[DAVES]

Originally Posted by SB8476

Did anyone catch on page C4 of the Daily Sun the article regarding Sumter County increasing this years property taxes by 25%? Maybe they should not have asked the developer to continue building south of 44.

Not an expert but, we've all seen this government tactic over and over again. They report a pending 25% tax increase and we panic. It is mass crowd control. They then put through a 10% increase and the voters cheer-only a 10% tax increase..

If they did things honestly and said we are utting in a 10% tax increase the uproar would be louder and might result in political changes.

I would expect there is a cap on how much they can increase taxes per year.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by DAVES

Not an expert but, we've all seen this government tactic over and over again. They report a pending 25% tax increase and we panic. It is mass crowd control. They then put through a 10% increase and the voters cheer-only a 10% tax increase..

If they did things honestly and said we are utting in a 10% tax increase the uproar would be louder and might result in political changes.

I would expect there is a cap on how much they can increase taxes per year.

How much is the cap?

[Velvet]

Some days I listen to people and wonder what color the sky is in their world.

The topic is a large increase in property taxes and how it could be justified should it happen. In my view, not everyone can afford such steep increases without consequences.

[rrb48310]

Yep a form of doublespeak. Can the County be sued? If someone in business is found to be incompetent and it causes undue hardship and/or monetary loses a recovery could be achieved via the legal system. But, if politicians are incompetent the only recovery comes at the hands of the voters.

[Paulnb]

This sounds like very poor budget planning to me. Could they not see this coming and gradually increase to meet the need? What effect will this have on those who are trying to sell their homes? A potential home buyer who does their due diligence and sees this will run for the nearest exit. I was confident in a healthy future for this community. But with this lack of foresight, I'm reexamining that belief.

[KEVIN & JOSIE]

In the new areas, a 25% RE Tax increase, a city property tax, a maintenance fee, a bond fee, and an amenity fee. A beautiful area but quite expensive for many on limited income. The least expensive patio villas will no longer be "affordable" for many. So sad.

[Moderator]

Many off topic posts have been removed as well as some comments directed at members. The topic of this thread is the proposed property tax increase in Sumter County. Please return to the original topic. Further off topic posts will be deleted.

Moderator

[PennBF]

Does anyone know which of the Commissioner's are up for re election. They should be voted out! Go by the slogan: "If your in your out". It will be interesting to see what/if they can find a creative way to fix what they created? Where is the accountability for the disaster they brought on to some of the fixed income residents? Where does the State stand in all of this? What is it doing to help out the residents who will have the quality of their lives impacted? These guys in office are beyond incompetent. Where do they live and are they being personally effected by these increases? Were any appointed to office as opposed to voted in? If so who appointed them? What are their backgrounds that support holding major financial positions in the County? There is a lot of bragging of some years had minor tax reduction and using that as a basis for "re election" when in fact it was a ploy and a scam to the residents as expenses were being incurred but hidden. These Commissioner's were either incompetent or scamming the residents. You can't have it both ways!!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by PennBF

Does anyone know which of the Commissioner's are up for re election. They should be voted out! Go by the slogan: "If your in your out". It will be interesting to see what/if they can find a creative way to fix what they created? Where is the accountability for the disaster they brought on to some of the fixed income residents? Where does the State stand in all of this? What is it doing to help out the residents who will have the quality of their lives impacted? These guys in office are beyond incompetent. Where do they live and are they being personally effected by these increases? Were any appointed to office as opposed to voted in? If so who appointed them? What are their backgrounds that support holding major financial positions in the County? There is a lot of bragging of some years had minor tax reduction and using that as a basis for "re election" when in fact it was a ploy and a scam to the residents as expenses were being incurred but hidden. These Commissioner's were either incompetent or scamming the residents. You can't have it both ways!!

That's what happens when you "drink the Kool-ade" and choose to live in a "bubble." Life happens, and you're not paying attention. The rest of the world revolves, and you reject reality in favor of your shared hallucination.

Then, someone shows up and says HEY - guess what. Life has been happening, and now it's come to collect.

The bubble hasn't been popped, but reality has managed to leak in. Welcome to reality, where people pay MORE taxes every year, not less.

[cegallup]

Two observations - 1. 25% is a Big number. 2. Sumter is adding MANY MILLIONS of property assessments. Minimal additional county expense. ("BONDS" cover all infrastructure.) What's wrong with this picture ?

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

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.[/B][/COLOR]

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

Thanks Don for taking the time to generate this very intelligent and informative post. Well worth taking the time to study and comprehend the reality of the situation.

[Velvet]

Yes, as always well thought out and expressed by Don. Very happy to have you on “our team”.

[Villageswimmer]

Is it just my iPad? I can’t read the first letter. At all. I’m getting blue font on a green background. Maybe there’s a way to change this?

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Villageswimmer

Is it just my iPad? I can’t read the first letter. At all. I’m getting blue font on a green background. Maybe there’s a way to change this?

Here's a link to the original post (#107)

Sumter County 25% Tax Increase

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Here's a link to the original post (#107)

Sumter County 25% Tax Increase

Formatting corrected.