Recall
 

I am sorry, but I think the people living in Sumter County should start thinking about recalling the commissioner s in Sumter County.
Why is it so important to them to keep taxing and taxing.
I feel they work for Washington. There comes a point in time that it must stop. I think of those that are on fixed budgets and now the Hospital has taken issue with the increase. It has to stop especially when we were but with a 25% increase a few years ago.

Because Sumter County is not a charter county, it is impossible to recall the County commissioners. If it were possible, commissioners Gilpin and Breeden would have been recalled last year, when the other developer puppets were voted out of office by a 2 to 1 margin. As you would understand, if you were not relying on the Daily Sun for news, the proposed increase in impact fees is not a tax increase. It will be offset by property tax decrease.

Here we go
 

It hasn't taken long for a concerted effort to get the current elected Commissioner's out of office so the old allegedly controlled board by the Developer could be put back in place. My guess it is just beginning as there is also an order being processed to get correspondence etc, between Commissioner's released. It is critical the residents keep up to date on the actions to try to remove them and protect the freedom we so dearly need. :ohdear:

At first I found it amusing how each article was written by the "commander of the cannons" at the Daily Sun, writer David Corder. Each repeated over and over a salvo of shots at the three new commissioners. Now, I find it annoying.

It is also very annoying to see Corder attempt to convince us that he is an expert writer. Here is what I mean.

At the end of many Daily sun articles, there is a brief description of the article's author. Normally it looks like this, "Senior writer John Doe can be reached at 352-753-1234, ext. 1234, or john.doe@thevillagesmedia.com."

After articles written by David Corder, we see this, "Specialty Editor David R. Corder is a 2021 finalist for the Lucy B. Morgan Award for In-depth Reporting. His coverage of government and economic news has earned numerous honors from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Florida Society of News Editors, the Florida Press Club and the Florida Press Association. He can be reached at David.Corder@thevillagesmedia.com or 352-753-1119 ext 5241."

Pu-leez, Mr. Corder. Give it a rest!

As long as his income is via the developer who would you expect him to stop?

The tease by UF regarding moving the hospital site to Lake County would only be a couple miles from it's proposed site in Sumter County, closer for some people a bit further for others but no significant difference except who get's the tax revenue.

talking with neighbors today we agree with somehow recalling. I read somewhere Sumter already has the highest impact fees.
Healthcare systems are already stressed and hospital capacity for some has a bed waiting period of one to two days.

The local paper is slanted one way and the online bad news is slanted the other. I will take Facts from both but not believe the spin in either direction. Have you ever noticed certain people always respond on topics? It makes you wonder where their slant comes from.

Corder is shameless.

You and your neighbors need to stop relying on the Daily Sun for your news.

I totally agree with you. BOTH are slanted. Don't assume one is... and the other isn't. They both are.

Sumter has extremely low impact fees if you compare them to the surrounding counties. and the simple fact of the matter again and again if you would bother to read the budget is that it went from 200 million to 250 million in tax revenue. Trust me when I say that's 50 million dollars was mostly an increase in taxes

Hospitals will be built no matter what the infrastructure taxes are. It's a for-profit system and they go where the money is

Interesting comments about recalls. The only recalls I ever hear about or California. Has someone wrote below about lack of legislation for recalls maybe we should start writing to the state senate to get that put into the books

Only the rich live here
 

Well this is what the Commissioners think. We are rich and have more money than sense You could not be more WRONG. Folks who came here 10-15 years ago on a limited budget are struggling now. We gave business to many companies then who were eager to come and work. Now they wont even answer our calls for repairs and yard work. They are too busy ripping off the "newbies" with bucks to burn.

What can we do to stop this endless tax hikes, any suggestions. !!! If we had better facilities for the money I could accept it but we dont, and the villages is not much better at maintenance either.

Helps to know what you are talking about. The new Commissioners are talking about raising the impact fees paid by the Develooer, not taxes. The former Commissioners raised taxes by 25% to pay for the roads in the new areas which should have been paid by The Villages Developer. The new guys ran on rolling back this ginormous tax increase. Good on them.

Don’t you realize that an impact fee is not a tax. The developer wanted to build homes on farm land where there weren’t any roads so the county needs to pay to have them built. Should the entire county pay to build them (the 25% increase in everyone’s taxes) or the people who financially benefit (the builder of the homes). You are falling for the developers propaganda machine and are believing what is written in the Daily Sun. You do know the paper is owned by the developer and there is a reason it is called the happy paper.

OMG.....you have no idea of what you are talking about . You don’t know the difference between an impact fee vs taxes

What other county is building the amount of roads that Sumter County is building? Also the statement about Sumter County having the highest impact fee is false even the Daily Sun listed other counties that were higher.

The impact fee should be how much does it cost to build the roads divided by the number of homes being built.

