[Mrs.Guy]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

I sent Don an email asking him to weigh in on this. Hope he responds.

He has weighed several times. Did you read his site (from the link Bill14564 provided)? Tells me everything I need to know. Very well researched and shared. IMHO some let their dislike of the Developer cloud their thinking on a subject. Anyone who thinks this will greatly effect their taxes should compare their bill with what the Villages Companies pay in taxes. Last I looked they paid a little more than I paid.

[kkingston57]

Who cares? People are complaining about something which will cost no more than $200 a year per household. This is a needed service and is well utilized in TV and other elderly communities.

In meantime we had our road re surfaced in Sumter County and it supposedly is finished and looks worse than it was before. Holes all over the place and many areas where in their was not anything added above the existing surface. Looks like company sprayed on a thick layer of thin asphalt over exisitng rough concrete.

In Sumter county we pay for what we get and it is a 4 letter word starting with an s and ending with a T. People need to be aware of this. Can not expect great service with a low price(taxes)

[BobnBev]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

"It's on the internet so it must be true."

Al Gore said so ( And he won 3 purple heart's)

[Papa_lecki]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

Who cares? People are complaining about something which will cost no more than $200 a year per household. This is a needed service and is well utilized in TV and other elderly communities.

This

[Goldwingnut]

Interesting set of posts from Frank, ill-informed but interesting none the less. The concept that we're only paying $124/year for fire service is false, the combined fire service budgets for all of Sumter County is nearly $40 million, the $124 raised only about $8.5M of that annually. The rest comes from the general fund that almost everyone pays into. The $124 is called a MSBU, Municipal Service Benefit Unit, what this translates to is every property owner in the county pays as a minimum $124 per year for fire service. Note I used the term "almost everyone", this is because there are a large number of properties throughout the county that pay no Ad-Valorem taxes due to low improved property values and one or more exemptions. The fire services for the county represent about a quarter of the total expenditure annually, take it out of the budget and there is a huge drop in the ad-valorem drop.

To determine the county budget all the planned and expected expenses are added up to figure out what needs to be funded. Next, add up all the funding sources, there are over 70 of these in the Sumter County general fund budget, only then do does it go to the ad-valorem taxes to figure out what the residents will need to pay. The county property appraiser provides a total value of taxable properties in the county and with some basic math the value of one millage point is established. That value is divided into the funding that is required and not provided by other sources to determine the final millage rate on the tax bill. So in this case the fire budget is coming out of the general fund budget reducing the amount to be paid by the millage rate. Yes, the millage rate will decrease, and the new fire tax will be added to the total tax bill. We'll likely not see the full mathematical decrease because other costs are going up (some almost out of control) and ways will have to be found to cut costs to minimize that increase of these expenses.

A little more simple math, both fire districts have similar budgets, about $20M, the combined budgets are paid by all the taxpayers in the county. When (I'm positive on this point) the referendum is approved the fire districts will be paid only by those who live in the district. Here comes the math. About 80% of the population and property values in Sumter County will be serviced by the VPSD IFD, and 20% by the county fire department. The MSBU ($124) will be divided according to this same split instead of the approximate 50/50 that it is now. About 80% of the county will be paying the balance of the VPSD budget and 20% the county FD budget. I've run these numbers a dozen different ways in the last few months and every time they come out as no increase in the total tax bill for Villages residents.

I really love the comments about out of control raising of taxes. Well that may be the way things are done in the democratic union controlled state of New York, but here in the Free State of Florida, we have laws that limit our tax rate changes, we have laws that require a balanced budget every year, we have our Florida Sunshine law that stops officials at the local and county level from having a "good ol' boys club" that stops the pet projects like in days of old and in other states, and most importantly we have free and honest elections where we hold our elected officials accountable.

No, there should be no service changes seen immediately, what changes in the direct accountability and the ability for residents have a direct say in the level of service they want the VPSD to provide. The big thing that changes is the developer's involvement and control, it drops to zero when the referendum is approved. Currently the VCCDD has direct control over the VPSD budget. That goes away when the referendum is approved and the residents are on the board that oversee the budget.

There are a lot of democrats that are upset about the Governor picking the initial board because they will all be Republicans. Get over it, it's one of the benefits of winning an election. Remember what President Obama said, "Elections have consequences", kind sucks when the shoe is on the other foot, doesn't it...

