[zendog3]

When did the idea become popular that the developer is magnanimous by offering to pay tax.

The elected officials decide the tax rate, the tax payers pay it. End of story.

He used to decide his tax rate, but those days are supposed to be over.

[ithos]

A step in the right direction?

Have we lowered the bar for the new commissioners? Correct me if I am wrong but they campaigned on an almost complete rollback of the 25% tax increase.

I am not informed enough to make a credible opinion on whether they have reneged on their campaign pledges so I am interested in others opinion on this matter.

Are they keeping their promises or not.

My impression from this discussion is that the answer is no.

[Stu from NYC]

We are relatively new here (just over a year) and rather confused.

Sumter has been growing rapidly and revenues have outpaced expenses so on a yearly basis the real estate tax rate has been slightly reduced for the past 10 or so years.

Please correct me if I am wrong but it appears that the developer decided he should not have to pay in the future for all of the expenses involved in building out new areas and the commissioners agreed and Sumter county started picking up the cost. This necessitated a 25% increase in our real estate tax.

If this is correct how did we get all of this development with business picking up this cost in the past and now people are saying development will come to a standstill if businesses have to pick up the cost?

By the way economists do say that businesses pass on all taxes to their customers but that is not always true. Due to competition they cannot always do so.

Please explain in a very civil manner.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

By the way economists do say that businesses pass on all taxes to their customers but that is not always true. Due to competition they cannot always do so.

Close to correct.

"They" say, no such thing as a Corporate Tax.
& welcome to TV business........no competition.

[chuckpedrey]

What’s to negotiate? A new home price carries its proportional share of the total cost of new infrastructure.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by chuckpedrey

What’s to negotiate? A new home price carries its proportional share of the total cost of new infrastructure.

Never has, Never will.

[diamond2005]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Any amount of roll back is better than none. Inflation is not dependent on roll back.

I appreciate the move by the developer.

You appreciate the move by the Developer? You must
work for one of his employee-dependent businesses.

[stebooo]

It will be interesting to see that. Can't wait. Making it a little more realistic.

[ton80]

Originally Posted by chuckpedrey

What’s to negotiate? A new home price carries its proportional share of the total cost of new infrastructure.

The Developer invests in new infrastructure and then sells it to the CDD.
The CDD in turn puts a lien on your property in the form of a bond. Homeowners pays this bond back via your tax bill ( non ad valorem tax). None of this infrastructure is part of your home price.

The Developer is making a step, albeit very small step, in the right direction by offering to increase the road impact fee to a higher % of the calculated roads impact fee.

The Developer's offer is a one time increase in the road impact fee of ~400$ on each new home. Approximately 2,000 new homes are currently being built in TV each year. The total payment is about 800,000$. Even going to full payment produces only a onetime payment of 1.6 M$ each year at the expected construction rate of 2,000 houses per year.

The "25%" tax increase was basically an increase in the ad valorem tax rate. Listed below are The Sumter County ad valorem tax revenues per the County budget:
FY 2019 =58.8 M$
FY 2020 =82.1 m $ This is an increase of 23.3M$ and is perpetual
FY 2021 =90.2 M$ Another perpetual increase of 8.1M$
FY 2022 =95.6 M$ Another perpetual increase of 5.4 M$
FY 2023 = 101.2 M$ Another perpetual increase of 5.6 M $

So you can see that the offered increase in impact fees can not reduce the ad valorem tax rate appreciably.

The real question is where does all of this increased ad valorem tax revenue go. The County Commissioners should be studying how the increased revenues are used. They should be advising the citizens how the revenue is used and justify the expenditures with information that shows the increased revenues are being used appropriately.

IMHO, the Commissioners should task the County Manager to produce this information

[Magic19]

AMEN................The Developer knows it is a great deal, that is why he made the offer............

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by diamond2005

You appreciate the move by the Developer? You must
work for one of his employee-dependent businesses.

Lol... no. I am one of the most vocal with respect to the tax increase.... ‘more than one way to skin a cat’.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by ton80

The Developer invests in new infrastructure and then sells it to the CDD.
The CDD in turn puts a lien on your property in the form of a bond. Homeowners pays this bond back via your tax bill ( non ad valorem tax). None of this infrastructure is part of your home price.

The Developer is making a step, albeit very small step, in the right direction by offering to increase the road impact fee to a higher % of the calculated roads impact fee.

The Developer's offer is a one time increase in the road impact fee of ~400$ on each new home. Approximately 2,000 new homes are currently being built in TV each year. The total payment is about 800,000$. Even going to full payment produces only a onetime payment of 1.6 M$ each year at the expected construction rate of 2,000 houses per year.

The "25%" tax increase was basically an increase in the ad valorem tax rate. Listed below are The Sumter County ad valorem tax revenues per the County budget:
FY 2019 =58.8 M$
FY 2020 =82.1 m $ This is an increase of 23.3M$ and is perpetual
FY 2021 =90.2 M$ Another perpetual increase of 8.1M$
FY 2022 =95.6 M$ Another perpetual increase of 5.4 M$
FY 2023 = 101.2 M$ Another perpetual increase of 5.6 M $

So you can see that the offered increase in impact fees can not reduce the ad valorem tax rate appreciably.

The real question is where does all of this increased ad valorem tax revenue go. The County Commissioners should be studying how the increased revenues are used. They should be advising the citizens how the revenue is used and justify the expenditures with information that shows the increased revenues are being used appropriately.

IMHO, the Commissioners should task the County Manager to produce this information

You are accusing the county of not providing the information? How many county budget meetings have you attended?

[ton80]

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter

You are accusing the county of not providing the information? How many county budget meetings have you attended?

Bogie,

I am not accusing the county of not providing the information. I do not have to go to a meeting to read the budget that they publish. I read their budget and skimmed through the early of the 114 pages to get the gist of the very large changes and what the relevance of the road impact fees is.
The road impact fees are basically negligible in the big picture. Going to full impact fee as calculated by the County consultant would only save 1 to 2 % of the increased taxes and expenditures. That is why I suggest that the new County Commissioners concentrate on where the big increase goes. The increase in total funds is roughly 51M$ and is a 25% increase over FY 2019.
My suggestion to the new commissioners is that they provide a summary of the biggest changes/categories so that the average citizen understands where the money is going and also opine on whether they feel the expenditures are appropriate. It is their job not mine.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Lol... no. I am one of the most vocal with respect to the tax increase.... ‘more than one way to skin a cat’.

Surprised you didn't meet at high-noon, ten paces. Those were fighting words.

[Advogado]

Increasing the Developer's sweetheart road impact fee by 40% (i.e., to 56% of what he should be paying) won't put much of a dent in the massive property-tax increase.

What his newspaper didn't tell us, but the on-line newspaper picked up on, is that the Developer's offer is conditioned upon his not being subject to other impact-fee increases. His offer is another scam on the Sumter County residents. He needs to pay for all the county infrastructure that his Villages expansion necessitates and property taxes have to be lowered correspondingly.