A resident called on the Amenity Authority Committee to start charging guests for their use of amenities in The Villages rather than dig deeper into residents’ pockets.
Village of Woodbury resident Karen Tynes spoke out Wednesday before the AAC, which was set to discuss the future of the amenity deferral rate.
Tynes, who a decade ago led the effort to establish the Mulberry Dog Park, pointed to a recent quote she read from Project Wide Advisory Committee member Patty Hoxie, a Community Development District 11 supervisor.
Tynes read aloud to the AAC, Hoxie’s quote from Monday’s PWAC meeting, which is as follows, “When people come to visit me I am ‘selling’ The Villages. I don’t want to charge people to swim in the pool. I am already paying my amenity fee. I think it makes us look cheap.”
Tynes had a rebuttal to Hoxie’s quote.
“I, for one, am not ‘selling’ The Villages,” Tynes told the AAC.
She said “selling The Villages” is a function best paid for through the Developer’s marketing budget.
“Residents want to know why we always have to reach into our pockets,” she said.
She echoed an idea stated earlier this week by PWAC member Jerry Vicenti, who said that homeowners pay, renters pay, but guests are the only ones getting a “free ride.”
She proposed forming a “think tank” to brainstorm ideas about charging fees of guests.
“Let’s see how we can take some of these fees and offset the burden on us,” she said.
But her idea failed to gain any traction with the AAC.
After the meeting, Tynes was clearly disappointed.
“It’s become a business. Residents used to have a say,” Tynes said.
