There is no question that many of our politicians are crooks before rich while earning a relatively small salary. I firmly believe we need term limits.

In the case of Hage I find it disturbing that he did not recluse himself when putting his name on a bill that directly benefits his employer. If that is not a conflict of interest do not know what else to call it.

His name, that's what is disturbing??? :faint:

Taking your meaning....

Is it possible to have part-time representatives without having some conflict of interest? No matter what bill comes up, if it affects our county then it works in favor of some and against others. If a representative is employed in the county then the bill will affect his employer in some way and will be interpreted as a conflict of interest. Either he votes in a manner that benefits his employer or he votes against his employer or he doesn't do the job he was elected to do and abstains from voting.

Maybe it isn't Hage's fault for being employed but the voter's fault for electing someone that doesn't see things the way they do.

If he was a judge he would have had to recuse himself.

He put his name on a bill that impacted is employer in a direct way. How is that not a conflict of interest?

But he is not a judge. A judge would likely be a full time job.

I would be more concerned about the conflict of interest when it came time to vote, not when it simply meant adding a name to the bill.

I understand the concern about conflict of interest but I don't know what the solution is. Bills are going to come up that affect our county and some of them will affect the employers of our representatives. Do we demand they recuse themselves when this happens which leaves us with no representation? Had he not added his name as a sponsor and announced that he was going to vote against the bill would you have still called for him to recuse himself?

The problem is the part-time nature of the state representatives. But, even if they were full-time representatives and not current employees there would still be a concern over past associations. Perhaps the only solution for anti-xxxx is to make sure the candidate doesn't have connections to xxxx before they get voted into office.

How About The Timing Of The Bill?
 

It’s a LOT different when Representative Hage, an executive of The Villages development company, suddenly decides to submit a bill which substantially limits impact fees which could be assessed to his employer, only days before the meeting scheduled to approve those impact fees.

If this issue was of such importance that a bill be submitted for fast-track approval by the Florida House and Senate, why wasn’t it submitted for legislative approval years ago?

Answer: It wasn’t necessary during all the years that The Villages grew at a rapid pace because until now the Developer paid for the construction of all the roads necessary for the continued development to the south.

Consider what has happened.

• Until now the Developer paid for the construction of the roads and infrastructure needed for the continuing expansion of The Villages.
• Then recently the current, younger generation of the Developer’s family got the idea that all the residents of Sumter County should pay for the new roads, saving the Developer that expense.
• The Sumter County board quickly approved a 25% increase in property taxes to pay for the new roads, many miles to the south of most residents.
• Then after the “new” county board, elected to replace board members who had such a close relationship with the Developer that they would pass virtually any proposal he presented, announced that the cost of the new roads should be shifted back to the Developer in the form of a series of impact fees.

Nice try GoldWingNut. Your response is well thought out. But it ignores the timing of Representative Hage’s rush to get legislation passed just before impact fees were to be assessed against his employer. That timing demonstrates the bald-faced fact that Hage’s loyalty is primarily to his employer, NOT all the other residents and business owners in the county.

You said it much better than me.

Support that silly statement.......

How much went to NEW roads, not existing roads???

Who paid for the expansion of 466 & 466a ???

Good Comparison And Question
 

… “make people pay for the impact they create”…

Those are the key words from your recent post, at least as far as I’m concerned.

Has the Developer, commissioners, “experts”, or residents explained how all the residents of the county will benefit from the Developer’s continuing expansion to the south?

The proposed new roads are so far away from where most people in the county live, they may never drive on them. The roads WILL permit the Developer to continue to build houses, shopping centers, even apartments farther and farther to the south. And the Developer will PROFIT from all that development.

So again, can someone make the argument that the construction of roads and infrastructure to the south will result in such compelling benefits to all the residents of the county that they should pay for those roads? If not, and if the Developer can pass on whatever he might be required to pay to build the roads on to new homeowners or businesses in that area, someone please argue why the Developer shouldn’t be required to pay for the new roads which will be such a benefit to him?

I am pleased Hage had a hand in keeping this county's economic base growing. I will definitely vote to retain Hage in office.

All residents benefit from a strong local economy, high employment, rising property values and increased tax base.