Without the roads there would be no homes being built below 44, there would be no need for a hospital down there and our taxes would be 25% less.

The commissioners that were just voted in are trying to roll back the tax increase by making the developer pay for the roads being built with their impact fee.

Old Definition
 

To understand what is going on with the attempts to get rid of the duly elected Commissioners it is key to recognize that allegedly "The fish gets rotten at the head first". It has never been more appropriate then now. Who is the driver or "head of the fish" that is leading the actions? Why is it going on? Allegedly Who lost and want his/her power and control back by attacking the voters selection? What is his or her motivation? Who are all of the players? Until and unless there is an independent investigation of all of the circumstances surrounding the alleged current attempts at rest power from the Commissioner's nothing will change. :ohdear:

Orlando Sentinel Article on Impact Fees & Hospital Information
 

To learn the real facts, not what is published in our local paper or our internet paper, look for the article in the Orlando Sentinel on HB 337. You’ll see how the developer had his employee, who is also a State Legislator, sponsor bill HB 337 that would cap all impact fee increases at 3% in order to foil the new Commissioners.

The hospital was not scheduled to be in Sumter County; it was planned for Lake County. Therefore when the paper or someone tells us that raising impact fees in Sumter County will stop the building of the hospital, they are just spreading more false and misleading information.

Stop with lies already.

Which means, if true, less revenue for Sumter and therefore higher taxes for you.

Based on many of your posts, I'm going to make a wild guess that you are just fine with what's going on in Washington right now. Higher taxes?? You voted for them.

Wandering rant.........:ohdear:

Get current.......................the bill has been amended.


It's a PROPOSED bill, a majority of legislators must vote for it.

My understanding of the new commissioners is that they want the tax increase for new roads to be paid for by the builder, businesses and new home buyers NOT the existing residents.

FALSE.
Look at the County Budget and you will understand where the dollars are going.

Clueless without facts.


If your Folks have been here 15 years, they have incurred NO property tax increase. They should have planned to Cost of Living increases for all expenses. If not, we can not help stupidity.



The 25% increase equates to approximately 1%-2% impact on disposable income........$20 to $30 per month. :ohdear:

where is the pov?
 

They championed getting new commissioners but have been very quiet since about these issues.

Newspaper?
 

Yes, be wary of anything that Corder would write! Just a tool, of Florida, and T.V.

Get Real
 

Let's get real ! There are a lot of Companies, people, Contractors, Florida Government
Reps, etc etc. getting rich because of the Villages. With the kind of money floating around you can be assured a lot are doing anything they can to pick at the orchard of money fruit. Your pocket is part of that orchard. You elected a fine dedicated group of Commissioners to retake some control and now they are being attacked. When your voting booth freedom of choice is being attacked it is time to wake up! Allegedly influence and power and control can be ugly words if used against the citizens rather than for. What are the Florida Statue's governing population and growth like what is happening in The Villages. Are they truly protecting the residents or protecting the one's picking at the money tree? Maybe its time for the Florida Legislature to look at and study the current policies and practices in place and whether they are adquate to protect these Florida Citizens.:ho:

Like the Donald says” tell the same lie over and over again and eventually [the ill informed] people will believe it.
Can’t most of you find other more reliable sources for your information before you jump to conclusions out of ignorance? The Sun and VHA have an agenda besides delivering information. Try voicing your opinion using a Daily Sun “open letter to the editor “.

University of Florida are nonprofit hospitals and according to the Sun and the Developer U of F would be the builder of the hospital down South so no taxes anyway.

You just have missed the news that State Representative Brett Hage (FL 33) has filed a bill that would limit the amount of impact fees that could be required to be paid by developers to a low single-digit percentage. That probably would shift the cost of roads and infrastructure development in the southern end of The Villages to the taxpayers. The alternative would be that those projects wouldn’t be done and development would slow dramatically. Another alternative is that the Developer would pay for that infrastructure as he has in the past.

Remember, the three new County commissioners who were elected ousted three long-time commissioners, a couple who also worked for TV or their contractors, who were also bought and paid for. They were the ones who voted to increase property taxes by 25%. Their replacements quickly reversed those taxes leading to all the negative news published in The Daily Sun. When you read articles in that publication, remember who owns the paper!

So who is this Representative Hage? His full-time job is working as an executive for the Developer! Last year during 2019, he was paid $141,003 from the Holding Company of The Villages. He also was paid $113,554 from T&D Distribution Inc., $14,410 from T&D Concrete Inc. and $11,000 from T&D Supplies Inc. Altogether about $280,000. That’s what you call an elected politician that’s “bought and paid for”.

Hopefully people remember this when he is next up for election and show him the door

I just had to stop the paper. Yes I miss it a bit but overall not so much.

I would be in favor of recalling the three new ones.

I dont read the Daily Sun, but notice many people think it is a rag, so probably is.

Where should I go for dependable, “honest” news?