[kansasr]

As the "OP" I'd suggest you re-read my post, where I definitely state that the Sumter County assessment will decrease. The problem is that we are being asked to vote on this without any clear idea as to what this decrease will be. I also don't think it's being a "nay-sayer" when pointing out that this new assessment will be based on the total value of your property. You will not be receiving any benefits from your exemptions, which for disabled veterans, is significant. I believe my post is well informed. I have done my homework.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

...

The BOCC in July issued a contract to a company to determine the Sumter County FD costs from the General Fund, once determined the entire amount and the VPSD cost allocation will be removed from the General Fund budget and the millage rate will be reduced to everyone in the County that will equal that amount. The is being done so that you the taxpayer is not double taxed for either the same service and don't get taxed for the fire service costs of the other fire district. THIS IS THE PART OF THE PICTURE THE OP AND THE OTHER NAYSAYERS HAVE CONTINIOUSLY NEGLECTED TO MENTION AND DON'T WANT YOU TO HEAR. YOUR PROPERTY TAX WILL DECREASE. Yes, there will be a new fire assessment MSTU that will replace some or all of the decrease depending on your property value.


...

The projected 2023-2024 budget as of July has been published. While both the VPSD and the SCFD expenses have been removed, the millage HAS NOT been reduced in an equal amount. $28M of fire protection has been removed but only $14M of millage has been removed.

This is only a projected budget and will not be finalized for another 12 months or so. Things may change but what has been published so far does not look that good.

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by Dond1959

It was the citizens of the Villages who showed up in large numbers at the commissioners meeting and caused the County Commission to not implement the recommendation of the committee. So, I assume you are okay with combining the two fire departments? If so, you are in the minority as almost universally Villagers wanted to keep their Fire Department separate from Sumter County. Of course Chief Cain wants to keep the Villages department separate.

That's what a referendum decides. If your opinion is that most Villagers want a separate fire district then you shouldn't sweat the little things like posts in TOTV.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by kansasr

As the "OP" I'd suggest you re-read my post, where I definitely state that the Sumter County assessment will decrease. The problem is that we are being asked to vote on this without any clear idea as to what this decrease will be. I also don't think it's being a "nay-sayer" when pointing out that this new assessment will be based on the total value of your property. You will not be receiving any benefits from your exemptions, which for disabled veterans, is significant. I believe my post is well informed. I have done my homework.

"New Fire District Not Good for Veterans"


Really? Even if it helps saves Veterans lives in the community?

If it unfairly taxes a group, that's a different story. That I would hope could be addressed.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water..

[Ritagoyer]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

My fire assessment is $125. What are we talking, a savings of $10 - $15???

Isn’t having better ambulance response time, if you, your friend, your spouse needs ambulance worth it?

I think most of us have seen incidents with 30 - 40 minutes waits for the ambulance.

Would it be better to add a independent ambulance service to The Villages .

[Kenswing]

Originally Posted by Ritagoyer

Would it be better to add a independent ambulance service to The Villages .

The main reason we’re going through all this is because AMR, the independent ambulance service sucked. We were only one of several counties in the state to still use independents. No matter what the results are as to whether The Villages becomes a stand alone department, we will have our own in-house ambulance service. The ambulances have already been purchased.

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by Kenswing

September 14th 7:00pm at Lake Miona Rec Center.

October 24th 7:00pm at Ezell Rec Center.

Chief Cane and others from Villages Public Safety will be there to present and answer questions.

Will both sides be there - or will it be just one side presenting their arguments? It is hard to get both sides down here.

[Kenswing]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

Will both sides be there - or will it be just one side presenting their arguments? It is hard to get both sides down here.

As I stated in my post, Chief Cain and other members of The Villages Public Safety Department will be there.

You would need to check with the county to see if they are going to have any presentations. I do see that County Commissioner Wiley is compiling questions so he can put together a video to address peoples questions.

[Bilyclub]

Are any meetings such as the County Board and CDD Districts recorded and put on YouTube ? It would be nice if this fire district information meeting was put online.

[crash]

Originally Posted by Dond1959

We need to remember the reason we went down this path to establish an independent fire district. The previous Sumter County commissioners decided to form a committee to recommend what to do with the fire department’s given the issue with ambulance response time. That committee, which included newly elected commissioner Jeff Bogue, recommended that the Sumter County and Villages fire departments be combined. There was immediate outrage from Villagers and the commission backed down and the idea of the IFD was born.

The purpose of the IFD is to take it out of Sumter County politics and ensure the Villages will have our own Fire Department addressing the needs of our citizens.

