[trichard]

Are you kidding?! Pay your damn amenity bill.

[asianthree]

Op must not have been for the hurricane floods. Would have really been angry. I thank the developer for moving the rising water from the rains, away from homes, and flooding the courses. Yep couldn’t play golf or drive on a lot of paths, but I didn’t have to shovel mud out of my house. I would never not pay amenities.

[zmarkp]

Originally Posted by Sandy and Ed

Would suggest that this would be a convenient time for tv to schedule across the board cleaning an the normal periodic maintenance of the closed facilities. This will allow all to maintain employment in a safer environment

Excellent idea. KEEP FOLKS EMPLOYED.

[gmnirr]

they should but they won't

[gmnirr]

only if hell freezes over

[JBarracks]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Your "holiday" idea lacks the an understanding of the Amenity Fee.
First off, the squares and theaters are not amenities and not supported by the amenity fee directly, yes the recreation activities that do occur there help bring business to the merchants but no amenity fee funds are paid to the merchants, and the cost for the nightly music does not come out of the amenity fees.

I pulled up my copy of the current year's budget for the amenity district south of CR466 and took a look at what costs could be cut if we cut the revenue as a result of your "holiday" idea. Remember, in the state of Florida the law requires a balanced budget.
Here's the major categories:
Total budget: $71,814,495 (south of 466)

Debt Service: $23,342,191 - this is the payback of the bonds from 2016 used by the CDD to purchase the amenities, can't not pay this bill, it is a contractual obligation with the bond holders.

Operating Supplies: $2,656,666 - we might be able to cut a little here, the Recreation supplies are $258,00 of this and since few activities are going on they may be a savings in the $21,500 costs but not much. The rest is made up of repair and operating costs of the facilities that will still be incurred.

Printing and binding: $565,020 - this cost will probably go up a little as things are rescheduled and new materials will need to be produced.

Repairs and Maintenance services: $16,079,147 - nothing to cut here, the buildings and landscaping will still need to be maintained.

Insurance: $696,443 - Good luck there getting an insurance company to lower their rate, if asked they would probably raise the rate because of the added risk right now.

Rentals and Leases: $112,241 - all of these will expect to be paid regardless of what is going on.

Utilities: $2,983,124 - Still have to keep the air conditioning on. The toilets may be flushed a few times less each day and it may save a little out of the $263,256 in the water sewer portion of this cost.

Contract Services: $7,258,557 - this includes $2,547,773 for the executive golf courses operation and $2,063,859 that goes to the Dept of Safety (fire stations) that provides a higher level of service than the rest of the county. Nothing can be cut here, the firemen still work and the grass still grows.

Professional Services: $15,318,804 - this is the cost for staffing the amenity portion of The Villages - Administrative, Community Watch, Property management, Recreation dept ($6,733,088), engineering, legal, technology services, etc. These people are still working, shall we lay them off or just not pay them during this "holiday"? Because of this mess they are probably working harder than ever to support the community.

That's most of the costs, there are a few minor additional cost, I've attached this year's budget for amenity fund and project wide fund if you want the detail.

Since we are obligated by state law to balance our budget, which services shall we cut to fund this ill-conceived "holiday"? What bills shall we not pay? What facility shall we not maintain? Who shall we layoff and not pay?

Many of us here in The Villages have lived in "the bubble" too long and have forgotten there is a real world out there that sill has to operate and live by rules, even while we enjoy ourselves in our retirement. The administrative costs alone for calculating and applying any minor savings each of the 42,154 homes would realize from such a holiday would far exceed any savings that might possible be achieved. It really sucks having to step back into the real world.

Well done Mr. Wiley

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by gmnirr

they should but they won't

Originally Posted by gmnirr

only if hell freezes over

Technically the reason for a 2 week closure is virus will not live on any surface. Even disney is closing for the 2 week period, even with deep cleaning somethings may get missed, or not wiped completely. 2 weeks is a fail safe way to react.

[Mr.Dizzy]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

Professional Services: $15,318,804 - this is the cost for staffing the amenity portion of The Villages - Administrative, Community Watch, Property management, Recreation dept ($6,733,088), engineering, legal, technology services, etc. These people are still working, shall we lay them off or just not pay them during this "holiday"? Because of this mess they are probably working harder than ever to support the community.

Sadly, Recreation employees will be on UNPAID administrative leave beginning April 8. This includes the folks that manage and supervise the recreation centers (professionals with families to support).

I am having a tough time understanding why these positions will be unpaid. Recreation is still being funded as always (see above quote) so the district is not losing money by having the facilities closed. The recreation portion of the Professional Services budget needs to continue to be used to pay the employees If not, where is that money going?

Government wants small businesses to take out loans so they can continue to pay their employees, but VCDD is not paying their employees when nothing has changed with the funding used to pay them? We have wonderful people who work hard so we can have fun -- we need to keep them employed (and paid)!

[DeeCee Dubya]

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

We Villagers must take a united stand and choose to pay only for services provided. Otherwise the Morse family will continue to laugh at us behind our back’s because they charge us but provide no services.

Think of the $profit$ they are making during this fictitious pandemic. I bet they wish it would last forever.

[anothersteve]

Originally Posted by DeeCee Dubya

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

You must have some inside info, Are the barber shops open?
Steve

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by DeeCee Dubya

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

We Villagers must take a united stand and choose to pay only for services provided. Otherwise the Morse family will continue to laugh at us behind our back’s because they charge us but provide no services.

Think of the $profit$ they are making during this fictitious pandemic. I bet they wish it would last forever.

Congratulations, you've proven you are a member of the ranks of the uninformed. The developer has nothing to do with the CDD and amenity operations, nor the decisions to close the facilities and follow the directions of the Governor.

There was no savings made by shutting down the amenity facilities, actually there were additional costs to clean and sanitize all the facilities to a very high level in preparation for reopening, and since the developer isn't involved, no profit was made.

If you can put away the hate for a while there are several classes available through the districtgov.org website to learn and get educated about the structure of The Villages and how things actually work.

[biker1]

Exactly how are you going to determine which services you are going to pay for? If you choose not to pay some, or all, of your amenities fee, please report back on how that works out for you. I already know but I am curious as to how, exactly, it unfolds.

Originally Posted by DeeCee Dubya

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

We Villagers must take a united stand and choose to pay only for services provided. Otherwise the Morse family will continue to laugh at us behind our back’s because they charge us but provide no services.

Think of the $profit$ they are making during this fictitious pandemic. I bet they wish it would last forever.

[Marathon Man]

Originally Posted by DeeCee Dubya

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

We Villagers must take a united stand and choose to pay only for services provided. Otherwise the Morse family will continue to laugh at us behind our back’s because they charge us but provide no services.

Think of the $profit$ they are making during this fictitious pandemic. I bet they wish it would last forever.

Well, I would say that a united stand was certainly taken in the posts hat followed. Do you suppose some people end up thinking, "Gee, I wish I hadn't posted that.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by DeeCee Dubya

The Villages CDD (read Morse family) has decided to close all facilities coming up on five weeks now and undoubtably will do the same thing next year during flu season.

We Villagers must take a united stand and choose to pay only for services provided. Otherwise the Morse family will continue to laugh at us behind our back’s because they charge us but provide no services.

Think of the $profit$ they are making during this fictitious pandemic. I bet they wish it would last forever.

Be sure to read post #56.