[Babubhat]

Time to close the thread. The voters have spoken. If you want to lament the unknowable you are already dead. move next to a hospital and the issue is moot. Problem solved.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Aloha1

Time will tell, but you cannot say you have lost nothing because you have no idea what the politicians might decide to do with your service. Would have been much better with an independent system and an elected board of Villagers. But you said no.

And when the politicians do what they do it will start more threads of complaints.

[Bridget Staunton]

Not true it didn’t matter how long the early voting length. We voted early and we did our analyzation before we voted. We try to understand the reason for the vote.

[Worldseries27]

Originally Posted by altavia

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

villagers are tired of escalating costs to live here. The graph is always heading north
whatever you point out. Even gasoline rises and falls but not the cost of living in the villages. Vote was a protest

[Romad]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

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.

It was good to see that the longer term Villagers knew this was all about who gets to pay for fire/EMS and had nothing to do with ambulance response times.

The new people never heard about the county roads agreement, the previous time the developer tried to offload some of their costs to the residents.

[Rwirish]

The voters have spoken.

[La lamy]

I assume this "no" vote outcome will not affect our real estate taxes that included over $300 of extra charges this year, or will it? I'm just about to send in my check.

[jimkerr]

It was a bad proposal and was nothing more than another money grab. The ambulance response times have already been fixed.

We didn’t need another useless tax.

[Sandy and Ed]

Originally Posted by Mleeja

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.

Very true, very true. Sometimes it takes more than “try it, it’s moms apple pie” to convince folks. I attended two sessions of “explanation” and nonexistent Q&A sessions and left determined not to buy this pig in a poke. The general concept sounds good but you gotta scratch below the surface and no one was willing to do that

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by La lamy

I assume this "no" vote outcome will not affect our real estate taxes that included over $300 of extra charges this year, or will it? I'm just about to send in my check.

The IFD vote does not affect the tax bill you are about to pay.

My bill was a bit lower this year than last - no $300 of extra charges. But I am full-time here and benefited greatly from the homestead exemption.

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

My bill was a bit lower this year than last - no $300 of extra charges.

Yeah, same here. We are not complaining.

[seecapecod]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

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.

Absolutely! The minute the threat (real or not) of taxes increasing, people shut down and don’t hear/read/learn any further.

[coleprice]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

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.

Voters avoided a tax increase and will continue to receive excellent service from the existing Fire Department. Current Fire Department support is superb, so there was no "problem that needed to be fixed". If the new Fire Department had been approved, it is very possible that Villagers would be paying more taxes for diminished services (More for Less).

[jmpate]

Ambulance response time was one of the reasons I voted YES to the Fire District amendment esp given the growing size of Sumter Co. AED purchase for your Village section might be a good way to ensure a defibrillator is onsite for a cardiac situation. Ventricular Fibrillation is one of the cardiac conditions that needs electricity intervention quickly and a major reason for deaths outside the hospital. THIS was my greatest concern for a delayed ambulance response time.

Originally Posted by Rainger99

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.

[GmaLisaG]

It's a shame. People vote no because they don't fully understand or think oh my taxes could go up. Well, I've had 4 times already here where someone was injured and needed an ambulance and it was well over 15 minutes for them to arrive..thank god we had a nurse most of the times to assist before they got there. I'm sorry but if a $100 or so a year tax increase (and no one even knew if it would increase) could help save a life and someone voted no well shame on you. And on a side note... to see that the majority of yes votes came from the south side (Ezell, etc) makes me just happier that I chose to live south rather than north..