If you read the post from Don Wiley (Goldwingnut) he did a good job trying to explain what is going on. Bottom line, we will see a reduction in our county taxes because they will not be funding the Villages Fire Department. We will not know the exact amount of the cost until next June. But Don stated based on his analysis he does not believe there will be a significant overall change in what we pay. Your county taxes should go down and your fire assessment will go up.

I am interested in how you determined the 15% to 25% increase in the property taxes, do you mean fire assessment? The fire assessment is different from property taxes and no one has stated county property taxes will go up (as Don Wiley stated property taxes will go down because the county will no longer have to support the Villages Fire Department).

As a veteran myself I am very much in favor of establishing the IFD to get the Villages Fire Department out from under the political influence of the county commission.

It was Bradley Arnold that came up with The 20 proposals 5 of which eliminated the Villages fire department not the commissioners. That being said I am waiting for Dons information to make up my mind. I agree it is about control of the money but don’t want to pay more for the same service.

[crash]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

The $124 MSBU Fire Assessment only pays about 20% of the total cost of funding both fire departments, the rest comes from the General Fund. If the IFD is approved the $124 MSBU assessment will be replaced by a similar MSBU in both fire districts that will collect the same $124 from the properties in each of the fire districts for the properties they serve. This will represent about $2.5M in the Sumter County FD budget and about $6.5 in the V IFD budget. The $124 never has and was never designed to pay for the entire fire service costs, it is a minimum that every property pays because there are many properties in the county that pay $0.00 in county property tax.

The BOCC in July issued a contract to a company to determine the Sumter County FD costs from the General Fund, once determined the entire amount and the VPSD cost allocation will be removed from the General Fund budget and the millage rate will be reduced to everyone in the County that will equal that amount. The is being done so that you the taxpayer is not double taxed for either the same service and don't get taxed for the fire service costs of the other fire district. THIS IS THE PART OF THE PICTURE THE OP AND THE OTHER NAYSAYERS HAVE CONTINIOUSLY NEGLECTED TO MENTION AND DON'T WANT YOU TO HEAR. YOUR PROPERTY TAX WILL DECREASE. Yes, there will be a new fire assessment MSTU that will replace some or all of the decrease depending on your property value.

The VPSD and District Staff do not discuss the millage rate decrease because it is not under their control. It would be irresponsible to do so. Just because they do not discuss it does not mean that it is not being addressed, it is being addressed by Sumter County even now.

Making these uneducated posts such as the OP has is irresponsible!

I am working on a video that I will put out in about a week or so that will attempt to explain ALL the parts of the IFD process and answer the questions and fears most common to most people.

From my vantage point the IFD is a good thing for Villages residents, and I'll vote in favor of it, as a Sumter County Commissioner the IFD brings with it its own set of major headaches that I and the other Commissioner have no control over initiating or stopping but will have to deal with. I'll try to explain these in the upcoming video.

Thank you Don this is exactly the kind of information we need and are not getting. There should be an article in the Daily Sun that would say exactly what you just posted here. Again thank you for your service to the residents.

[eeroger]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

I remember some of that differently. It was the Fire Chief Cain who didn't want the merger and campaigned for an independent fire district.

Chief Cain does want the new IFD. New commissioner Jeff Bogue DEFINITELY voted to get rid of The Villages Fire Dept. We have to get our fire dept out of the County's funny money game.
The Villages Public Safety Dept needs to be independent of Sumter County. Look at how far behind the eight ball they are with their ambulance service.

[Romad]

Shockingly, a Democrat drafted a good explanation of the IFD. I recommend reading this, even with the unnecessary opinions in it.

Vote No on the Independent Fire District
by Democratic Candidate for State Representative District 54 Ash Marwah

Please vote NO on the Fire District because it is nothing but a tax increase on us. There are so many things wrong with it. Here are a couple of those wrong things:

1) We will be charged three different types of Fire Taxes:

First tax: $124 flat fee per parcel, that means everyone pays $124, a homeowner or Waterfront Inn or a commercial property, all pay this flat $124, which is totally unfair to homeowners when commercial properties are paying the same fee.

Second tax 0.75 mil on improvements on your property, which is your Market Value - Land Value (This tax will be based on the valuations in June 2023.)

For a house with market value of $350,000 and land value of $50,000 in June, 2023, this tax will amount to 0.75 (350-50) = $225. This tax is also unfair to homeowners because commercial properties have much higher land value, therefore their deduct from the Market Value is much higher, lowering their tax burden and in turn increasing the tax burden on homeowners.

The third Tax is a 1 mil tax on the assessed value of your house in June 2023. Let us say for the house with market value of $350,000 has an assessed value of $250,000 then this tax will amount to 1 X 250 = $250

This third tax of 1 mil may be applied partially, meaning half or quarter of the 1 mil depending on the need as determined by a new Board of the Fire District.

