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The Villages
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Raucous crowd of Villagers expected at Fruitland Park meeting moved to church

A large crowd of Villagers is expected Friday night as the Fruitland Park Commission holds a special meeting to approve the annual millage rate and hear the first reading of the city’s 2018-19 budget.

Commissioners originally were scheduled to handle those two items, along with a resolution establishing the city’s annual fire assessments, during its regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 13. But they were forced to table all three items when an overflow crowd of highly charged Villagers showed up at City Hall to voice their concerns about the budget and the taxes they pay.

The Fruitland Park Commission will meet Friday at 6 p.m. at the Community Methodist Church, located at 309 College Ave. The special budget meeting is being held at the church to accommodate a large crowd of Villagers who are expected to attend.

The crowd quickly exceeded the meet room capacity of 71, forcing Fire Chief Donald Gilpin to ask the majority of the crowd to leave the room and congregate in the lobby. That led to many of the Villagers expressing thoughts like, “This is wrong!” and “We deserve to be heard” as they slowly headed to the lobby.

Mayor Chris Cheshire

Mayor Chris Cheshire followed them to the lobby to attempt to calm the situation and one woman immediately demanded his resignation. He then asked for patience and assured the Villagers that the commission wanted to hear from them and was working on a solution.

That answer proved to be Friday’s 6 p.m. meeting, which was moved to the nearby Community Methodist Church, located at 309 College Ave. That facility can hold several hundred people and Cheshire said he doesn’t anticipate any problems with being able to accommodate the large crowd that’s expected to attend.

An overflow crowd of Villagers at a recent meeting forced Fruitland Park commissioners to schedule a special budget meeting at Community Methodist Church.

During the meeting, commissioners are expected to set the ad valorem millage rate at 3.9863 per $1,000 assessed valuation – a 1.86 percent increase to the rolled-back rate of 3.9134. The rolled-back rate is the amount needed to collect the same revenue as the prior year, and this year’s number is the same as it’s been the past two years.

The gross taxable value in the city is about $682.2 million, which was certified by the Lake County Property Appraiser’s office. That marks a 38.76 percent increase over the gross taxable value in fiscal year 2018, a report from the city treasurer states.

Commissioners also will hear the first reading of a $10.9 million budget. It would be back on the agenda Sept. 27 for final approval and then would take effect Oct. 1.

The new budget for fiscal year 2018-19 includes more than $7.8 million in the general fund and another $1.92 million in the utility fund. The city’s redevelopment fund has $330,665 earmarked for projects, while $769,414 is set aside for the capital projects fund.

Finally, the recreation fund is $91,294 and the fire pension fund sits at $30,369.

Villagers filled the Fruitland Park Commission chamber during the Sept. 13 meeting.
Commissioner Rick Ranize

The millage rate has been a hot topic at several recent meetings, with Commissioner Rick Ranize at one point suggesting it needed to be raised to fund a school resource officer at Fruitland Park Elementary School.

Outgoing Commissioner Ray Lewis, who in 2017 insisted on lowering the millage rate, was in favor of raising it at an August budget workshop after suggesting the two incoming commissioners from The Villages will “be on a one-track mind” to lower it. And Cheshire has made it clear that he won’t vote for an increase in the millage rate, saying the answer to the tight budget is through growth.

Commissioner Ray Lewis

“We need to grow this city,” he said in a recent meeting. “Raising the millage rate is not the answer. We have to deal with what we have right now.”

Meanwhile, the two candidates who are vying for the District 2 seat currently held by Lewis in the Nov. 6 general election both have expressed thoughts on the upcoming fiscal year.

John Mobilian, who tallied the most votes in the Aug. 28 primary election, said he’d expect to see the commission cut the millage rate as the tax base increases, “much like we’ve saw for Marion and Sumter counties.” And Fred Collins said he’d like to see more money available in the budget through economic growth via new businesses coming into the city.

Fred Collins
John Mobilian

Mobilian, a retired Federal Express pilot, said he and his campaign manager, wife Mary Ann, organized the effort that brought out the crowd of Villagers last week.

“This was excellent,” he said. “I’m proud of what we accomplished. These people have issues they want to talk about.”

Mobilian also offered praise for the commission for tabling the items. 

“I applaud them,” he said. “It was the right decision.”

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