The Amenity Authority Committee wants to scrutinize the expense of Recreation News during upcoming budget discussions.
AAC member John Wilcox, a longtime critic of the costs of the weekly supplement printed and distributed each Thursday by The Villages Daily Sun, raised the issue Wednesday during a routine discussion of the 2020 budget calendar.
Wilcox asked for an exact tally of the ballooning expenditures for Recreation News, but did not receive an answer.
The AAC, which oversees amenities north of County Road 466, splits the cost of producing Recreation News with the Project Wide Advisory Committee, which oversees amenities south of County Road 466. An examination of last year’s budgets from those two entities shows the cost of producing Recreation News has topped $800,000.
“It’s the major thing I hear from residents is they want the cost to come down,” said AAC Chair Ann Forrester.
Wilcox said that residents object to the repetitive presentation of Recreation News. He said information such as pool schedules should not be printed “over and over and over.”
District Manager Richard Baier pointed to a searchable version of Recreation News already available on DistrictGov.org but added that many older Villagers are still dependent on the print version.
The AAC will hold a preliminary budget workshop which is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 18 in the District Large Conference Room located at 984 Old Mill Run at Lake Sumter Landing. The public is welcome at that workshop.
