Originally Posted by eyc234 (Post 1685690)

Did not get hit with 25%, only 12 and had 15 years of no increases. Taxes are still lower than a majority of places. When you vote them out you will still have the same issue, not enough money to run the county. If you raise the fee on the developer you raise the fee on all builders. I am sure the small builders will love that.

Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 1685048)

Been reading anti developer from the same source for many years.

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1685701)

Perhaps taxes on individual houses have remained level or even diminished over an extended period of time because most of the infrastructure for buildout on the land owned/controlled by the developer was already in place through some prior financial arrangement such as the municipal bonds that were not truly municipal bonds. Every new house that was built over this period of time added to tax revenue and of course had a bond lien placed on it when sold to cover water, sewer, utilities, streets, etc.. For example, if 2,000 houses were built in a year and the average property tax on each was $3,000, these new houses collectively would add $6,000,000 to property tax revenue every single year from that year forward. As many thousands of houses have been built every year over the last 10 to 12 years total county tax revenue has enormously increased every year, even if tax rates have remained the same or been slightly reduced.

Now, acres and acres of newly acquired raw land, essentially enough land to double the size of The Villages, require infrastructure to be put in place before houses can be built and sold. What to do? Where can the money be found. Aha! We can increase the tax rates on the existing homes all over Sumter County. Let the taxpayers pick up the bill. Why not? What a great idea? If we do it right they may grumble but they won't be able to stop us...

Originally Posted by tophcfa (Post 1685632)

I am also a strong supporter of capitalism, the free markets, and business success in general. It is what has made our country great, and what made my career a success. I am also about as far to the right as you will ever find when it comes to fiscal responsibility. However, those beliefs don't make me a blind supporter of the developer, that has to be earned.

Going back about 3 years or longer, I was about as strong a supporter of the developer as ANYONE who regularly posts on TOV. The Villages run under the guidance of Gary Morse, and his father Harold Schwartz before him, earned my almost unconditional trust. In my opinion, they build the greatest retirement community in the world and were keenly focused on making it the best place possible for the residents. This business model worked great and resulted in both happy residents and very good profits for the developers.

About five years ago Gary Morse passed away and the next generation of the family took over operations. During the first couple of years after Gary's departure I opserved little to no change in the developers business model. However, over time, in my opinion, the new generation has begun to change the business model. Profit maximization seems to have leapfrogged resident happiness on their priority list. The tax increase discussed at nausium in this thread is the most obvious example of this. The new generation of the developers family has managed to eroded my almost unconditional trust. I sincerely hope this trend does not continue.

Please don't get me wrong, I still believe the Villages is the greatest retirement community in the world and wouldn't want to sell my home and relocate elsewhere. Even if the new generation of developers continues to operate under their revised business model, it will most likely take them my remaining life expectancy to whipe out the resident lifestyle advantage over other retirement communities that Harold Schwartz and Gary Morse created.

Originally Posted by Love2Swim (Post 1685710)

Thank you for providing facts, and logic.

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1685726)

The remainder of Sumter County has historically been one of the poorer parts of Florida. Even what may be to some if not most Villagers a trivial tax increase likely will be felt deeply by these folks. The 'One Sumter' essentially stripped them of electing any councilor(s) and having any representation at all in how the county is operated.

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1685726)

The remainder of Sumter County has historically been one of the poorer parts of Florida. Even what may be to some if not most Villagers a trivial tax increase likely will be felt deeply by these folks. The 'One Sumter' essentially stripped them of electing any councilor(s) and having any representation at all in how the county is operated.

Originally Posted by Velvet (Post 1685725)

Well, that is another thing to consider, and, does anyone care about them?

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter (Post 1685738)

How has that changed since The Villages? Whole lot of them poor people now have good jobs. Just sayin....

Originally Posted by dewilson58 (Post 1685715)

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.





:a040:

Originally Posted by perrjojo (Post 1685742)

Yes, it has changed for some but only some.