I don't care if people who came from NJ think the taxes here are so low it doesn't matter. I would guess a lot of the reason you left NJ was because of high taxes. I came here from the Raleigh NC area and I still own a home there. Taxes here are slightly higher than there already. That being said, I trust the county to do the right hing here. They have proven they are good stewards of the money with tax decreases the past 6 years.

Yes, but from what I hear about say, medical services, etc the actual needs of seniors are not going to be addressed any better that I can see. Also if expansion is the reason for the property tax increase, why do the current owners need to subsidize the newcomers? The tax proposal is outrageous. Increases should be related to the cost of living.

We live in Lake County Fruitland Park we are taxed to death here...

I think a wait and see attitude might be in order. Been here since 2009 just before the construction move s/o 466a. Have not seen a large increase in all that time in fact taxes have gone down every year. Until I see my final bill all the bitching does no good at all. About 2 weeks ago it was Homeowners Insurance increases. My bill came yesterday less then $80 for the year. Panic over nothing. If I'm wrong on the 25% increase I'll be surprised for sure. Can't really see that happening. Just my opinion!

Actually, after you see your final bill, it's too late complain and influence the decision.

Outrages
 

Given the growth of the Villages, Bonds, non accountable funding for maintenance, etc. it would be beyond outrages for taxes to increase and probably appropriate to call the State or Federal Offices to come in and conduct audits. At some point there should be controls installed to protect the residents.:ohdear:

It would seem to me that you can’t just unilaterally increase taxes without the taxpayers agreeing to it in the first place. With insurance if they increase the premium you change providers. With property tax you can’t change providers so we must have other safe guards from such unilateral action. Anything beyond the cost of living should be audited to see do the taxpayers effected want this increase given the reasoning behind it. Isn’t thai’s how we work in democracy?
What taxes are in other jurisdictions have no relevance to TV, for example, do our sink holes and swamps have relevance to those areas?

What is it that you base this statement on?
BTW where was it again that you moved from?

Tax increase, perspective
 

We pay higher taxes here than we did on our much more expensive, beautiful huge home on acreage in Georgia. And we knew that when we bought. And we knew we would have no income tax to offset that line item.

Rather than having all this knee jerk anger to the PROPOSED budget increases for FY 2019/20; lets perhaps calm down, read the very well written and very detailed summary the county has available for all to read, and the proposed budget itself.

An educated and civic-minded populace that is actively involved in their governance is a powerful thing of beauty. An angry rabble of reactive uneducated people is just a useless unproductive mob that achieves nothing of lasting value.

The Fire and EMS budget blows my mind. Why so much overtime? Why not hire permanent staff at lower rate? I am still slogging through line items. HVAC repairs throughout Sumter are extraordinarily high. Is this normal? Is the equipment inefficient and outdated, improperly sized or installed?

As i read the budget I am gob-stopped at some of the expenses. $6 MILLION each to repave (and I dont believe it has been that long since they were last paved, so if it was shoddy substandard workmanship by original contractor, why do county contracts not include performance clauses?) Buena vista and morse on the southern sides.

I will be writing the commissioners with general and specific questions as i become informed and can come up with intelligent, helpful questions. And it appears it is time for this new transplant to get involved in her new community. I had hoped to retire from fighting city hall, but alas, civic duties are for life.

I am also concerned that they raised the taxable value of our house by 15% in 2018 even though we are in an older village with DECLINING sales prices due to the increasing number of poorly maintained homes.

So, take the 15% increase in property value in one calendar year AND add a 25% increase if budget is approved, and we wind up with a 36%!!!! Increase in less than two years. And of course the various CDDs keep raising the fire and maintenance non ad valorem part of our tax bill, and the villages is raising the amenity fee every year by about 2.5%.

Individually these may not be huge hits, but for the MANY of us without pensions who are living off social security and modest savings, this is an unsustainable increase unless this is a one off situation.

