Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

All developers and builders pay the exact same impact fees.

I know, this is all contrary to what the 3 Stooges have put out and many have chosen to believe. The 3 Stooges were given this same information on January 5th in a BOCC special meeting, it seems either little of the information has sunk in or they have chosen to ignore the facts that don't fit their agenda. The outrage shouldn't be directed towards the developer, it should be directed towards the 3 Stooges who are trying to break a system that works well for EVERYONE.

Agenda - 01/05/2021

Fake news as that is contrary to the Impact fee law.

The system only worked for the developer and his puppets as residents were saddled with a 25 percent property tax increase just as the developer expanded south of Rt 44. Coincidence?

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

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

For a slight fee we can let other in but they must agree to sign a standard loyalty oath and pay the customary fee.

Count me in!🤩

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by JohnN

Sure, and how about calling it the Village of St. Stu ?? But your call there.
Maybe I can be the gate guard and collect tolls - and sell reverse mortgages too!
easy money

We will just call it the Village of Stu but if you want you can be the gate guard and collect tolls as long as we get 25%.

We will offer free dinners every Friday but you must bring your own food.

Also all the golf you want at no cost. However you might want to bring balls that light up so you can find them during the night at other golf courses that might otherwise be closed.

Other amenities to follow as soon as we think them up.

[stebooo]

No not poop threads please say it isn't so

[jimhurtt@twc.com]

Now that you mention it, there is this one person that walks their Great Dane dog past my house every evening evening. The dog stops in my yard and poops 20lbs. The owner tries but cannot pull the dog away.

[LuvtheVillages]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

All developers and builders pay the exact same impact fees. The 40% number is the results of other revenue sources offsetting the fees. So when someone stops on the Turnpike or at the 44/75 exit and buys gas, the extra few cents a gallon they pay helps to offset the total impact fee. These additional fees are targeted and can only be used for the designated expenditures (end user impact fee assessment reductions), if the need for them goes away (by eliminating the 60% discount) then the revenue sources also go away, they cannot be directed towards other uses or the general revenue funds.

The total determined impact fee is paid through these assessed fees and none is passed along to the current residents through raising the tax milage rates. The sweetheart deal is not to the developer, it is to the homeowners and any other entity that decides to build in Sumter County. I thank those who transit through and stop in Sumter County for their generous contribution to our growing economy.

Agenda - 01/05/2021

Here's what I don't understand:
If the total of the impact fees plus these other targeted fees is supposed to fully cover the cost of roads, fire stations, police, schools, etc. necessitated by the new construction, then why was a 25% millage rate increase needed to pay for roads? Shouldn't the cost of the roads have been covered by that revenue?

We were told at the time that the increase was needed for road construction south of Hwy 44.

[joelfmi]

Mixed zoning can effect your price structure when you go tell sell

[dwhite5773]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

Nobody's mentioned impact fees in a couple days. I would imagine they have Wildwood for police, but what about fire?

That should be Sumpter County Fire out of the station just off 301 that is just west of the Warm Springs Ave/301 intersection.

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by LuvtheVillages

Here's what I don't understand:
If the total of the impact fees plus these other targeted fees is supposed to fully cover the cost of roads, fire stations, police, schools, etc. necessitated by the new construction, then why was a 25% millage rate increase needed to pay for roads? Shouldn't the cost of the roads have been covered by that revenue?

We were told at the time that the increase was needed for road construction south of Hwy 44.

The increase that was experienced was due to two main issues: 1) the size of the county population has increased to a point that the growing level of county services was no longer sustainable at the current tax rate - bigger organizations cost more to operate - my small company has very low overhead costs because I'm the only one involved, if I were to hire 5 people my overhead costs would increase disproportionately to the output of the employees/company. This growth accounted for about half the increase. 2) there was a one-time cost of repaving Morse and Buena Vista Blvds. that accounted for the other half of the increase.

The second is the most troublesome, these are main thoroughfares in Sumter county and owned by the county. Was it a surprise that they would need maintenance? There was no pre-planning for the impending maintenance, no sinking fund established to prepare for this work. This was just poor management. A bond could have been taken out to cover the cost but the ultimate cost would have been substantially higher due to initiation, administration, and interest fees. And of course, we all know politicians, if you're going to take a bond for $12 million, why not take it for $25 million and take care of those little pet projects and other wasteful needs.

Besides poor planning and management, the other part of the road work issue is what happened the next year. The Morse/Buena Vista work was a 1-time cost and it went away the next year, we should have seen a substantial tax decrease the next year. Didn't happen. Why not you may ask? Because every department in the county suddenly had a 10 to 20% across the board increase in their buget "needs". This was easily buried in the budgeting process. Each year every department and municipality is required by Florida Law to do a 5 year look ahead on their budgets, to prevent things like a sudden 25% increase (obviously the county failed in this 5 years running). What is not done is to look at the previous year's budget and compare it to the proposed budget. If one compares (which they don't and won't) the previous (FY19) budget projections to the current (FY20) projections given during the budgeting process you see a 10-20% step increase in both the proposed year (FY20) and all following years of the projections. I brought this up at the budget workshop for the county and was quickly dismissed by the Chairman. He took offence to my insinuation they were "stuffing the budget", when in fact that is exactly what was happening.

As far as the issue of the new roads cost, this is a planned investment by the county. They supply the main arteries (Meggison, Bexley Trail, etc.) and in return the developer provides the remaining roads and builds the homes, and the county receives millions of new tax revenues. It's a good investment and every city, county, and state does the same thing. These roads all pay for themselves very quickly through impact fees and new tax revenue, especially when any type of commercial property is involved.

Our road impact fees are very low in Sumter County due to the other revenue sources that are used to offset the costs (thank you FL Turnpike and I75) and because the county code strictly limits what the funds can be used for. While many counties would have to build new water and sewage plants to support new developments, The Villages (the community and the developer) because of their size has its own utilities and builds its own without any funding by the County. There are many other reasons the impact fee is low but of course you'll not hear them from the 3 Stooges, their only agenda is "screw the developer". The cow isn't giving us enough milk, let's butcher and eat it, that will teach it a lesson.

There is no Win-Lose scenario here, it must always be a Win-Win because a Win-Lose always turns into a Lose-Lose.

[LuvtheVillages]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

The increase that was experienced was due to two main issues: 1) the size of the county population has increased to a point that the growing level of county services was no longer sustainable at the current tax rate - bigger organizations cost more to operate - my small company has very low overhead costs because I'm the only one involved, if I were to hire 5 people my overhead costs would increase disproportionately to the output of the employees/company. This growth accounted for about half the increase. 2) there was a one-time cost of repaving Morse and Buena Vista Blvds. that accounted for the other half of the increase.

The second is the most troublesome, these are main thoroughfares in Sumter county and owned by the county. Was it a surprise that they would need maintenance? There was no pre-planning for the impending maintenance, no sinking fund established to prepare for this work. This was just poor management. A bond could have been taken out to cover the cost but the ultimate cost would have been substantially higher due to initiation, administration, and interest fees. And of course, we all know politicians, if you're going to take a bond for $12 million, why not take it for $25 million and take care of those little pet projects and other wasteful needs.

Besides poor planning and management, the other part of the road work issue is what happened the next year. The Morse/Buena Vista work was a 1-time cost and it went away the next year, we should have seen a substantial tax decrease the next year. Didn't happen. Why not you may ask? Because every department in the county suddenly had a 10 to 20% across the board increase in their buget "needs". This was easily buried in the budgeting process. Each year every department and municipality is required by Florida Law to do a 5 year look ahead on their budgets, to prevent things like a sudden 25% increase (obviously the county failed in this 5 years running). What is not done is to look at the previous year's budget and compare it to the proposed budget. If one compares (which they don't and won't) the previous (FY19) budget projections to the current (FY20) projections given during the budgeting process you see a 10-20% step increase in both the proposed year (FY20) and all following years of the projections. I brought this up at the budget workshop for the county and was quickly dismissed by the Chairman. He took offence to my insinuation they were "stuffing the budget", when in fact that is exactly what was happening.

As far as the issue of the new roads cost, this is a planned investment by the county. They supply the main arteries (Meggison, Bexley Trail, etc.) and in return the developer provides the remaining roads and builds the homes, and the county receives millions of new tax revenues. It's a good investment and every city, county, and state does the same thing. These roads all pay for themselves very quickly through impact fees and new tax revenue, especially when any type of commercial property is involved.

Our road impact fees are very low in Sumter County due to the other revenue sources that are used to offset the costs (thank you FL Turnpike and I75) and because the county code strictly limits what the funds can be used for. While many counties would have to build new water and sewage plants to support new developments, The Villages (the community and the developer) because of their size has its own utilities and builds its own without any funding by the County. There are many other reasons the impact fee is low but of course you'll not hear them from the 3 Stooges, their only agenda is "screw the developer". The cow isn't giving us enough milk, let's butcher and eat it, that will teach it a lesson.

There is no Win-Lose scenario here, it must always be a Win-Win because a Win-Lose always turns into a Lose-Lose.

Thank you for this great explanation.

Regarding the poor 5 year planning and the budget stuffing, I think the County Administrator and the Finance Director should be called to task. They should not just be looking at the previous years (FY19) budget to compare to the FY20 new budget, they should also be looking at the prior (FY18) actual results and the FY19 projected actual. Significant changes need to be explained and justified. The Board has the option to accept or reject the changes, not to only vote on the full budget.

Better oversight is needed.

[Dgizzi]

Wow. Like that view better then here. I like that resort look.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by John41

Fake news as that is contrary to the Impact fee law.

The system only worked for the developer and his puppets as residents were saddled with a 25 percent property tax increase just as the developer expanded south of Rt 44. Coincidence?

So if you disagree or believe it is fake news....why aren't you providing the details of how the funding works and where Don is incorrect. You do have that data don't you?

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by JoMar

So if you disagree or believe it is fake news....why aren't you providing the details of how the funding works and where Don is incorrect. You do have that data don't you?

I love the selective editing of my comments that were quoted, I guess the facts were too much to deal with. I've supplied the link to the facts I have. Read it all (I have) and you will see that what I've said is correct and factual.

Let's see if we get a response that is anything beyond the hype and unsubstantiated myths that the 3 Stooges have put out...

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

I love the selective editing of my comments that were quoted, I guess the facts were too much to deal with. I've supplied the link to the facts I have. Read it all (I have) and you will see that what I've said is correct and factual.

Let's see if we get a response that is anything beyond the hype and unsubstantiated myths that the 3 Stooges have put out...

You won't---you are dealing with true believers. They don't want the facts, they don't want the truth, they don't even want to listen to you. They have made their little minds up and nothing will sway them. No different than some other hot topics on TOTV.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

You won't---you are dealing with true believers. They don't want the facts, they don't want the truth, they don't even want to listen to you. They have made their little minds up and nothing will sway them. No different than some other hot topics on TOTV.

Cultists might be a better word, with a binary view of if x(topic) is bad, y(any all opposition) is good! High visibility narcissists/sociopaths have showed repressed narcissists/sociopaths the way. . .

The sad part is that the older one gets, the more susceptible one is to wanting to believe the simpler, easy answer, desired answer. which is why elderly are more easily scammed.

Sucks to b enorth. . . waiting for the snow to melt to start golfing again