An Amenity Authority Committee member is objecting to a $400,000 increase in the cost for Community Watch.
AAC member John Wilcox said the committee, which serves Community Development Districts 1 through 4 north of County Road 466, is spending nearly as much money on Community Watch as it is on recreation, which is its primary charge.
The AAC budget for Community Watch has jumped from $2.1 to $2.5 million.
“I am disappointed in the huge increase for Community Watch,” Wilcox said in Wednesday morning’s meeting.
The increase was attributed to additional dispatchers and the addition of gate attendants at the Del Mar Drive and Morse Boulevard gates. Hours have been added for a second gate attendant at Morse Boulevard, which has the busiest gates in The Villages.
Wilcox argued the gates are useless.
“We say we are a gated community. We are not. We are a community with gates. Anybody can get in here at any time,” Wilcox said.
He cited last week’s Hurricane Hermine in which the gates temporarily came down.
“There was not one more robbery,” he said.
District Manager Janet Tutt said the volume of calls to Community Watch is going up. She said a lot of those calls are coming from older residents, many of whom live north of CR466.
“Our calls across The Villages, especially in the area where the population is aging, are increasing,” Tutt said.
She said the calls are going to Community Watch rather than 911.
The AAC will schedule an upcoming workshop to discuss Community Watch. AAC Chair Ann Forrester said it would provide an opportunity to get to the “nuts and bolts” of the issue.