Here is my real world cost without homestead exemption for amenities, CDD fire/maintenance, and ad valorem since we bought our cheap little house, in our old village, with no bond:

2016: $2,614 $217.83/mo
2017: $2,611 $217.58/mo
2018: $2,833 $236.08/mo
2019: $3,410 $284.16/mo *if 25% increase approved and they don't raise valuations again

My overall costs for the above would be 31% higher within 4 years time. 8% annual increase is probably not a sustainable average for us for the duration of our retirement. Of course, it is a drop in the bucket compared to how fast health insurance and medical coats are rising. SS and income from investments wont keep up with that if you are in the non pension, non government employee sector.

These numbers are magnified a LOT if you are in newer areas where home prices are averaging double of ours, and newer CDDs where non ad valorem taxes are triple to quadruple ours.

Someone pointed out if these small percentages are hurting you, you probably cant afford to retire here. And they are correct. It is a bitter pill i know many people are struggling to swallow, especially north of 466.

I did a whole lot of due diligence before buying here and deciding to buy far less house than we could afford, so that these inevitable increases wouldn't price us out of our home or The Villages, and wouldn't bankrupt our nest egg. I own my financial geekiness and fiscal conservatism...

If only I was in charge of governmental budgets. You guys would LOVE ME!!!! Or maybe not:bigbow:

I am wondering if anyone even slogged ghrough this long post?! God love ya if you did.

Have a great day. For the money, The collective worst nonsense here is better than the collective best nonsense most other places...says the woman who has lived from sea to shining sea and is in her 27th home at age 60.

In my north city the pensioners were driven out of their homes with property tax increases as they could no longer afford their long time homes and we had to change the government in order to change the situation. A reasonable tax increase is acceptable but ridiculous amounts have to be justified.

There are two sides to the equation, supply and demand. The supply is what the taxpayers can afford, the demand is what the county wants them to pay for. The people who are demanding the tax increases - it is not enough to look at what they would want to pay for they also need to look at who can afford to pay for it. They owe a responsibility to both sides, that is why I said you can’t just make a unilateral announcement without other considerations.

Yes, and on the supply side there a LOT of more expensive homes being sold in the new area which will generate proportionally much more income for county per household than the older areas and the non villages areas. So the roads they are saying we need to pave for these areas with tax increases should be able to be funded with the 2000-4000 new expensive homes coming online every single year for at least five more years.

Which reminds me, in my northern city of several million people, the roads and parks and infrastructure of new development is rolled into the cost of new housing to the future buyer. It does not make sense to ask the people who are far from that area and less likely to use it to pay for it. I’m in Mallory and the chances of me going as far South as they are building now is very slim.
What the existing homeowners need in TV is public transportation, sidewalks, and better medical services among other things and these don’t seem to be on the agenda.

25% property tax increase
 

Seems to me that any increase in property tax rates should be tied to the CPI or some other quantifiable measurement.

Fl passed a law in 1995 called "save our homes". It caps tax increases at 3% or the cpi (consumers price index) increase which ever is the LEAST. So it looks like a typo and probably is 2.5% increase of ASSESED VALUATION OF YOUR HOME. Not the actual selling price.

Now this makes sense. I was taken aback with the 25% tax increase or the large change in valuation of our homes. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t alone in my concerns.

This can not be true! Someone got some facts and did a little research to hopefully get to the truth of a matter with (OMG) some knowledge applied. Not using the Chicken Little approach.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! :bigbow:

Sorry, it's not true. :(

It doesn't cap the TAX INCREASE at 3% it caps the ASSESSED VALUE INCREASE OF THE HOME at 3%. Google is your friend: save our homes fl - Google Search

Your taxes can go up 100% on the current assessed value but the taxable assessment for tax purposes of your home can only increase by 3% preventing a "double whammy" where the value of you home keeps going up AND the taxes keep going up. Also it must be a home with a homestead exemption (ie. FL resident primary home).

“Save Our Homes,” is a Constitutional Amendment that was approved by Florida voters in 1992. SOH limits, or caps the annual increase in assessed value of property that has a homestead exemption. The increase cannot exceed the lesser of 3% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous year.

All governments are big business and require lots of money. The only way they get money is tax, tax, tax.

EdFNJ, thanks for enlightening. Again I say that getting real facts and details is refreshing instead of lots of assumptions. Thanks for the info and it appears talking with the powers in Sumter county needs to be initiated and they should be held accountable for being good stewards of the citizens money.

