[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by rmd2

The worst thing is the 3 will now say their promise of the rollback of the 25% increase is out of our hands now because of the Hage involvement. No! It's because the 3 never acted in a timely manner to get this done. If they think this will let them off the hook, think again! We put you in and we can take you out.

It has been reported that the Hage proposal has been amended to retroactively apply back to 1 January. Doesn't this make it a little impossible for the commissioners to "act in a timely manner" that pre-dates their term in office?

It has been stated many times (with the math) that the impact fees will not offset the 25% tax. Any reasonable proposal to rolling back the 25% increase should be accompanied by numbers: How much is the 25% bringing in? How much would the impact fees bring in? Where would additional cuts to make up the difference come from? Taking action without planning for the impact is irresponsible; perhaps the commissioners have done that planning but we haven't heard about it.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

Originally Posted by shut the front door

I'm canceling my pool service with T&D. Getting real tired of the blatant buyoff of Rep. Hage.

From the other site:
A lawmaker’s updated bill would make impact fee limits retroactive to Jan. 1.

The change to the bill cosponsored by Rep. Brett Hage, R-The Villages, would seem to paint into a corner a trio of Sumter County Commissioners trying to raise impact fees on builders. Impact fees were a key issue in last year’s elections, when the then-challengers ousted incumbent commissioners over a a 25 percent property tax rate increase in 2019.

The stage is set for a showdown on impact fees when the Sumter County Commission meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Everglades Recreation Center in The Villages.

What do you think should be done about impact fees? Express your thoughts in a Letter to the Editor at news@**************.com

House Bill 377 and Senate Bill 750 would limit impact fee increases by local governments to 3 percent a year. Hage, whose disclosure form showed he’s earning a six-figure salary from The Villages, has been championing the bill. The Villages is vehemently opposed to raising impact fees and has been using the Developer-owned Daily Sun to beat back the proposal and assail the character of Commissioners Craig Estep, Oren Miller and Gary Search, all three of whom are residents of The Villages.

A 3 percent impact fee hike means The Villages would pay about $1,000 for each single-family detached home, up less than $30 from the current rate of $972.

Last month, commissioners voted 4-1 to reject an agreement proposed by The Villages to raise fees by 40 percent to $1,372 per home. The agreement would have allowed the county to raise fees only on The Villages development and not other businesses.

Commissioners said the amount was too low and it was substantially less than the $2,430 per home recommended in a 2019 study.

Impact fees are job killers no matter where you live. I say negotiate with the developer to carry more of the burden instead of nailing all developers. The fees can't be used to help reduce property taxes. Cost of living will increase at a higher rate with added tax increase AND costs associated with the increase in impact fees. Lay off Brett Hage just because of his employer. Florida has flourished because of its conservative approach by government, not in spite of.

[Advogado]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

This massive increase will impact a number of decisions others are making about building and locating in Sumter County…including UFHealth’s
of building a hospital complex.

I have seen it posted that the head of UF Health has stated they prefer a site by the Turnpike in Lake county. More lies from the puppets.

If you haven't done so, look at the income statement of any hospital

Depreciation (which is how the impact fee would be written off) is a small fraction of total costs. Also, a lot of the depreciation line item would be for depreciation of the incredibly expensive medical equipment. To argue that an increase of a few percentage points in the cost of a building is going to influence a hospital's decision about whether to build is absolutely ridiculous baloney. BTW, this is also true for most businesses.

Whatever quotes to the contrary are set forth in David R. Corder's propaganda pieces in the Daily Sun are probably extracted by asking loaded questions.

[Advogado]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

It has been reported that the Hage proposal has been amended to retroactively apply back to 1 January. Doesn't this make it a little impossible for the commissioners to "act in a timely manner" that pre-dates their term in office?

It has been stated many times (with the math) that the impact fees will not offset the 25% tax. Any reasonable proposal to rolling back the 25% increase should be accompanied by numbers: How much is the 25% bringing in? How much would the impact fees bring in? Where would additional cuts to make up the difference come from? Taking action without planning for the impact is irresponsible; perhaps the commissioners have done that planning but we haven't heard about it.

The road impact fee regarding roads was done in 2019. Increasing the fee to 100% is a policy decision that was made by the voters in the last election. It must be done, and done now.

A study regarding impact fees for other infrastructure needs to be done.

[Advogado]

Originally Posted by G.R.I.T.S.

Impact fees are job killers no matter where you live. I say negotiate with the developer to carry more of the burden instead of nailing all developers. The fees can't be used to help reduce property taxes. Cost of living will increase at a higher rate with added tax increase AND costs associated with the increase in impact fees. Lay off Brett Hage just because of his employer. Florida has flourished because of its conservative approach by government, not in spite of.

Impact fees are not job killers. High taxes are. There will be no increase in taxes. The higher impact fees will be offset by lower property taxes. You need to get your news from a source other than the Daily Sun.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Advogado

The road impact fee regarding roads was done in 2019. Increasing the fee to 100% is a policy decision that was made by the voters in the last election. It must be done, and done now.

