$ Assessment Fire Protection $
 

I received a notice of public hearing. It will help at Everglades Recreation center on Marsh Bend Trail, 8/22/23 at 6pm

Is this to agree/reject the proposed assessment of $324?

Reply
 

I agree. If they took money from General fund before, and have now proposed separate fund, then we should expect a decrease in general fund. (Question is, will this happen?)

See post #56 and the proposed budget at the link in post #55.

- The proposed budget sets the millage at the rollback rate
- The overall general fund will increase, at least in part due to growth in homes and businesses

After I retired, I was elected Town Supervisor of a rural town in upstate NY. This put me in charge of the budget and the budget setting process. All of our meetings were publicized and open to the public. If two people from the general public showed up, it was a crowd. We always answered questions during the meeting and in 1:1 situations. However, with the sunshine laws, we had to be very careful of what we said in other forums.

So here is a big tip of the hat to Don for his thoughtful, measured approach both on this forum and in official meetings. You have a job that has more headaches than rest of us will ever know.

Not really, just read the notice. You may comment at the meeting but must also submit an appeal in writing within 20 days. Also, read the last paragraph---unless there is litigation filed within 30 days, the assessment will go into effect.

The vote occurred last November, and the majority of voters rejected the formation of an independent Villages fire district. If memory serves, for some unknown reason, a vocal group encouraged a no vote claiming it would financially benefit "the developer", who had nothing to do with it. But the emotional argument prevailed at the voting booth. So now you have the cost increase you would have had anyway, but it is now under County, not Village control.

Very good summation of the 'current situation'. It amazes me how some people's intent is to ensure the 'evil developer's' don't benefit from anything. Why do I care if they benefit from something that will also benefit me? There is no one who can tell us how much this increase might have been-lower or higher, had we voted to authorize the IFD-but having that expense more under OUR (TV) control, rather than lumped in with more disparate interests in the rest of the county, in my mind was a no-brainer. I don't work for TV, nor have any financial interest in anything beyond my own home, but let's get off the 'bash the developer' bandwagon-It's visceral and unfounded. If I see the words 'Katie Belle's' referenced one more time in a social media post, I'm going to take this Lenovo and throw it in an alligator infested retention pond.

And if the alligator eats it, it must be the developer's fault. :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I can say that the maximum I would have paid for fire protection under the IFD was $717. It is likely I would have paid less since it is likely the variable Ad-Valorem would not have been maxed out in the first year. I can say that under the proposed budget I will be paying $727 to fund fire protection in the upcoming year.

I will be paying $10 more than the maximum I could have been charged under the IFD and $300 more than what I expected to pay under the IFD.

Had the IFD proposal passed, the developer would have lost control of the VSPD. Currently the VSPD is under the direction of the VCCDD, a developer appointed (it called landowner elected, but with basically one landowner it is, well, appointed) board. If the IFD had passed then the VPSD would have been under the direct control of a resident elected (not landowner elected) board and the developer would have lost any control over the VPSD.

The sky is falling (aka I hate the developer) crowd would have had you believe that since the Govenor would have appointed the initial board that they would have been all hand picked by the developer. Individuals desiring one of these would have to apply to the Govenor's off for one of these positions, and I'm pretty sure the governor's office would have reached out to the local RPOF leadership and other influential individuals (including the developer's office) for their input. Why, because the governor's office doesn't and can't know everyone in the state so they rely on local leadership for input on getting the people with the right mindset in place for the initial board to get things rolling, and after 2 years it would have been up to the residents to elect or replace 3 of these individuals. No this was pure patrician party politics masqueraded as public concern; our governor being a Republican would have appointed 5 strong Republicans to the board which would have further eroded the democrat's footing in Sumter County. This is something the democrat leaning board of some organizations couldn't possibly tolerate so they used their typical tactic and blamed it on the developer and would have labeled anyone appointed to the board as "in the developer's pocket". Trust me on this one, I know it from first-hand experience.

As we sit now, there is an extra layer of administrative laboring involved with getting a VPSD budget passed and funded, it now has to go through the county for final say on funding. With this extra layer comes no way of separating which fire department your tax dollars go to; it all goes into one pot and then is divided between the FD. The big winner is the non-Villages residents of the county, and the big losers are the Villages residents due to the 20/80 county/villages split in tax revenues and funding but not necessarily in spending in this area.

While many didn't fully understand the issue and were perhaps influenced by a false narrative of the issue when they voted last year, the next election is even more critical. Everyone should remember that it only takes 3 votes, yes the votes 3 individuals, to make VPSD go away. It only takes 3 county commissioners in agreement to consolidate the two fire departments into one and the VPSD vanishes.

Both FDs are outstanding organizations with phenomenal and strong leadership and exceptionally talented employees, but they have different missions and different customers, one size does not fit all. Both FDs have worked together for years and continue to do so now when the needs arise, hopefully that will never change.

Mine also.

I salute The Villages EMS, but one thing for you to keep in mind. Still yet, The Villages EMS has a remarkable record of delivering heart attack victims to the hospital with their hearts still pumping is also due to the fact that there are over 256 AED Teams, there are ovfer 671 AEDs located withing The Villages and 6,000+ AED/CPR Responders. That was last count and the numbers are growing every week. Those AED responders receive the greatest credit for saving the lives of victims of cardiac arrest. GOD bless them every one.

The Developer's Fire Impact Fee
 

Residents should understand that the Developer is paying a fire impact fee of $0 on his new construction.

:popcorn::boxing2:

And we need to understand that because.......??????

And are impact fees split out into fire, police, library, etc????

And does the fire department have to respond to "the developer", or to homes that are owned by people that are on fire???

Just more anti-developer crap.

Has a history of that……..