How much tax increase will the new proposed fire district cost you
 

The Villages District Office released a chart (page 5 of the attached link) with the proposed tax increase by house type in Sumter County for the new proposed fire district. I was unable to figure out how to copy just the chart thus I will attach the link to this weeks District's bulletin.

Spoiler alert - A designer home per the chart will have a potential tax increase of $290.20 per year.

https://www.districtgov.org/PDFView/...20220421001301

Designer homes will have tax increase of 188 or 290 no idea what we will come under but if we get better ambulance service ok with increase..

NO - that is not the tax increase. It is the MAXIMUM potential tax increase.

The tax increase… “is capped at one (1) mill which is equivalent to $1 for every $1,000 of the assessable value of residential and commercial properties. This would mean the Board could levy 0 mills or any millage in between to a maximum of 1 mill.”

Theoretically, the county tax should be reduced, since they are not providing fire and EMS service.

A few hundred dollars is a bargain compared to a 45 minute wait for an ambulance.

Less than a Starbucks coffee a week for majority of villagers.
If the service is going to improve as much as claimed, an absolute bargain!

I agree completely, but it is the "claimed" part that bothers me, and the second part that bothers me is to give up local control. Politics is so volatile right now, that I think I prefer local control.

Thanks - good point. I modified the original post to "potential" tax increase.

I would have liked to see an answer to, "What happens if the special district is not approved?" We still have the VPSD and the interlocal agreement to fund it. We will still be getting our own ambulance service (by direction of the BOCC) to improve response times. I would think there would have to be another interlocal agreement to fund that from my current property taxes as well. So what would we NOT get if the district is not approved.

Plus, I am concerned about what will happen with my Sumter County taxes. There will be two new lines on my tax bill but the Sumter County line will still be there. The Annual Difference shows how much more will be collected by the two new lines than is currently being collected through property taxes. However, since we don't know that property taxes will decrease at all, the true annual increase for a designer home could be as much as $433 to $628.

- We like the fire protection and EMT service provide by the VPSD - that is not going away.
- We want better response from the transport provider and that should be coming due to the vote by the BOCC regardless of the special district.
- What more will we be getting from what could effectively be an increase to our property taxes of as much as 28%? (probably would be more like 18% but that's up to the BOCC lowering rates)

The answer might be that with the special district and our own funding we don't have to rely on the BOCC and interlocal agreements. We would control our own destiny with regards to the fire protection and transport services. Perhaps that is worth the effective tax increase.

I’m confused, what’s the point of having good ambulance service when they will drop you at a horrible hospital. Shouldn’t the focus be on having a half way decent hospital for the ambulance to bring people to? Villagers would be better off having good helicopter service to Gainesville or Jacksonville.

Local control? We live in the Spanish Springs area (Sumter County). I could go < 1 mile north and be in Marion County and go less than < 1 mile south and be in Lake County and we live in TV. Sometimes local control is difficult to implement. As I sit here UF helicopter is taking off < 1/2 mile from my house.

Agree service is important. Post was about cost. There is a helicopter parked all of the time at Villages Hospital and this time of the year it does fly out of the hospital approximately once a day. I wonder what their charge is.

The benefits are not adequately explained. Claims made are speculative. Unnecessary in my opinion

You are happy with the 30 to 45 minute response time of the ambulances? I’ve been a bystander a few times and times the response, well in excess of 30 minutes.

The wait times for the ambulance are supposed to be solved by the ambulance service provided by VPSD as of October 1. This was due to the BoCC vote that already occurred and will happen whether the independent district is created or not. (see the 2nd question on page 3 of the District Bulletin)

It may turn out that the level of service funded by the Interlocal Grant Agreement is insufficient to reduce the wait times to an acceptable level. The independent district with the ability to set rates and collect taxes will help with that.

I was referring to the board that will run it. From what I understand if the district is approved the governor will appoint the board, instead of us.

My understanding could well be wrong.

But, if it is a power given to the governor, with all the "issues" around politics right now, and the potential every so often for the party of the governor to change. I just think I would prefer to avoid that changing the board every time a different party is in office.

The problem is, the improvement is a claim, without an explanation of what is going to guarantee they improve. I am pretty sure they guarantee the price is going up, but only claim the service will improve.

And, something that makes me a little nervous is that the board, which runs it, is to be appointed by the Governor. That is fine if you like the current Governor, but are you going to be happy when the party in office and changes the Board? How are you protected from impacts as that happens?

A lot of promises and not enough written explanations. In todays political quagmire, I am concerned about any government promises by either party.