New homeowners pay a higher percentage of property tax than those who bought 5+ years ago as a result of increasing sale prices and real estate tax compression on legacy properties due to homestead. New development is why property taxes are among lowest in the state and have not increased in 10+ years.

New Homeowners taxes will/is being be used to maintain existing roads they may not use. Most of the recent 25% increase was used for resurfacing of Morse and Buena Vista Blvds. The most recent tax increase was not used for new roads. It was used to increase internal department budgets in the following year.

The developer via new home buyers is paying for construction and operation of new, state of the art education facilities and not passing the cost on the the tax payers. Maybe they/new home owners should receive a tax credit for that investment.

I'm sure you know new homeowners pay for infrastructure through their bonds...

Hage frustrated the will of Sumter county voters by acting to protect his employer’s sweetheart impact fee, resulting in a continuation of our massive property-tax hike. Sumter county will continue to grow even if the current residents stop subsidizing the Developer’s business. Hopefully, Hage’s actions will cost him the next election.

Not likely since District 33 INCLUDES parts of Marion and Lake County. Also, given all the new residents south of 44 who don't buy your argument, I imagine the majority will support him.

Hage will win reelection. He has an overwhelming majority behind him. He won by 69.9% of the vote.

If most of that 25% increase was used to pay for resurfacing Morse and Buena Vista, then y'all in Sumter County got majorly shanked. You know the paving company's got to be in with the Developer (a cousin, an in-law maybe).

The parts that were resurfaced were the newer parts in the southern half of the Villages. The older parts in the northern half have pits and bumps and gashes in them and need to be done, but because they're in the northern section, perhaps the county decided (with approval of the developer of course) that they weren't important enough.

That would make sense, since the developer's focus is on the newer section, which is to the south.

The developer, the county government, the town governments, and all the contractors are all working together to ensure the greatest amount of profit for the lowest amount of work. If you believe otherwise, I have a lovely 400 acres of prime real estate to sell you in the middle of the Mojave desert.

Unfortunately, I think that you are probably right. Hage will probably be reelected.

Because of the Developer's control of local media, many voters in Sumter County and the rest of Hage's district are still unaware of what Hage has done, WHILE ON THE DEVELOPER'S PAYROLL, to:
(a) protect the Developer's sweetheart impact fee and make it exceedingly difficult for local governments, both in Sumter County and throughout the state, to finance infrastructure (like fire-and police-buildings and equipment, roads, and schools) through impact fees rather than property taxes on existing residents; and
(b) thereby make it impossible to roll back our massive Sumter County property-tax increase.

In addition, the voters who are aware of this may well have forgotten about it by the time of next year's Republican primary, which is where local elections really get decided. Finally, Hage will have the financial and political support of the Developer, his suppliers, and the little group of insiders who still control the local Republican organizations despite the outcome of last year's County Commissioner elections.

But time will tell. Very few people thought that it was possible to oust three of the Developer's puppets from the Sumter County Commission, as happened last year.

Especially once people comprehend most of what developer haters like you regurgitate are half truths and lies.

The tax increase was used to resurface roads and increase internal budgets. Not used to build roads.

I am sorry, but that is absolute nonsense, which is being spouted by defenders of the Developer's sweetheart impact fee. The Developer is clearly NOT paying for county infrastructure (for example, only 40% of the roads and 0% of other county infrastructure) necessitated by his massive expansion of The Villages. Who do you think is paying for the rest of it????

We, the current residents, are--via the massive hike in our property taxes. Resurfacing roads is just one of the expenditures made by the County. It was no more responsible for the tax increase than any other County expenditure. It is pretty simple, to determine revenue needs, all expenditures are added together. Whatever revenue doesn't come from the Developer comes from current residents (including current businesses).

You continue to ignore the gas tax revenue as a source for the remaining 60% of the impact fee that is paid by drivers in Sumter county including drivers just passing through on 75 and the turnpike. As you increase the impact fee to businesses you reduce the revenue from the gas tax for the impact fee. It can only equal 100% and the amount is limited by the previous study.

Don’t forget your newly elected commissioners decided NOT to move forward with another study for all those other expenses you talk about, so complain to them. Your commissioners also decided not to move forward on increasing the fire assessment by over 200%. Sometimes governing is not as easy as sitting on the sidelines and throwing rocks.

The three new inexperienced commissioners just found that out & got their lunches served to them. :shocked:

Not sure any of this is quite that easy. The transportation study calculates the amount of gasoline tax being used for road improvements but I have not yet found where those tax revenues are earmarked for impacts caused by new construction. It is possible that they are. It is also possible that the gas taxes must be used for road improvements but are available for any road improvements and would be available for other areas of the county.

Don't forget the newly elected commissioners were under a LOT of pressure to NOT do anything that looked like increasing taxes which certainly contributed to canceling the study and not increasing the assessment cap.

I don't disagree that the three new Commissioners have failed to carry out their campaign promise to increase the Developer's sweetheart impact fee and use the increased revenue to roll back our massive property-tax increase-- although Commissioner Miller has done everything in his power to stick to his promise.

In other words, and as I explained in my original post, it looks like the Developer has won and the current residents have lost. Both the Developer's sweetheart impact fee and our massive property-tax increase remains in place. For some reason, you seem to think that that is a good outcome. I do not, and I am not sure that this war is over yet.

In terms of the impact-fee study, the new Brett Hage co-sponsored state legislation, has apparently made it virtually impossible to significantly increase his employer's sweetheart impact fee. So the question became, Does it still make sense to do the impact-fee study at this point?

False. The bill limits impact fee increases to 12 1/2 percent in one year and 50% over four years. All developers in the state are affected by this bill. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Nick DiCeglie of Pinellas County. Along with Hage and the majority of our elected legislators they see the folly of high impact fees which has been proven to harm the state's economy.

1. I believe the new law requires a recent study to justify an increase.

2. Virtually impossible only becomes impossible when you stop trying.

3. The study covered more than just road impact fees - something a rather prolific poster continuously demanded.

4. The fire protection cap increase may have been necessary but by canceling it we never heard the details the request was based on.

Yes, the legislation, while drafted to protect the Developer's sweetheart impact fee, harms local governments and residents statewide, not just Sumter County. This was pointed out in my original post. It is the reason why the legislation was opposed by the Florida League of Cities and the Association Florida Counties.

As to a significant increase in the Developer's sweetheart impact fee: Assuming that the three new Commissioners can get their act together and surmount the Developer's actions to protect his current fee, then at an increase of 12 1/2% per year, after the four-year period, the Developer will still only be paying 60% (instead of the current 40%) of the cost of his county roads and 0% of the cost of his other county infrastructure. Still a sweetheart deal. Meanwhile, we current residents will continue paying the difference.

"12 1/2% per year, after the four-year period, the Developer will still only be paying 60%".

This a good and fair pricing scheme. It does not slam shut the plans of new businesses from investing in Sumter County to go somewhere else.

Just curious. With all your many dozens of posts, mostly repeating yourself, do you use this forum merely to feel better about yourself? You have not seemed to change one persons opinion on this matter to support your misguided hate of all things "developer".

Wasn't any good as a lawyer so he figured he'd try his hand at being an activist.

Looks to me that none of the 3 stooges should have run at all. Certainly since none of them had any real world experience.

But too many voters fell for the emotional (not logical) election promise(s). They and the voters learned a lesson..................hopefully.

Actually, I haven’t stated my position one way or the other, so I think it’s rather unfair to conclude that I’m pro-developer. I will not be a resident until mid June when we close so I have no past history but was well researched and aware before we bought in the new southern expansion area.

I just think your posts are redundant and overly dramatic. I know there are a lot of people on this site that agree with you and a lot that don’t. Your posts say nothing different from the previous and you avoid/deflect positions and questions that disagree with your opinion.

I’ve learned over my lifetime that sometimes you have to accept outcomes that you passionately disagree with and move on with life. Life is too short to be unhappy.

An early, WELCOME to The Villages!!!!
Counting the days???

That poster jus has a sad life.
90% of the posters are great, there are a lot of non-residents on this site.
99% of The Villagers are great.

I first came to TV and looked at houses in 1990.
We purchased about 10 years ago............we still go for a cart ride and smile.
Enjoy the journey.

Thank you so much for the welcome! We are excited about the move. When we get settled in, I’d be happy to buy you a beer and enjoy a good cigar.

See you all soon!