Pay Attention
 

As I understand it the Amenity Fees are Cap'd at 3% or CPI which ever is lower. The Maintenance has no cap and is charged to the residents as a separate line item on their Property Tax Form. I believe the small park at the 466/Morse Blvd was charged as Maintenance although it was NOT MAINTENANCE but rather NEW?? If that is true what other rules is the Management disregarding and ignoring in order to do what they want??It is time for the State or Federal to step in and do an audit of (1) What rules/controls are in place and do they protect the residents from "Cheating"? and (2) Is the Management/Government of the Villages following these rules. It is time the Controls moved from a "Mom and Pop" profile to ones that represent a Metro City. When you believe all is well remember that around 1999-2000 the Villages was fined $40,000,000.00 for disregarding State Laws/Statues. This 25% potential increase in Property Taxes is outrages and points to the need for serious audits of the Villages and its Management. When did anyone EVER experience a general 25% increase in any tax. Just the running the flag up to see what reactions would be is an indication of the loss of controls.:ohdear:

A 25% increase in property taxes is highly unusual in itself, but a 25% increase in a county whose tax base is growing at one of the fastest rates in the country is truly unbelievable. According to Wikipedia, there were 2,134 new homes sold in The Villages in 2018. Any other county in the USA would love to have Sumter County's fiscal issues.

Oh People, People, People.






Let's use facts and knowledge.






What a funny thread.

When we know the facts and knowledge it will be no whoopy do.

As usual.

Sad
 

The sad part of this are the ones who either make light of it or make jokes. There are some in the villages who are on tight fixed income and a 25% increase in their taxes would have a serious impacts on their quality of life. To mock it or develop a "Who Cares" attitude is dis respectable to those in need and it is in excusable. :ohdear:

No mocking.


Just discounting the posts stirring the pot and posters playing chicken little (to use a prior poster words, which are appropriate).


Need to stress over facts, not fiction posts.




:faint:

An Explanation
 

Here is my email communication with my commissioner...

My vote, obviously, is to not raise property taxes by 25%.

I have a question, why did I read in the fall that Sumter County tax rate was going down again then in the summer I read a HUGE increase? What happened?


The response,

Good to hear from you.
In the fall of last year we did reduce the tax millage for the 2018/2019 budget year. We are currently reviewing the 2019/2020 budget which will be approved in October. The compete budget proposal will be posted on our website.
The main reason for the increase is for road improvements and public safety.
Our two busiest roads, Buena Vista and Morse will be resurfaced at a cost of $12m. That work will start later this month. The public safety expense increases are school safety. We will have a least 2 deputies at each school and the schools will be hardened.
We have reduced taxes for the last fourteen years so I know this comes as a unpleasant surprise. The good news is that with adoption of the proposed tax millage we will still have the one of the lowest rates in the state.
:shrug:

A friend of mine sent the following email to County Commissioner and received a response that also follows.

Mr. Burgress,
Put the tax burden on existing home owners is repugnant. We in The Villages will NOT Tolerate this terrible rate increase.
I moved to Sumter in part due to lower taxes.
Your proposed tax rate increase of 25% in one year is extraordinary and unnecessary. This type of rate increase will cause a great political impact on you, government and the developer. We Villagers are not stupid!
Worst of all this is lapse of trust in Government. We have taxation without representation.
I suggest you re-think your solution to the County’s financial issues.

Mr. Burgess response:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the 2019-2020 Sumter County Budget and tentative tax increase.

The BOCC Budget stretches over all areas of our growing County and requires increased expenditures.

Improving and maintaining our County’s transportation infrastructure is a major priority in this year’s Budget. The time is right to make a big investment in our major roads. One specific example is our dedication of $12 million dollars toward the resurfacing of two of our County’s busiest roadways – Buena Vista Blvd. and Morse Blvd.

An equally important priority for this year is further enhancement of school safety and increased support for our Sheriff’s Department. In light of the Parkland shooting, the State of Florida has passed new laws that require us as County taxpayers to make increased payments for school safety. This Budget will be investing in that security with additional trained officers and the hardening of every school campus.