A study regarding impact fees for other infrastructure needs to be done.

<I'm probably going to regret this...>

The study done in 2019 showed that the 40% point matched the existing impact fees put in place in 2015. The impact fees were not reduced in 2019, they were kept the same. The 25% didn't offset a cut in impact fees, it added to the existing impact fees.

Did the new commissioners actually run on increasing the road impact fee to 100% or did they run on increasing the impact fees? (I'll be looking but it might take a minute or three)

Didn't the new commissioners run rolling back the 25% property tax increase? As I mentioned in the post you replied to, what is the plan to replace the income from that 25%

Voters don't (or rarely) make policy decisions. Policy decisions are made by elected officials like the commissioners. Voters indicate their preferences by selecting like-minded officials. Ideally, those officials have done their homework before making campaign promises - the word is very rarely ideal.

What must be done is the commissioners must do what is right for all their constituents including you, including the non-Villager home-buyers, and including those in the construction industry. First they must do their homework which might result in them having to backpedal a bit.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by G.R.I.T.S.

Impact fees are job killers no matter where you live. I say negotiate with the developer to carry more of the burden instead of nailing all developers. The fees can't be used to help reduce property taxes. Cost of living will increase at a higher rate with added tax increase AND costs associated with the increase in impact fees. Lay off Brett Hage just because of his employer. Florida has flourished because of its conservative approach by government, not in spite of.

Agree with some of what you say but do not see how you can possibly defend Brett Hage. When the developer calls and says jump all he can say is how high.

[Nick B]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

By the way, the pool service from T&D has been sold to another entity. Not sure how I feel about that because T&D is absolutely one of the most ethical and best run businesses I have ever encountered, with one brothers part slightly better than the other brothers part. Vera is the most accomplished pool designer anyone could ask for. They are always RIGHT there if you have a question or problem. I am a HUGE fan of the company, T&D.

Obviously not That ethical.

[Ben Franklin]

Impact fees, if they don't pay for the impact caused by new building, it then forces all of us who already live here to pay for the newbies coming in. It also depresses your home value by allowing for lower cost for new building. Shouldn't newbies be responsible for the impact they cause, and not all of us already living here? Some may call forcing all of us to pay for the future is socialism.

(Admin. I don't understand what political means in this forum, since a few of these strings seem to be political, so if I over-stepped, then delete this post)

[rustyp]

Has it been stated or please give me a refresher exactly what can be funded by these impact fees ? Is it more than public roads ?

[Nick B]

Originally Posted by G.R.I.T.S.

Impact fees are job killers no matter where you live. I say negotiate with the developer to carry more of the burden instead of nailing all developers. The fees can't be used to help reduce property taxes. Cost of living will increase at a higher rate with added tax increase AND costs associated with the increase in impact fees. Lay off Brett Hage just because of his employer. Florida has flourished because of its conservative approach by government, not in spite of.

Why is an impact fee a job killer but tax increase isn't? The home buyer pays the impact fee not the developer. The homes in TV are at least 100,000 overvalued and it hasn't stopped growth another grand or two won't either.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

Originally Posted by Advogado

That is an excellent summary of the situation.

I would just add one point that many residents have still not focused on. The Developer should not only be paying 100% for county road infrastructure that his massive expansion of The Villages is necessitating. He should also be paying for his other county infrastructure: Libraries, fire, police, jails, other government buildings, EMT, parks, sewers, etc. To impose those impact fees, the County Commission needs to contract for a new impact fee study.

Also, remember that Sumter County is unique. No other county is facing the rapid and massive increase in infrastructure costs that are being piled on Sumter County by the Developer's massive expansion of The Villages. The Developer should be paying those costs, not us current residents.

Road impact fees cannot be used on anything other than roads. If the developer owned the libraries, jail, fire houses, etc., he would be paying for them.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Nick B

Why is an impact fee a job killer but tax increase isn't? The home buyer pays the impact fee not the developer. The homes in TV are at least 100,000 overvalued and it hasn't stopped growth another grand or two won't either.

It is because the developer says it is.

[Advogado]

Originally Posted by G.R.I.T.S.

Road fees cannot be used on anything other than roads. If the developer owned the libraries, jail, fire houses, etc., he would be paying for them.

Everybody knows, or should know, that. What is your point? Do you understand that impact fees are used to pay for county-owned infrastructure necessitated by the relevant new development. Somebody has to pay for it, either the Developer or us.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by G.R.I.T.S.

Road impact fees cannot be used on anything other than roads. If the developer owned the libraries, jail, fire houses, etc., he would be paying for them.

So what’s your point? If you looked at the counties budget you would see that roads are the biggest line item expense. Any portion of the road expenses covered by increased impact fees could lead to a reduction in residential property taxes equal to the same dollar amount.