Sumter 2019 TRIM Notices
 

Maybe y’all already know, but they are posted on the Property Appraiser’s site now.

In case you hadn't heard the term; "TRIM notice. I hadn't.
 

For the vast majority:

Link

Sumter County Property Appraiser - Joey Hooten - Bushnell, Florida - 352-569-6800 Put in a name or a street name (with the street name don't use a number or St., Ave., Pl., Loop, etc.) :ho:

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Lake and Marion Co.

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Thanks Grace, I was wondering what a trim notice was.

Thank you.

In case you don't notice, the school taxes have a proposed 13% increase, some of this is coming from the state but most of it is local. This is absolutely outrageous, more so than event he proposed 24% property tax increase. Over 2000 new homes were added to Sumter county last year and the vast majority of them (the homes in The Villages) added a grand total of ZERO students to the school district.

Looking at my tax bill, I paid just over $1200 in state and local school taxes. I have no problem with this, it's like this almost everywhere, everyone pays school taxes even if they have no children in school.

My beef is that 2000 new homes in TV each paying $1200 or more is $2,400,000 more to their budget with very little proportional student population increase county. Adding insult to injury this 13% increase is about a $70 (or more) increase for every home in TV in Sumter County or about $2,500,000 increase. This is more than a $4,900,000 increase in the school budget from just The Villages, there is additional increases from the rest of the homes in the County.

According to the school district website there are approximately 8,200 students in the Sumpter County School District, this equates to an increase of nearly $600 per student. Or if we look at the total school budget of nearly $113,000,000, that is over $13,750 per student, per year.

When I left Memphis Tennessee 12 years ago the Memphis city school system spent an average of $6,200/student annually, and Shelby County school system (the rest of the schools in the county not within the city limits of Memphis) were spending $5,200/student. Even adjusting for inflation I find it difficult to accept the costs here in Sumter County are so high, especially when one considers the poor conditions of the non-charter schools in the county.

I am absolutely for the children getting a first rate educations and for funding that education. But the numbers here just don't work.

I'm not sure who is being cheated more, us the taxpayers or the students of Sumter County.

Well, bottom line for me is at worse I see a total $125 increase if they get what they want and a $100 decrease if it remains the same which it obviously won't. My yearly taxes including bond and all the other "stuff" is equiv to slightly under 2 months of what it used to be up north. Spread that $125 over the 3 years we will have been here at the end of this year and I can't complain. How it is spent, that's another issue. Still can't see why they needed to spend $88mill (or whatever it was) on repaving Morse & BV where they could have done only the sections that were needed which probably would have cost 1/20th of what was spent because most of those roads were pretty good shape except for certain sections.

Education is sort of important. Teachers in the Villages area start out at only $40,875/year, and can't earn more than $59,248/year. Out of that, they have to pay for their own professional re-certifications and continuing education, some of which are yearly. A teacher who has worked over 25 years in Sumter County, will earn $59,248 at the end of this school year.

How many other professions do you know, where you can work a job where you are responsible for the training and safety of thousands of other people, doing several hours every week from home in addition to a 6-hour per day 5-day per week scheduled workweek, sometimes requiring you to travel at your own expense on special field trips, spend your scheduled unpaid vacation time planning the next month's training - and not even hit $60k/year after 25 years of doing it?

Pay them more. Pay more taxes. Be grateful that there are people willing to do this kind of work, and give them more tools to do it successfully. The future leader of this country might be among that 3rd grade classroom of kids. We should strive to make every single child succeed. They won't all succeed. But it's our responsibility to do whatever is necessary to give them the same chance as every other kid in the country.

How much do they earn where you now live? Disclaimer. I have always voted for school levies.

I think a lot of that school tax increase is because of all the extra resource officers and security measures being put in because of the school shootings that have occurred.

Actually that's not the case, those increased costs for security and resource officers were rolled into the 24% increase they are proposing for the property tax not the school budget.

There are only 8 schools in the county not including the charter school in The Villages, all of which already have at least part time resource officers assigned.

Gracie, salary range is $41,320 for first-year entry-level minimal education (I believe that's 4-year BS degree plus certification courses) full-time kindergarten and goes up to $98,760 for a teacher with a Master's degree and tenure in the High School.

Where in NJ are you from? :D Same as was in our town. My wife was in same school system for ~35 years (unfortunately not as a teacher) and that was almost identical to last contract they negotiated back in 2015 except now new personnel are contributing heavily to medical benefits.

All the teachers wages from around the country are interesting, but have little to do with this area - you might as well quote San Francisco or NYC.

In the Sumter country area, as near as I could find the salaries for teachers range from $29k to $75K.

Yes - Nurses, Medical Assistants, Phlebotomists. On top of it they don't have 3 months off a year and retire with pensions. I get so sick of Teachers whining about their pay. We don't seem to have trouble getting teachers so the pay is obviously adequate. On top of that the whole "we work at home" stuff may be true for some, but the reality is the school parking lots are sparse when I go to work at 7:30 and EMPTY at 5 PM when I drive past on the way home.

Yes, most people refer to education as an expense they have to pay in the form of a tax, and many complain that they should not have to pay it if they don't have kids. This ignores the investment aspect of education and how all of us benefit from having an educated population. Money spent on education reduces medical costs (shared by all of us in the form of insurance, etc) reduces crime rates and the related cost of law enforcement and our penal system, improves productivity and government tax revenues, etc, etc, etc.

Education is a wise investment. That does not mean that we should just throw money at it, I am convinced that there is enormous waste in our education system and a lot of that waste could be reduced.

TRIM (Truth in Millage)

All tax increases are the recommendations of elected officials

That's because they're working at home.


I know from watching my teacher friends work at home.

You obviously have never spent much time around a teacher. My wife was one for 40 years and I assure you that you are dead wrong.

and who else gets summers off? Public schools in money sinkhole.

Wellll......after school clubs, sports games at school and away, choir, week long school trips. Mark papers, homework, assignments, prepare curriculum and day plan by the hour for every day, prepare weekly plan, monthly plan. For each group of children by their level of reading, and their level of maths considering their skills and interests. Prepare for special needs, how to integrate them effectively socially and academically. Just a tiny bit of a teacher’s day. Teachers cannot “wing it” and every class, every group of children have different needs.

I also had English as a Second Language children, some not speaking a word of English but heads and shoulders above the rest in math and science. I went to Cantonese classes with my students after school too to see what they were learning. Home visits, parent teacher interviews, professional development meetings, weekly school meetings. Etc etc. order class supplies, equipment, prepare hands on activities by level. Often classroom budget is not enough I use my own money to supplement, most teachers do. There is so much more. The children need your attention when they are there. When do you suppose the teachers do these things?

Ahhh, someone who never lived with (or was) a teacher. You have no idea. Spend 30+ years in an urban school system and you just might change your attitude. I DARE YOU. ;)

Edit: Make that ONE year.

The topic of this thread is the Sumter Country TRIM notices. If you wish to discuss teacher pay/responsibilities please start a thread on that topic. Further off topic posts will be removed.

Moderator

I think the two, TRIM or levees, and teacher salary schedules (which have multiple columns, are actually interrelated), not separate issues. Just to clarify a bit, no offense.

I hear all these complaints. Has anyone said petition by September 17th and fight your tax assessment. The Trim notices on my street and the villages is all over the place and not consistent included market value and assessed values. the trim notices are done by a mass appraisal algorithm's that isn't close to being accurate for everyone. Do your homework folks its all on the internet. The Petition is only 15.00 .Also they are suppose to visit the neighborhoods every 5 years per the statute for a fair assessment, which never happens.
Stop complaining and go fight at a hearing and they will get the message, they can't deny everyone.
Going to the board meeting will get you no where and it will be business as usual. JMHO

It is interesting to see just how much home values have gone up here in the last ten years. Just type in your address and see what Zillow, etc. has to say.

Increase Explanation
 

If you read the response the Commissioner provided regarding the proposed 25.6% Sumter County Tax increase as reported
in the newspaper you were being taken to the troth again. There is no mention as to why there wasn't /isn't a "Reserve Fund" that would compensate for being hit with 25% increase in one shot! Do you remember when the Paradise Rec Center was falling apart and when asked to fix it the Developer allegedly said there was no money available as no reserve fund was in place. 4 hero's of the POA stepped in, put their individual personal money at risk, sued the Developer and won $40M. The court, in a fine and wonderful decision awarded each of the 4 $50KPP for taking the risk to protect the resident's. Here we are again..No funds put aside by year to prepare for these normal infrastructure future expenses. Only this time the Commissioner's are trying to get the Residents to pay for their failure's. They make mention in the reporting how fortunate the residents were that for the past 20 years taxes have been low.That's an insult to every resident as these Public Servants used a false sense of balance to get reelected each year. If these same individuals are elected, I think 3 are coming up this year and 2 next then we deserve what we get. They also point out the increases are only in the area of $300+. That, for some fixed income residents is a lot of money and to mention how little it is provides an insight as to the depth of understanding each has for the citizens of The Villages. I have heard that some of the Commissioners don't live in the Villages, Have not seen any with a strong "Financial Background" and at least in one case a Commissioner would not even document his qualifications in the State published statement in the internet? I know there will be a lot of arrow's aimed at this note but so be it! Does anybody need more of an incentive to vote??:ohdear::ohdear:

My first year of Sumter County property tax was 2015. Each year since, until this year, my taxes decreased. Comparing this year's proposed tax to my 2015 tax, I will pay about $47 more than in 2015. I don’t think that’s too bad.

I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the decreases on the basis that they should be building a reserve.

Nobody likes an increase in their expenses, be they groceries, amenity fees, property taxes, insurance premiums, etc., but they will all rise in the long term. So I’m just glad the property taxes didn’t go up any more than they did.

How do people who are not there till later find out what their taxes are? This will be my first year.

In some counties of Georgia residents over a certain age don't pay school taxes .. nor do they get to vote on school board budgets. The logic is that many senior citizens "forget" how important public education is.. It also eliminates seniors from droning on about vouchers, charter schools etc .. not sure what percentage people of a "certain age" are of the overall Sumter county tax base, but putting some permutation of this most likely wouldnt work.. The one Atlanta county I'm referring to is a wealthy suburban county with some of the best schools in the greater Atlanta area and the state. Last I looked, the ratings of the Sumter county schools weren't exactly something to be proud of.. That's a reflection it isn't a money issue, but something way more systemic / social.. which is something off topic and for another post.

Did you think of calling the tax collector’s office?

I was thinking that they will notify the homeowner, like everywhere else. But how? I realize this is a newbie question, I have not owned property in TV before. I am concerned that notice will be sent to the TV address which I may not get for months.

Looking at the Sumter County Property Appraiser website, many seasonal residents list their other address as the mailing address instead of the physical address here in Sumter County. Of course the flipside to this is also a problem when they are living here.

Sorry everyone - rant now complete. Please return to your previously scheduled griping about Trim notices and tax increases. I totally agree the proposed increases are insane, but my guess is they will lower it to 5% and everyone will be ok with that.

Carry on.

remember folks if your market valve increased (which mine did by 60k) each year your assessed value can go up 3% a year,SMH.
They are setting us up for massive increases over time. There is no way even close; my property increase 60k in one year.
They get the market values from a mass appraisal algorithm done by the state which more than 1/2 the time is wrong.
There are two many variables in the villages with a wide range of different homes.
Don't be of the mindset; "oh boy my house is worth that" is a bone head move. The FMV (fair market Value) doesn't come into play until the cash hits your bank account for your sale of the home. We are being herded to the kill to raise are taxes in the future to there 25% increase over time.
How in gods name do you think these bridges are being paid for on 44 and the turnpike, including all the maintenance on them.
What kind of bonds do you think people will see in the new sections of fenny to pay for it. Why do you think they started 5 miles away from 44 first? they wanted to get those sections populated first before the big bonds hit near 44. Common sense 101.

On my trim notice it says you should call Property Appraiser's office if you feel your market value is inaccurate. What did they say about yours???

I think I have read all the comments here and I didn't see this point being raised.

The only 2 columns worth looking at on the TRIM are 5 and 6 and 7 and 8. 5 and 6 show you what your tax rate and liability is IF the taxing authorities had decided to stay revenue neutral this year (collect the same amount of taxes as the previous year even with higher assessments) Columns 7 and 8 are the tax rates and your liability if they don't AND they implement the tax rates shown on the TRIM.

You should also look at your assessed value for this year versus last year. I have never figured out how or when Sumter County reassesses property values. Where I moved from, they did it once every 8 years. Here, they reassessed my property when I bought it and now they have reassessed it again the following tax year.

So, they are actually doing a double whammy on the taxpayers this year or at least on me. They raised my assessment by .8% this year (last year it was raised 13%) AND they are not staying revenue neutral.

Column 5 of my TRIM says that if they had stayed revenue neutral my county tax rate would have been 5.0342 with the new assessment. Instead. my county tax rate will be 6.70 since they are not staying revenue neutral.

How do they spin that as a 24 or 25% increase ? They did it by simply saying that if they kept the rate from last year the same (again, not revenue neutral) then we would only have a 25.5% increase in county taxes. However, oftentimes, a taxing authority will decrease their rate when they reassess to keep the revenue the same as the previous year and that is what they are showing in Column 5. This is not the case here.

Based on that, the actual tax increase is much more than 25.5% it is more like 33% when you taking into consideration the upward assessed value.

The simple math

(The new rate) 6.7 - (Revenue Neutral rate) 5.0342 = 1.6658. 1.6658/5.0342 = a 33.08 % increase in county tax from what it would have been if they stayed revenue neutral compared to what they have done by raising my assessment and the tax rate.

My TRIM Notice indicates a 13% increase in tax (county, school, and water management) from last year. My assessed value increased by 1.9% from last year. My assessed value decreased the previous year by 0.6%. The county tax is about half of the total tax bill. The school taxes are basically the rest and they changed by a very small amount.

I was only referring to the county tax