The Villages
 

Last night at the POA meeting Janet Tutt spoke and there was one point
she made which was extraordinary and should act as a goal for all communities.
She pointed out that there are 411 municipalities in Florida and The Villages
would rank 28th if it were a muncipality. That is interesting BUT the real
point that was striking is there are only 192 full time employees. After build out The Villages would rank #14th.
Say what you want but that is a pretty efficient run organization and she
is to be ongradulated for providing the services while optimizing costs.
:eclipsee_gold_cup: As we say in NY.."you go girl"..!!

Good point - but not so fast. If somethings sounds a bit to good to be true, it needs closer examination.

I should own up that I build business cases for a living. To do that I have to examine costs and revenue streams and predict how making a fundamental business change will effect them.

So.... many companies say they have cut heads, when in fact they have just subbed that out. this could be by hiring temps or in outsourcing the entire process. Other folks count "heads" differently. For example, if they have 3 people each working 13 hours a week, they will sometimes count that as 1 "head" - as opposed to 1 FTE and 3 heads.

k

Kate has made a good point here. The Villages have 192 full time employees but does that include jobs that are contracted out? I believe the golf courses and much of the landscape maintenance are subbed out. That covers a lot of people. Do those other municipalities use their own employees? Are we comparing apples to apples?

Having said that, I think the dollars I pay for amenities and maintenance are well spent. I know of no other municipality that can match us for the same dollars. Our executive golf courses are in good shape considering the amount of traffic. When I return from a trip I have new admiration for the amount and quality of landscaping. Our rec centers are showplaces as well as utilitarian. Our rec department does an outstanding job managing our centers and numerous activities. Hats off to Janet Tutt and her staff.

All good points. I agree that "only 192 full-time employees" doesn't by itself tell much. There could be 192 full-time and 1,920 part-time employees, for all we know.

That said, I do believe TV runs efficiently and is a well-oiled machine. All of the amenities we get for $135 a month is remarkable. The speed with which homes are built (and sold) is remarkable. The grounds maintenance is terrific. The quality of life is as good as it gets. That, to me, says a lot.

So yes, hats off to Janet Tutt.

p.s., Hey Tony, a "hats off" smilie would be cool! :D
:ho:

Yes, Janet Tutt most certainly deserve kudos for a job well done.

Barb, PT, and DE'r,

I totally agree. I guess I am so much in the business of numbers, that I distrust statistics used out of context.

k

No questilon Ms. Tutt and staff do a great job. But a lot is a contracted out and there are a tremendous amount of part-timer employees (lower wages, no benefits -- good for the employer, not so good for the employees, but it works well in TV since most part-timers are already retired). Just y'all know, I have no issue with this, just stating the facts.

The Villages
 

You need to remember most of the people running the classes at the rec centers are volunteers(water aerobics, Zumba, walking away the pounds, etc) We are very fortunate so many are willing to donate their time .

192 full time employees????? So explain why they built a grammar, middle and high school for the employees children? Once you add everything up to run an organization this size, sell that many homes, plan this much infrastructure, maintain this many golf holes, staff this many businesses, support banks and mortgage companies, manage a nursery, most of which TV owns, the real number is somewhere around 6000 to 7000. Now yes some of those will go away when the build out is complete and some are separate businesses, but 192 is a VERY misleading statement. She must be a politician.

It's like the DC budget process. Seems there 1059 new IRS agents needed at a cost of $359 million just to support the new health care laws. Don't recall anyone telling me that.

I agree the 192 figure is pretty meaningless.

Recently I've been wondering about the golf course maintenance for example. We do contract that out, probably at pretty hefty fees. And there have been some instances of poor maintenance at various times of the year as a result (look at Orange Blossom last year). I'm sure its easier to hire people to come in and do the work, but it seems like with the large number of courses we have, both championship and executive, we would be better off buying the equipment, and having a separate Villages golf maintenance group in charge of golf course operations. We'd save money in that we wouldn't be paying out profit to companies like OneSource.

If you work within TV at any business that is golf cart accessible, your children are eligible to attend The Villages Charter School. The majority of these employees are not Village employees (unless the business is owned by TV). With two town centers and six other shopping complexes within TV, there is a large number of employees that can take advantage of the opportunity to send their children to the charter schools.

192?

How many people work for Community Watch?
How many are there at the gates?
How many in the sales office?
How many in the relocation office?
How many in the administrative office?
How many at the Charter School?
How many at the Fire Department?
How many in the legal office?
How many in the construction office?
How many work at the newspaper
How many work at the radio station?
How about the television station?
Are the transportation drivers not employees?
The recreation department has many employees.
Isn't there a property management department?
I've met some of the beautiful ladies who work in human resources?
The amenity authority surely has employees
How about the architectural review committee (are they volunteer)
Utilities, Budget, Finance, acquisition, district management, yet more.

192 employees? It doesn't add up. Could this number be possible?

JLK

Just taking a wild guess here but it sounds to me like the 192 full time employees number is strictly for the VCDD.

Having worked down here for a local county government, I know how easy it is to manipulate numbers to your advantage. Would be interesting to have a break down of all VCCD employees by job title and salary (names not necessary). Adminstration, Community Watch, Recreation, Golf, Fire/rescue - the whole shabang. Full and part time as well. I feel we get a good bang for our amenties buck however there should always be some oversight and how the dollars are spent.

Smart Management
 

Let me add one more thought and then I will get off the subject. It is
possible that a lot of work is contracted out to sub contractors, that
The Villages uses a lot of "part time" worker, and so on.
I accept that if the books were looked at there would be 192 full time on the
payroll. Given this I still believe that is an extraordinary low number when
looking at other municipalities. It is just plain smart Management.
It is clear there is not a lot of ego building of Dept's which is a significant
problem in most municipalities. :coolsmiley: