Independent as in knowing what the VPSD taxes would be, not reliant on Sumter County for VPSD funding, not impacted by Sumter County budget shortfalls, and not in jeopardy of having the VPSD dissolved and its resources allocated to the SCFEMS. Whereas today we don't know what the taxes will be, we are waiting to find out what funding Sumter County will provide, it WILL be less than we need because of their shortfall, and there is still the possibility that the VPSD and SCFEMS will be merged into one.

What Sumter County would have done with the budget was unknown then, just as it is unknown today. We're now two weeks away from knowing what the 2023-24 budget will finally look like, at the time of the vote we were 11 months away from having any firm information. However, the information we did have was that the SCFEMS expenses had been removed from the projected 2023-24 budget - not a guarantee but a clear step in the direction of Villagers NOT paying for that service.

Before my time too. Sumter County seems to privatize as much as possible. It appears that in 2010 or 2011 the County Administrator chose to privatize ambulance service. Rural Metro was chosen and later purchased by AMR.

I found an article on the local-news-site-that-shall-not-be-named. Try searching for "rural metro" or some part of this: 2021/05/01/for-profit-ambulance-service-keeping-villagers-waiting-for-up-to-an-hour/

Given the poor response time for AMR think the right thing was done in dumping them. We will be paying more but as long as the service does it job efficiently, no complaints from me.

But yet they would not comment or codify that TV residents would not be paying for SCFD. To me that meant they were leaving all options open.

Prior to my election to the board the decision was made not to get involved but to let the District government sell it. When certain organizations/individuals started propagating false information (intentionally?) I made the recommendation at a county workshop that the county should put out a statement to counter the false information and that by being silent would be taken as validating the misinformation. My recommendation was quickly shot down and it was restated that the board had taken the position to not get involved.

To me, it appeared that there were additional agendas at play in the process.

While the budget process is a very complex one with many moving parts and multiple laws and regulations affecting it there were a few simple factors that could have been addressed. Move the FD cost out of the budget, costs go down and the required millage to support it goes down. Both FDs would have had to have separate funding vehicles and residents/businesses would have paid into or or the other but not both.

But this is all now ancient history and we have to deal with the here and now. The are several important items in the agendas for upcoming BOCC meeting that address the funding for FDs for the upcoming year. As this is pending action by the board I can’t and won’t comment further on these for fear of violating Florida’s open meetings law (sunshine law).

As for FY25’s budget and fire department funding options, the are several on the table that need to be reviewed. Each has its own pluses and minuses to be considered. All of these have to be evaluated very quickly to ensure adequate time to take whatever action will be required to implement whatever option is decided on. Here again, for the same reason, I’ll not make further comment.

Thanks for the update Don Wiley.

This seems to be the most straightforward approach. At least you can see what’s going where.
Also, why have any funding come out of the Districts?
It’s set up to be too confusing, so people get frustrated and we land in the position we are in now.

If you’re referring to the CDDs when you say district then nothing comes from the residential cdds. Only VCCDD has any money going to vpsd as its general fund acts similar to the country general fund where all designated/earmarked funds pass through to the designated operating fund.

Is it true that Bradley Arnold, the head of the Sumter County Commissioners gets a $30,000 a year raise? Asking for a friend.:(

Mr Arnold is not on the Sumter County Commission, he is the County Administrator, his job is to execute the policies and instructions of the Board of County Commissioner and is the overall manager for the day-to-day operations of the county staff. He wears a great many hats and has tremendous responsibilities here in Sumter County. Mr Arnold has a great deal of experience in public administration and opinions on how things should be administered in the county and frequency shares his insights and opinions with board members, however, these he puts aside once direction is provided by the BOCC. While I can only speak for myself and not the other board members, I can tell you that I don’t always agree with Mr Arnold and we have frequent discussions on county policy and direction where we are at odds. In the end, regardless of his own opinions, Mr Arnold has always carried out the direction given by the BOCC.

There are some in Sumter County that don’t like Mr Arnold, it’s been my experience as a BOCC member and observer in the audience for the last few years at meetings, that this is due to Mr Arnold responding to their comments and opinions with facts, facts that they don’t like because it show their opinions or ideas to be in the wrong or misinformed.

Mr. Arnold’s annual salary, just like many other positions in the county administration and the BOCC’s salary are dictated by state statues and any annual pay rises are tied to the CPI, these salaries are all a matter of public record. His pay raise for the upcoming year is $0.00.

You “friend” appears to be an ill informed fear monger and pot stirrer looking to kick up controversy where none exist. As the expression goes, better to be thorough an idiot than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. Your “friend” has removed all doubt, just saying…

(EDIT: Had second thoughts about my initial response and removed it.)

The administrator deserves credit for not taking a salary increase this year.

Thanks GWN. I used the term district because I knew money came from someplace, but wasn’t sure exactly where.

The Villages governance structure is complicated. The one question I get asked by friends is around governance, who is elected, etc. Given all the interplay between county, city and the best interest of the residents of The Villages, it could not be a simple structure, especially given the growth.

County Commissioners (5) area elected
City Councils - Wildwood, Lady Lake, Fruitland Park, Leesburg - are elected (5 each)
Residential/Numbered CDD boards are elected (5 each)
Commercial CDD boards are landowner elected (5 each)
AAC is landowner elected
PWAC is appointed by their respective CDD and are one of the elected supervisors on the CDD board

The growth really only affects the number of CDD boards that exist.

VCCDD receives the funding from the county for VPSD and $4.08/mo/home ($50/yr/home) from the Amenity fee paid, both are combined together and puts it into the VPSD operating fund - transfer in-transfer out, much the same as the county does with its general fund.

So the VCCDD payment is really their payment to provide protection to their assets?

VCCDD is just another government body. Just like the tax collector transfers the ad valorum taxes collected to the county general fund and then the county transfers funds to the 182 and 183 funds (SCFEMS & VPSD); The 183 fund transfers funds to the VCCDD general fund and then VCCDD transfers it to the VPSD operating fund. VCCDD as well as other government assets (CDD, City, federal, and County) are not taxed, only privately owned and commercial owned assets are taxed.