The season’s biggest show at Savannah Center will star five Sumter County commissioners and feature a dramatic showdown with their constituents over a proposed 24 percent tax hike.
Anticipating large crowds, Sumter commissioners have booked the Savannah Center in The Villages for two public hearings this month on the county’s controversial 2019-2020 budget.
The first hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday. An “encore” hearing will be Sept. 24.
The commission includes three Villagers, Al Butler, Don Burgess and Steve Printz. Printz has already filed to seek a second term. Other commissioners are Garry Breeden and T&D executive Doug Gilpin.
The proposed $249 million budget would increase county taxes for the first time in 15 years, setting the tax rate at $6.70 per $1,000 assessed valuation. That rate is $1.67 above the rolled back rate of $5.03, which is the rate needed to collect the same amount of revenue as the previous year outside of new construction.
The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 after a $50,000 Florida homestead credit would pay $1,675 in county property taxes next year, an increase of $204.53. A property owner’s tax bill also includes fees for schools and municipal government.
General fund revenue of about $123.9 million would be up 12 percent from last year. Besides property taxes, the county also receives revenue from sales taxes, as well as state and federal aid and the sale of municipal bonds.
Road projects, capital projects and added personnel costs for the sheriff’s offices are some of the items driving the increased expenditures.
Major road projects include the repaving of Buena Vista and Morse boulevards in The Villages. Capital projects include improvements to the animal services and sheriff’s maintenance buildings.
Eight positions will be added to the sheriff’s office due to a state mandate to provide enhanced school security due to last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public High School.
The tax increase comes despite rapid growth, which eventually will boost the county’s property tax base. Over the past year, 2,100 homes were added, including 341 outside The Villages. Construction began on 159 commercial buildings, which will add 2.5 million square feet of commercial space.
More than 500 people attended a meeting last month at the Colony Cottage Recreation Center even though the proposed budget was not on the agenda. Last month, residents of southern Sumter County registered their complaints about the tax hike during the public forum portion of the meeting in Bushnell.