Let's talk about the "cap" on the fire fee. How many properties does this affect in the IFD, 3 or 4, that's it. If the property is worth twice the $10M cap, $20, we're talking about a boondoggle savings of $7,500 per year on that property. Send me to the poor house on this one. This is a common practice for fire fees to have a cap; why is that? Because as commercial buildings get larger, they have stricter fire and life safety code requirements that help to mitigate the possibilities of fire and its spread, making them a much lower risk than a typical home.

There's a lot of people knit picking this IFD issue over things they don't understand, most, including the POA (yes, I am a member), are wrong on this issue. I've been involved in this issue for over a year and I understand it better than most, as a Villages resident I see this as a win for the residents of The Villages and I have no doubt how I am voting next month.

One last thing to consider, there are about 55 IFDs in Florida that are serving the public need quite well, why wouldn't it work here. Another point to consider, in the Florida legislature, house and senate, a unanimous vote in favor of the IFD was received, Republicans, democrats, and Independents alike all agreed this was right thing to do. How often do we see a unanimous agreement on anything at a state or national level? It must be a pretty special and important thing to get this level of support.

Here's my previous post on this matter that was previously duplicated on the county website. Independent Fire District Cost Impact Information

[Stu from NYC]

Thank you Don for an excellent explanation.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Interesting set of posts from Frank, ill-informed but interesting none the less.

There you go again...............being kind.

[KsJayhawkers]

Your attempt at sarcasm is diminished by your ability to put forthright a debatable comment or actual fact. The OP created a link for you to read the article where he/she is obtaining the information.

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

A little more simple math, both fire districts have similar budgets, about $20M, the combined budgets are paid by all the taxpayers in the county. When (I'm positive on this point) the referendum is approved the fire districts will be paid only by those who live in the district. Here comes the math. About 80% of the population and property values in Sumter County will be serviced by the VPSD IFD, and 20% by the county fire department. The MSBU ($124) will be divided according to this same split instead of the approximate 50/50 that it is now. About 80% of the county will be paying the balance of the VPSD budget and 20% the county FD budget. I've run these numbers a dozen different ways in the last few months and every time they come out as no increase in the total tax bill for Villages residents.

So the SCFD will be it's own independent fire district and funding will only come from it's district and not the whole county ? If this is true, it would be a game changer.

The informal talk at our pool is a no vote so I'm thinking this is going to be close.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

So the SCFD will be it's own independent fire district and funding will only come from it's district and not the whole county ? If this is true, it would be a game changer.

The informal talk at our pool is a no vote so I'm thinking this is going to be close.

The projected Sumter County budget for 2024 has removed both the VPSD and SCFD from the general fund and has created a separate fund for the SCFD income and expenses. The VPSD doesn't appear at all since it would fall under the IFD which is completely separate from Sumter County funding.

[NoMo50]

What I don't get is the constant rants by some folks who apparently think the developer is evil, and out to get them at every turn. If folks really feel that way, my question is simple: why do you live here?

[justjim]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

"It's on the internet so it must be true."

Post what you see as the “truth”?

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

The projected Sumter County budget for 2024 has removed both the VPSD and SCFD from the general fund and has created a separate fund for the SCFD income and expenses. The VPSD doesn't appear at all since it would fall under the IFD which is completely separate from Sumter County funding.

That doesn't address Don Wiley's statement that Village residents would not paying to fund the Sumter County Fire Department if the referendum is passed.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bilyclub

That doesn't address Don Wiley's statement that Village residents would not paying to fund the Sumter County Fire Department if the referendum is passed.

Yes, it really does.

By moving the SCFD to a separate fund the BoCC are indicating that a separate source will be found to provide income to that fund. This is likely to be a tax levied on the non-Villagers portion of the county. They *could* include Villagers in that tax but if they were going to do that it would be easier just to leave the SCFD in the General fund.

To be clear, we won't know what is going to happen until the actual 2024 budget is presented next July by the BoCC but at this point it appears Villagers will not be paying for the SCFD.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by justjim

Post what you see as the “truth”?

Thanks for asking jimmy.................taxes and fees are not based on market value of the home.

Hope that helps you.