Fire District Rejected
 

It appears that the Fire District has been rejected in a close vote.

The vote was 35,207 against and 33,225 in support of the measure.

Yay. The people have spoken against black hole tax proposals

The big No! No! for the yes vote was their lack of firm financial info.
In already austere financial times, a threatened increase in tax of any description is not a front runner in any election.
I thought the idea of an independent Fire Service was a good idea, but it was a badly presented campaign, with to many if, buts and maybes.
JMO.

Amen.

Interesting that the “day of” voters and the “early in-person” voters approved the measure but the “mail-in” voters overwhelmed those two.

I’m sure someone will claim fraud in the results.

Sometimes it’s much easier and better for your “psychic” to just say no! No to anything that is going to take more money out of your pocket. I get that. I see Orange County (Orlando) voted no for a penny increase in their sales tax even when much of the increase would be paid by others who visit there. Some call it “cutting off your nose to spite your face”. Given the times , I get that.

This is a classic case of your representatives telling you "This will be good for you, trust us". The financial information put forth was simply way too confusing to understand, and obviously people don't appreciate uncertainty. I have a degree in business/finance, and after reading several different explanations, I still didn't have a clue as to how much this proposed change would cost me. So, I voted no.

That's a shame, when it comes to safety and health I don't mind spending a few dollars. I hope we're not going to get stuck with those 20 minute blue ambulances that seem to be hiding under shade trees for most of the day.

Well said, unfortunately the result of saying no to everything is often throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The Independent Fire District is not totally dead. It could be put on the ballot again. If there is a second attempt to establish the district I hope the Fire Department and the District Offices get out front in better explaining the cost and benefits. The “simplified funding” was confusing at best. The was a lot of misinformation floating around about this proposal which likely lead to its defeat.

What was confusing about 0.75 * (market value - land value) / 1000?

This cannot be put on the ballot again without the legislature passing a new bill and the governor signing it.

It just shows why early voting needs to be shortened. people voted without full knowledge.

The people did NOT speak. Only Sumter County to the detriment of the rest of TV. Good luck with your politicized ambulance service.

I thought the question was only on the ballot for those that live within the proposed district.

We did this to ourselves. Or, more accurately, our Villages neighbors did this to us.

What is stopping the legislature from passing a new bill and the governor signing it?

If the people in power lose on an issue, it always comes back. If they win, the issue is decided for all time.

I don't mind it coming back but there should be a law that they have to wait five years.

What is stopping the legislature from passing the same bill a second time:

1. Why would they spend the time and effort to give us another chance to turn it down? The legislature and governor don't care if we have an IFD. They went through the process to make it available to us and we said, "no thank you." Yes, they *could* do it again, but why would they bother.

2. Your proposed 5-year waiting time.

We lost nothing. Nada. Zilch. Emotional arguments and speculative promises did not fly. Carry on.

We, the residents, lost the chance to control our VPSD. The failure of the IFD leaves it in the hands of the Developer (somewhat) and the BoCC.

It's my understand that the new ambulances are already in the Villages fire department stations and are being used. So, no changes to the placement of these ambulances because of this no vote.

Let me fix that for you:
It's my understand that the new ambulances are already in the Villages fire department stations and are being used. So, no changes to the placement of these ambulances today because of this no vote.

The IFD would have ensured there were no changes tomorrow as well.

Exactly!

It looks like the residents of the Villages have narrowly defeated the IFD. The voters have spoken. I don’t think all the scare tactics were very productive. Life will go on. We already have our own ambulances in The Villages so that is not jeopardized by the Villagers rejection of this proposal.

Really? So what is to stop the County from trying to take over control of VFD again?

It is interesting that the proposed fire district won a majority of the votes in some of the newer districts. I would submit that this is because the new arrivals have not yet learned to be skeptical of projects and candidates promoted by the Developer, the Developer's appointed officials, the Developer's million-dollars-a-year-for-part-time-work-employee State Representative Brett Hage, the Developer's newspaper, and the Developer's VHA. Villagers should be aware that "The VHA" trademark is registered to the Developer. https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...eloper-336491/

The proposed fire district was, indeed, a pig in a poke that we were being asked to buy. It went down to a well-deserved defeat. The present system is working, and there was no need to change it.

chilout Only thing worse than a BAD LOSER is a :censored:BAD WINNER! IMHO :cryin2:

That is the boogeyman set up by the proponents to try to sell us the pig-in-a-poke fire district. But why in the world would the county commissioners, who under One Sumter are ALL elected by Villagers, going to do something opposed by Villagers?????

I believe there was way TOO MUCH confusion on the ballot item. The ballot stated FUNDING of the IFD, it did NOT appear to stop the IFD. I tried to understand the issues, and never found the suitable answer(s).
Bottom line IMHO, the whole situation was badly handled on both sides.

I guess we can add Pig-in-a-poke to sweetheart impact fees as the most overused catch phrases of the year. Hopefully we'll not have to hear anymore of this obsessive hatred toward the Developer for another two years when I'm sure he'll be back to endear us with a new catch phrase.

Early Voting
 

IMHO early voting had nothing to do with the failure of the Fire District Referendum Early voting is a good thing and two weeks is about right. Prior to early voting and mail-in voting remember those long lines?

:shrug:
I voted early and I had full knowledge.
:shrug:

And he’ll be reincarnated with a new name.:laugh:

Some of the haters might not be around because of the slow response time.

If they arrive in time it was irrelevant. If they are late it won’t matter anyway. People need to live and stop worrying.

Clueless Dude................I know people who have been saved. If they are late, they missed an opportunity. "live & stop worrying"......that's the point, live........not late & die.

WOW.

The financial answer could not be answered clearly.

The IFD will cost each house $X and $Y will come off your county taxes.
X and Y should have been the same or within a few dollars

I suppose in the cases when faster arriving first responders can jump start a stopped heart it would help, but if the patient requires timely and competent care from the Villages hospital the faster response time is highly unlikely to matter.

Did you happen to see any information or posts or meetings or articles that mentioned an average increase between $85 - $125? What did you think that meant?

And before we start with the definition of "few dollars," everyone in the county who pays taxes contributes to the VPSD whether they are in the Villages or not. When you change that and only have those in the Villages pay then the cost per household goes up a little - about $85 - $125.

The information was presented dozens of times - some just chose to not hear it.

///Misunderstood point of comment I was replying to///

Personal experience, and worst experience of my life. Spent twelve hours there with a severe life threatening illness, barley got any care, finally misdiagnosed and sent home after midnight to die. Couldn’t possibly comprehend worse experience even if they were trying to do worst possible job. There isn’t a rating low enough to give the hell hole.

My apologies. I misunderstood your point. I have removed my comment.