These priorities are a big commitment in Sumter County’s present and future….and will require our first tax increase since 2004. Fourteen straight years of tax decreases have served our citizens well and demonstrated our commitment to wise and frugal spending. Even with this year’s increase, we remain a relatively low tax county, strategically positioned for future success. The steps we are taking now will enable us to keep future taxes low, service levels high and our citizens safe.

Thank you for your interest in our County Budget. Attached are the budget workshop documents in the following link:

Agenda - 07/11/2019

Don Burgess
Commissioner
Sumter County

Looking at the exchange the takeaway is this:
My friend got an expected response for basically getting in Mr. Burgess' face and yelling at him, "thank you, next question please". Had he asked pointed and specific questions about the proposed budget the responses would have much likely been different. The response was obviously an canned response that was prepared in advance to respond to such email. As a District Supervisor I would have responded to the email in a similar manner to such rantings as anything else would service no purpose as it would be falling on deaf ears and a closed mind.

If similar statements are made at the meeting next Tuesday at the meeting at the Colony Rec Center, similar responses, if any, will be received and absolutely nothing will be accomplished.

To get specific answers then the questions need to be specific, direct, factual, answerable, void of emotion, and have to put them on the spot to answer with a response that will justify to the majority that this, or any other, increase is justified.

If you plan to ask questions at the meeting they should be as described above and you should do adequate research to ensure the answers have not already been asked. Statements such as "I'm on a fixed income" are both irrelevant and not a part of the issue. If your questions are making them squirm sweat, stumble over their answers, or resort to canned answers then the issue needs to be pressed until adequate answers are received.

Specific to Mr. Burgess' response:
Past tax increases, or lack there of, are irrelevant to the subject at hand.

The school funding issues avoids the issue that the combined state and local school taxes levied on each home in Sumter county is 5.507 millage points, or $1652 annually for a $300,000 assessable home. The 2300 homes added by The Villages last year accounted for approximal $3,800,000 added school taxes and exactly 0 student population increase (far below the national, state, and local averages). Why is this not adequate to fund these additional costs?

The new roads needed is already address by road impact fees charged by the county and the new home impact fee of $2600 per home that is charged. The new home impact fee for 2300 home is nearly $6,000,000, why was this not applied to the roads being built? The impact fee is also supposed to pay for added infrastructure, parks, schools, jails, etc. most of this is not applicable to the funds collected for development here in the villages, school are obvious-zero impact, parks and infrastructure we pay for with our bonds, maintenance assessments, and monthly amenity fee, the county is off the hook for these. There should be more than enough to address the roads.

Using the resurfacing of Morse and Buena Vista as a justification for increased taxes is disingenuous and lacks merit, did they raise taxes last year to cover the cost of resurfacing the other roads that were accomplished throughout the county? If we pay it this year, it's a one time expense, what happens to the money next year, will we see a tax decrease? Not likely. Why was there no planning to address these roads in previous year's budgets, it was no surprise that these would be needing resurfacing as these are, in Mr. Burgess' words "...two of the County's busiest roadways...".

The claim that the county is growing and requires increased expenditures does not mix well with the higher than average tax base provided by The Villages and the lower than average service requirements. Remember half our population is not here half the year and we're not exactly a haven for crime require extraordinary police coverage.

The impact fees, tax base increase, and school tax increases have occurred for may years now and will continue at a similar rate for the foreseeable future.

The statement that even though we are getting a tax increase we're still one of the lowest tax rates is laughable. We're going to put the screws to you this year, but you should like it because other people are getting it worse than you. Really?

I'll see you all at next week's meeting.

Here are my sources for the information on the impact fees.

Road Impact Fee Schedules | Sumter County, FL - Official Website

Sumter County, FL - Official Website

As usual the voice of reason and backed up with facts.
Must make a lot of previous posters want to delete their hyper unfounded comments...…...

Nope. Such possibility of tax raises is not a source of amusement to some people.

I bet you will be right, and I do hope so. Always appreciate the voice of experience.

It's amusing what some people are saying.

Is this reliving the past
 

The major reason the Villages lost a lawsuit of $40M is because no reserve funds were put aside for repair and replace to the Paradise Country Club in the historic section and it was totally run down. Allegedly even mice in the walls? When told to fix it the Villages said "we have no funds and can't to it" Reserves were never put aside. Thus the law suit and the fine for this neglect was $40,000,000,000. We now face the county not projecting future needs and preparing for them. They just stand up and say we didn't plan so outrages increases will be made to your tax base. This is what you are being governed by?? Any first grade person knows you have to put aside funds in case of an emergency. The residents should demand the County do a base budget plan and go to bare bones spending to off set the neglence of not planning. Does any normal person not realize the roads will need attention in future years or there will be wear and tear on the bridges,etc. What a shame!:ohdear:

And if they do bare bones spending then the complaints will come in that they aren't doing enough....no win

Your point is valid (zero count excepting :icon_wink:) about not looking to the future, unacceptable.

The questions in my mind focus around the growth in revenue vs expenses, for 14 years they touted how well the county is managed and able to control costs and suddenly they can't and need a 25% increase.

Their justifications all have holes in them! School budgets and police officers to support yet the total school taxes collected increase by millions each year with a disproportionally small increase in student - the majority of the county population is in The Childless Villages.

Need to build more roads to support the growth, what happened to the $2600 impact fee each new home is charged? It was supposed to build these roads!

Need to resurface Buena Vista and Morse, they collect impact fees with every gallon of gas we purchase and justified it with having to maintain the roads, the report is available online! Where have they been spending the money? How did they pay for the road work done last year without a tax increase? What makes Morse and BV so special, is it because they are in The Villages and "they can afford to pay more"?

Let's not forget the rest of the residents in Sumter County. It's no secret that people in The Villages are generally more financially secure than most. Take a drive down some of the back roads of the county, there are a lot of people that survive on less that what many of us spend on going out to eat each year. How do they pay the increase when living paycheck-to-paycheck? This is going to affect all of use and will hurt the lower income people more than others.

I have grown tired of The Villages residents being the cash cow for Sumpter County, Lady Lake, Wildwood, and Fruitland Park. A fair and unbiased accounting and justification is required before any increase is justified.

3 of the 5 Commissioners are up for Re election in 2020...just saying

Yup. Gotta figure - for the past 14 years, whoever has been running the show has been running a show of illusions. And now it's time to pay for the fancy facade. The good news, is it won't cost nearly as much as it costs in MOST of the rest of the country. The bad news, is that the $2500 yearly tax bill will be around $750 more this year.

Take that $750 and spread it out over the last 14 years of not having to pay for what was actually costing you the whole time, and you're actually getting a bargain.

But if you didn't like the idea that your awesome low taxes might catch up to you and bite you in the backside, you should've voted for people who were more interested in collecting for future expenses instead of showing off how little they charge you.

What they SHOULD do, is impose a couple of yearly assessments AND a modest tax increase. New homes being built can have an extra $4000 added to the sales price and funneled directly to the county coffers for their needs. Homes less than 5 years old and being sold can have an automatic $2000 fee added to the sales price, which goes to the county. Homes 5-14 years get an extra $1000 added to the sales price. Homes over 14 years old get no added cost to selling the home. Apartment buildings being built can have an additional $400 per unit added to the finished structure's tax bill for this one year only.

Then do all the above for one more year. Applies only to home sales, and the county wouldn't care who pays it, as long as it gets paid upon closing.

And then, ALL homes get an extra 5% tax increase.

Doomed to repeat
 

:agree:

If ya don’t learn from history, it will repeat. So how much will the next lawsuit award be?

Triple the impact fee.....wow!


From post #114
Need to build more roads to support the growth, what happened to the $2600 impact fee each new home is charged?

Suing the county would be a long shot, wouldn't it?
Or is your statement some sort of doublespeak?

Good Note
 

Goldwingnut: Good note and well thought out. Also the note to remember is that some are up for election and vote them out. They are not capable to be reps of the Villages. I regret there are those who are challenged when it comes to positive creative ideas. Unfortunately we are saddled with these people. They are the ones who bully others, think they are funny when being sarcastic ride the fence rather than "taking a stand", are negative without a positive input. This stream of notes highlight these individuals. As the saying goes, "good collaspe when good men don't care". :ohdear: