as this when supervisors or commissioners or what they are called are appointed to a new "district" or board is that the odd numbered seats will go up for election on years divisible by 4 and the even on years that are not divisible by 4. This established a fixed standard schedule throughout the state and provides some initial stability for a board to allow it to operate.

[jump4]

Some good questions here, thank you. There are also some inaccurate statements, as well as lack of understanding of what is happening in the process and how our local governments work under Florida law....

The double taxing of the IFD is a myth perpetuated by those without an understanding of the work going on in the county to determine the costs of the Sumter County Fire Department, work to address the FY24 budget, and a lack of understanding of the math involved - budget amount, IFD property values, and the number of residents in and outside of the IFD. I'll go into detail on this in the video.


To clarify, my earlier statement "would increase, possibly even double, the tax residents pay..." was not related to the issue of how much Sumter County will reduce property tax. Rather, my comment was based on the comparison of estimated tax under current (no IFD) and proposed (with IFD) methods presented at the 9/14 VHA/VPSD meeting (slides attached):
-For a home with a market value (excluding land) of $430,090:
---Current tax $359.25
---Proposed (with Tier 3 @ 0.1 mil) tax $394
---Proposed (with Tier 3 @ 1.0 mil) tax $726
As I understand it, in this example the the tax due for fire/ambulance service could double from $359 to $726 if the IFD is formed.

- For a home with a market value (excluding land) of $178,930:
---Current tax $236.42
---Proposed (with Tier 3 @ 0.1 mil) tax $258
---Proposed (with Tier 3 @ 1.0 mil) tax $417

Also, FYI, I've heard a rumor that although the referendum language identifies 1.0 mil as the cap for Tier3, an existing state law has a cap of around 3 percent which would supercede the 1.0 mil cap.

I hope this helps.

[Yellowrose]

We have an excellent fire dept. We asked for a better response time for ambulance service. We already pay taxes that cover both these expenses.
How is doubling my fire tax going to improve what I already pay for? It will actually be more than double the current tax because the property assessment was increased by 3%.

[Yellowrose]

The chart posted on District.gov. under fire department, shows examples of what your tax is now, compared to what they could be if the increase is approved. On that chart my taxes doubled. plus the assessment value went up so the fire tax will be higher than what is posted on the chart. Please look at the chart.

[Bilyclub]

Don,
Thank you for doing this! It is unfortunate that the newspaper is unable or unwilling to do this. It is also unfortunate that recent VHA/VPSD meeting failed to properly educate residents (glossy videos instead of clear answers). I also think it is unacceptable that the leaders from Sumter and The Villages have not come together to jointly author a FAQ document or host forums.



It would be great if your were the editor of the Sun or the online rag.

[TrapX]

Don,
... calculator to allow residents to see estimates of what they would pay ... at [url=https://districtgov.org/departments/Public-Safety/independent-fire-control-and-rescue-district.aspx] ... For the third item, this calculator arbitrarily calculates 1/10th of a mil instead of the permitted 1.0 mil, thus estimating a cost that may be hundreds less than the actual.

This information is very disturbing to me. We are being asked to TRUST that it's the right thing to do based upon learning accurate facts. My total shown online is $440 (at 1/10th), but it would really be raised to $620 (at 1mil). Plus unknown unspecified yearly increases based upon this slanted quote.

I ask myself... why would they publish a low ball number? Are we are being given unrealistic low estimates to influence our vote?
Now I'm wondering what home value number is being used. I'm not sure I can even trust that $440 number either. What will it really be?

There better be a clear and simple explanation for that deliberate action. Full disclosure and transparency.

Once someone deceives me, even 1000 possible truths later, I still know they lie when it suits them.

[Goldwingnut]

This information is very disturbing to me. We are being asked to TRUST that it's the right thing to do based upon learning accurate facts. My total shown online is $440 (at 1/10th), but it would really be raised to $620 (at 1mil). Plus unknown unspecified yearly increases based upon this slanted quote.

I ask myself... why would they publish a low ball number? Are we are being given unrealistic low estimates to influence our vote?
Now I'm wondering what home value number is being used. I'm not sure I can even trust that $440 number either. What will it really be?

There better be a clear and simple explanation for that deliberate action. Full disclosure and transparency.

Once someone deceives me, even 1000 possible truths later, I still know they lie when it suits them.

TrapX, one thing I am certain of, there are many people such as yourself that no matter what and how much information they are given, no matter how many facts and documents are presented, they will always doubt and be suspect and gloom over the worst possible scenario. For these few, I have nothing to offer and won't waste my time trying to educate, I will have better luck teaching my dog nuclear physics.

My goal here is not to try to sell the IFD to anyone or discourage it, it is to present accurate facts and information so they can make an informed decision for themselves come November 8th. Unfortunately, there are many in our community with their own agendas that I see spreading misinformation and attempting to generate hysteria on this topic. Believe them if you want, but I am not one of these.

Of course, there will always be unknowns that will impact what is presented today and tomorrow, unknowns that may be under or overestimated and unknowns that could not have been possibly foreseen. Each of these will be compensated for as they raise their heads, and we, the taxpayers, will have to pay for them all or will benefit from them as well, there is no "somebody else" to pay for the services we want to receive.

I have the benefit of knowing the people involved, on both the County side and the Villages side, in putting the IFD processes together and trying to move it forward, if that is the desire of the electorate. ALL are honest people working to do the will of the people in our community that they have been entrusted with.

[Snowbirdtobe]

Don,
The emergency response trucks have a great track record and have proven to be a success.
Using ambulances in place of the emergency response trucks may hurt response times.
The ambulance is required to deliver and wait if required at the hospital.

What is the plan for the new fire district?

[Snowbirdtobe]

Parcel G08D102 is valued at $27,146,160.
The proposed tier 1 maxes out at $7,500.
Since it is one parcel there is an additional $124 added.
I'm sure that there other parcels that benefit from the $10,000,000 cap.
Why should we vote to setup a district with a cap on developer owned parcels?

[jump4]

I am trying to keep my mind open about the Nov. 8 vote, pending receipt of reliable information to inform my decision. This could be easily accomplished if The Daily Sun published a full-page story of unbiased facts, not fluff, that covered the 2 separate issues (1-new ambulances, 2- fire district vote) from perspectives of both The Villages and Sumter County leaders.

MY BOTTOM LINE:

* Thank you for replacing the AMR ambulance contract with locally owned & run ambulance service on Oct 1st, 2022! It seems like a no brainer:MOJE_whot:.



* I have not yet heard good justification for creating an independent fire district for The Villages in Oct. 2023:shrug:.


I look forward to receiving clear, simple, unambiguous information.

[TrapX]

TrapX, one thing I am certain of, there are many people such as yourself that no matter what and how much information they are given, no matter how many facts and documents are presented, they will always doubt and be suspect and gloom over the worst possible scenario. For these few, I have nothing to offer and won't waste my time trying to educate, I will have better luck teaching my dog nuclear physics.

My goal here is not to try to sell the IFD to anyone or discourage it, it is to present accurate facts and information so they can make an informed decision for themselves come November 8th. Unfortunately, there are many in our community with their own agendas that I see spreading misinformation and attempting to generate hysteria on this topic. Believe them if you want, but I am not one of these.

Of course, there will always be unknowns that will impact what is presented today and tomorrow, unknowns that may be under or overestimated and unknowns that could not have been possibly foreseen. Each of these will be compensated for as they raise their heads, and we, the taxpayers, will have to pay for them all or will benefit from them as well, there is no "somebody else" to pay for the services we want to receive.

I have the benefit of knowing the people involved, on both the County side and the Villages side, in putting the IFD processes together and trying to move it forward, if that is the desire of the electorate. ALL are honest people working to do the will of the people in our community that they have been entrusted with.

When I spent my time to put together a list of questions (at your urging in post #1 here) I was looking for truthful answers to those hard questions. Hoped to find factual answers and clear details.
Then new information comes forward about the tax calculator put online by the developer giving potentially false information.

Disappointed you decided that all those initial questions, and new concerns, are categorically beneath you to "waste your time" to respond.
No facts, no numbers, nothing.

That speaks volumes.

[Bill14564]

When I spent my time to put together a list of questions (at your urging in post #1 here) I was looking for truthful answers to those hard questions. Hoped to find factual answers and clear details.
Then new information comes forward about the tax calculator put online by the developer giving potentially false information.

Disappointed you decided that all those initial questions, and new concerns, are categorically beneath you to "waste your time" to respond.
No facts, no numbers, nothing.

That speaks volumes.

Prior to the tax calculator going online I calculated my tax manually. When the online tool became available I tried it and found a $1.55 difference. Checking my work I found a transposed number that made the difference. The tax calculator returns exactly the same amount as my independent manual calculations.

Before accusing the calculator of being inaccurate you might want to read the information and perform the calculations yourself.

[TrapX]

Prior to the tax calculator going online I calculated my tax manually. When the online tool became available I tried it and found a $1.55 difference. Checking my work I found a transposed number that made the difference. The tax calculator returns exactly the same amount as my independent manual calculations.

Before accusing the calculator of being inaccurate you might want to read the information and perform the calculations yourself.

The third tax portion is calculated at 0.1 - the minimum it will ever be.
Stated maximum is 1.0
Florida law says it can be 3.0

The calculator is using the bare bottom numbers. I would like to know why not also show the 1.0 calculation, and the 3.0 calculation.
Provide a complete picture, not just a narrow point of view that makes the tax seem smaller than it might be.
Details are severely lacking here.

[Bill14564]

The third tax portion is calculated at 0.1 - the minimum it will ever be.
Stated maximum is 1.0
Florida law says it can be 3.0

The calculator is using the bare bottom numbers. I would like to know why not also show the 1.0 calculation, and the 3.0 calculation.
Provide a complete picture, not just a narrow point of view that makes the tax seem smaller than it might be.
Details are severely lacking here.

Post this on the other thread on this topic and I will answer it. This thread is for questions to be answered in the video

[HeyGeorge]

It appears that This whole process will impact disabled veterans in a negative way. Currently, Disabled Veterans have their Sumter county taxes reduced by the percentage of their disability. i.e 50% diabled=50% reduction in taxes or 100% disabled pays no Sumter county taxes. If the IFD passes, The 100% disabled veteran will bear the increase caused by the IFD with no offset from county taxes. So, on the surface, it appears that disabled veterans will bare a heavier load than the average citizen without any additional benefit.

How is this a positive for the many disabled veterns who call The Villages hone?

[Goldwingnut]

When I spent my time to put together a list of questions (at your urging in post #1 here) I was looking for truthful answers to those hard questions. Hoped to find factual answers and clear details.
Then new information comes forward about the tax calculator put online by the developer giving potentially false information.

Disappointed you decided that all those initial questions, and new concerns, are categorically beneath you to "waste your time" to respond.
No facts, no numbers, nothing.

That speaks volumes.

I was doing my initial cut on all the questions I've received so far - here, in email, private messages, and phone calls - trying to find the most useful questions that would bring the most value to the video and nearly all of yours from your initial posting were in the list that so far numbers 22, there were a lot of really good questions offered by you and others. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. It was not and is not my intent to answer these questions here on this forum as many of them I've had to do some deep digging to get the answers to. That digging was what a spent a good portion of my day doing.

For clarity, the developer has the exact same say in this as everyone else that lives within the proposed IFD, one vote each on November 8th. And if they, as an individual, do not live within the IFD boundaries they get no say. The developer isn't driving this and didn't do the calculator, that was the efforts of the district staff. What is the developer's involvement in this effort, well there's IT services, water/sewage, and irrigation water for the fire stations (page 47 of the most recent audit), these make up a very small portion of the proposed $26.5M budget for FY23 for VPSD. Their principal gain is the same as the residents gain, a top-notch fire and transport service serving the community with community control over the services to be provided. Will they use this in future marketing? Who's to say, I know if I owned the company I would. In my opinion, it's a great thing that we as residents have the potential to create on November 8th, but we must all make our own decision on this matter.

[Goldwingnut]

As I stated in the previous post, I've spent a significant portion of my day today digging into the IFD issues and trying to formulate answers to the many questions I have received. I want to thank all of you that have replied with your questions.

Part of my day was spent at the house doing research and part was at my county office digging into the paper copy of the new budget that I have.

The information I have put out so far has been as a private citizen and not as a county Commissioner. I am not speaking for the BOCC or the District government, I am speaking as a well-informed resident on this matter, that is all. I have tried to make that fact clear from the beginning and many times over.

At the end of my time at the office today I spoke with the County Administrator, Mr. Bradly Arnold, about the IFD and some county issues. I would like to say I am surprised about part of the conversation we had, but I am not. Apparently, after last night's BOCC meeting someone approached Mr. Arnold about my posts on this topic and made some complaints. Mr. Arnold did not tell me who made the comments, and I did not push the issue. I will say this, last night's meeting had a very light showing so it is not hard to figure out the party involved, it being one of two people possible there and I'm about 95% sure who that individual is. As we talked, I realized I had a decision to make.

As I have been addressing this IFD topic as a private citizen and individual, and not as a Commissioner I do not believe that I have violated the letter or intent of the Florida Open Meeting law either intentionally or unintentionally. I do not believe that I have created any conflict of interest in my discussions. Nor, do I believe that my actions have run contrary to the BOCC's position on this matter. But there are those whom, for reasons known only to themselves will I fear, try to push this in one or more of these directions. I cannot and will not take that chance nor give them the opportunity. For this reason I will not be making the proposed video on the IFD, will not be addressing this IFD issue online in any forum, will not be answering any more questions about the IFD, and will request the moderators close this thread.

Moderator, please close this thread.

[jump4]

As I stated in the previous post, I've spent a significant portion of my day today digging into the IFD issues and trying to formulate answers to the many questions I have received. I want to thank all of you that have replied with your questions.

Part of my day was spent at the house doing research and part was at my county office digging into the paper copy of the new budget that I have.

The information I have put out so far has been as a private citizen and not as a county Commissioner. I am not speaking for the BOCC or the District government, I am speaking as a well-informed resident on this matter, that is all. I have tried to make that fact clear from the beginning and many times over.

At the end of my time at the office today I spoke with the County Administrator, Mr. Bradly Arnold, about the IFD and some county issues. I would like to say I am surprised about part of the conversation we had, but I am not. Apparently, after last night's BOCC meeting someone approached Mr. Arnold about my posts on this topic and made some complaints. Mr. Arnold did not tell me who made the comments, and I did not push the issue. I will say this, last night's meeting had a very light showing so it is not hard to figure out the party involved, it being one of two people possible there and I'm about 95% sure who that individual is. As we talked, I realized I had a decision to make.

As I have been addressing this IFD topic as a private citizen and individual, and not as a Commissioner I do not believe that I have violated the letter or intent of the Florida Open Meeting law either intentionally or unintentionally. I do not believe that I have created any conflict of interest in my discussions. Nor, do I believe that my actions have run contrary to the BOCC's position on this matter. But there are those whom, for reasons known only to themselves will I fear, try to push this in one or more of these directions. I cannot and will not take that chance nor give them the opportunity. For this reason I will not be making the proposed video on the IFD, will not be addressing this IFD issue online in any forum, will not be answering any more questions about the IFD, and will request the moderators close this thread.

Moderator, please close this thread.

Don, thank you for your good intent. I respect your decision, but I don't understand the concern since the IFD decision is something to be decided by voters, not the BOCC.

Could you at least post here the list of questions you accumulated?

So much for transparency....