Together, these 3 taxes could add up to $150 to $600 more in taxes for you. Houses on the golf course or water front, which have higher land value will fare better than other houses.

2) The County should ideally reduce our taxes by the amount of increase in taxes in the Fire District, but they are not doing it.

3) The initial five-member Board of the Fire District is appointed by the Governor, 2 for 2 years and 3 for 4 years. That means for the first four years, we are at the mercy of the majority of 3 out of 5 Appointed Board. They can raise our Fire Taxes, make long term agreements with the Developer, borrow millions or issue bonds, etc. The list is endless, and we are voting in good faith that they will do right by us. What if they don't? What if they raise our Fire Taxes 25%? There is nothing we can do about it.

[john352]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

I find this very confusing. Is there any possibility that, before the election, there will be informational meetings where both sides can present the arguments for and against the new district? And take questions from the audience?

That would be more useful than having the issue discussed on TOTV?

It will be covered in the October issue of the POA Bulletin.

[Bill14564]

Hopefully, below is a fair description of what is true today.

Originally Posted by Romad

Shockingly, a Democrat drafted a good explanation of the IFD. I recommend reading this, even with the unnecessary opinions in it.

Vote No on the Independent Fire District
by Democratic Candidate for State Representative District 54 Ash Marwah

Please vote NO on the Fire District because it is nothing but a tax increase on us. There are so many things wrong with it. Here are a couple of those wrong things:

1) We will be charged three different types of Fire Taxes:

First tax: $124 flat fee per parcel, that means everyone pays $124, a homeowner or Waterfront Inn or a commercial property, all pay this flat $124, which is totally unfair to homeowners when commercial properties are paying the same fee.

Second tax 0.75 mil on improvements on your property, which is your Market Value - Land Value (This tax will be based on the valuations in June 2023.)

For a house with market value of $350,000 and land value of $50,000 in June, 2023, this tax will amount to 0.75 (350-50) = $225. This tax is also unfair to homeowners because commercial properties have much higher land value, therefore their deduct from the Market Value is much higher, lowering their tax burden and in turn increasing the tax burden on homeowners.

The third Tax is a 1 mil tax on the assessed value of your house in June 2023. Let us say for the house with market value of $350,000 has an assessed value of $250,000 then this tax will amount to 1 X 250 = $250

This third tax of 1 mil may be applied partially, meaning half or quarter of the 1 mil depending on the need as determined by a new Board of the Fire District.

Together, these 3 taxes could add up to $150 to $600 more in taxes for you. Houses on the golf course or water front, which have higher land value will fare better than other houses.

Fire prevention funding comes from two taxes today. The first is the $124 that is assessed to every property and the second is approximately 1.65mils of your property tax. For the $350,000 home with a $250,000 assessment that would be $124 + $412 = $536 today. (the numbers in the quote above add to $599 max with the IFD)

2) The County should ideally reduce our taxes by the amount of increase in taxes in the Fire District, but they are not doing it.

The projected budget for 2024, the first year the IFD would be in effect, show a $14M to $20M reduction in taxes. (NOTE: this is a projection an entire year in advance, the real budget won't be worked on until June 2023.) While I don't understand why the reduction isn't the full $28M, it is certainly more than nothing. Because it looks like property taxes will be reduced by less than $28M, I anticipate having to pay $60 more if the IFD passes.

3) The initial five-member Board of the Fire District is appointed by the Governor, 2 for 2 years and 3 for 4 years. That means for the first four years, we are at the mercy of the majority of 3 out of 5 Appointed Board. They can raise our Fire Taxes, make long term agreements with the Developer, borrow millions or issue bonds, etc. The list is endless, and we are voting in good faith that they will do right by us. What if they don't? What if they raise our Fire Taxes 25%? There is nothing we can do about it.

Currently, the VPSD falls under the Villages Center CDD (VCCDD). This CDD is a landowner appointed board meaning it is chosen by the Developer. If the IFD does not pass then the VPSD will remain in control of the Developer-appointed VCCDD. If the IFD passes then two and four years later we will vote for the Supervisors that control the IFD. So there is a choice: possible Developer control for four years or definite Developer control for the foreseeable future.

The VCCDD does not have the taxing authority the IFD would have so they cannot raise our fire protection taxes. However, we have been told time and again that a funding request from the VPSD has NEVER been turned down. That being the case, what is keeping the VCCDD from making a funding request today for 25% more and having it passed along like all their other requests have been?

The IFD has risks but keeping things the way they are has risks too. I think it's a good sign that the VPSD is providing information and answers. The IFD page on districtgov.org even has a calculator to show what your IFD tax should be. On the other hand, while I have heard why the IFD would be a good thing, I wish they would spend time explaining why declining the IFD would be a bad thing.