Entertainment tax has nothing to do with real estate taxes. The money must be used to attract tourists to Sumter County. Lots of projects are funded out of that tax. You should know the squares are a huge attractions, they support restaurants and hotels all over the county. Before you spout you should do some research. If Mr. Miller said he will not find square entertainment then he needs to understand how much money tourism brings the area. It would effect a lot of people’s jobs and hurt your property value. Go buy a house in Stonecrest or Spruce Creek and you will see their values are stagnant. Wake up! The three challengers all have an agenda, and it will not benefit you. Go back to where you came from if you do not like how things are here. It was like this before you arrived.

I hope you are enjoying your 25% tax increase brought to you by the developer's puppets. I doubt the developer is going to destroy their business model because they did not get things 100% their way. They still have a lot of homes to sell and resell.

Just so you all know, when the 25% tax increase was voted in by the Developer's puppets, their impact fees went down. So we are all paying more per new home and the Developer is paying less. And if you don't think the kiosks pay for the entertainment you are delusional. Yes, the County is now contributing to the music on the Squares, which is now non-existent. If you have never gone to a meeting of the Sumter County Commissioners and seen their arrogant, my way or the highway attitudes, their scrolling thru their phones while the public speaks so they can get thru it and vote the way they were told anyway, you have missed an opportunity to see how things really work in Sumter Co. Tell me, just why has the Developer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get these same guys reelected? As one guy here said, it's chump change vs. what they get with their rubber stamps. Believe it or not, it's true.

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Re the Sumpter election. I did research myself. Mail ads etc etc do little to nothing to persuade me. It's Marketing. If that type of Marketing impacted my actions, I would have died by now in order to take advantage of the Cremation ads. And shop at Bed Bath Beyond every day to redeem those 20% coupons.

So my research brought out several videos taken by constituents at Commision meetings. I was disgusted to see how memebrs of the public were treated by some of these members up for re-election. I was registered NPA (unable to vote in the Sumpter primary). I went to the County office to change my 'affiliation' to Rep in order to vote in this primary. I got a ballot by mail and did my duty. My better 1/2 likes to vote at the poll, and she did. And we both will switch back to NPA as we are both independent. But we simply could NOT sit back after seeing how consituents were treated by the 3 encumbents.

$$$$ drives politics from the Local Dog Catcher to the Federal President. It's worse now than ever. Sad but it is what it is. All these ads etc have little impact to me.

But that Cremation Society thing is beginning to appeal to me....
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It PROBABLY cost a few dinners, golf rounds, vacations.....The Developer is endorsing and paying for all the advertising for these guys. No surprise there.

One out of 3 commissioners said that? That doesn’t get a vote passed. I’ll wait and see and take my chances.

And you get a free lunch too. Wonder though if they burn it?

I’ll stick with the group we have now , do they work well with the family , I think they do and contrary to some ,the villages run well if it didn’t there wouldn’t be so many people buying here.Ive lived in a few condos where things were running smoothly, until groups mostly older took control , they didn’t want to spend on this , we can push that off for another couple of years ,the lobby paint job still looks good after 3 years , you get the picture , things can wait I don’t want to spend I’m happy and older. The same thing could happen here , cut back maintenance, don’t fix this or that , yes to the theme park in your front yard , I don’t go to town square so why should I pay . The old saying if it’s not broke don’t fix it seems good to me about this election that I’m not even allowed to vote in

It is your choice. Enjoy the 25% tax increase for things that should have been paid by the developer who I am sure is very happy to have us pay for it instead.

My mailbox is not stuffed with political adds only an occasion one

Plural in a manner of speaking, but in reality you can look it up and it looks similar to any corporation. In this case it's nearly an entire family, but there is a "CEO", and many other titles. The "corporate" configuration looks like those you are probably use to in publicly traded company.... MINUS of course.....LOL.... the board of directors, or, perhaps these "paid" supervisors/commissioners might (with a stretch of the imagination) be similar to a board.... LOL !

You are 100% correct on the "arrogance". REGARDLESS if the resident is "conservative" or "liberal", pro "developer", or pro entire community, EVERYONE owes it to themselves to at least attend and view EXACTLY what you described: immature (?) representatives who, like teens, can not turn off their cell phones long enough to look at and listen to the PUBLIC who elects them. Just like the national political parties, people need to think: Do I have a RIGHT to have my public official at the very least PAY ATTENTION at public forums ? I have no particular "axe to grind"; entertainment, no entertainment, this, that, but.... I have never, ever, seen ignoring of the constituency to the degree it exists here ! I suppose it's because we all bought into a highly controlled community with no "real" representation; no mayor, no city council, not much of anything to protect constitutional rights. Where else have you lived that you had to actually walk through a long gauntlet of people sitting in chairs with big signs for this and that candidate shouting to you, "be sure to vote for _____" ? Most communities have laws against that. In my former community in Florida, ALL had to be across the street from a polling place. That was very nice, you did not have to dread going to vote. I realize many here like the ability to talk face to face to people just as they go into a polling place, but I for one do not look forward to it, just my opinion, not any more, or less, important than anyone else's ! But DO go to the meetings a see the utter arrogance for yourself.... then THINK about what you want to make your community the best it can be for you, and for me.

It’s the Chicago way! Proven over the times.

Truth of money behind developer’s puppet commissioners
 

Financial reports available from both the county and state election sites show total expenditures for the incumbents and the developer at over $200,000.00. A lot of money! One needs to ask, why is the developer involved at this huge amount of money for most of us? We should not worry about the entertainment going away in the squares, the Sumter county subsidy does not pay the entire bill. Besides, Spanish Springs is in Lake County and is not affected! With that said, if there is any change in nightly entertainment at the squares, it will be due to a vindictive decision made solely by the developer. Think hacienda rec center! The EMS challengers can only make changes if elected. Vote!

:icon_wink: So get out and vote early and vote often. Also the Chicago way. :1rotfl: