A Villager running to defeat an incumbent Sumter County commissioner got an earful from angry voters while he was collecting signatures on petitions in support of his candidacy.
Gary Search of the Village of Amelia has collected more than 1,000 signatures supporting his District 1 bid, exceeding the 965 needed to place his name on the ballot.
Search is running against incumbent Sumter County Commissioner Al Butler, a resident of the Village of Bridgeport at Lake Sumter.
“I had no trouble collecting the signatures,” said Search, who served for more than a dozen years as a township commissioner in Pennsylvania.
The retired school counselor said Sumter County voters “are still quite upset about the tax increase” approved last year by the commission. In addition, he said residents are concerned about Sumter County commissioners agreeing to a reimbursement deal with the Developer of The Villages for infrastructure south of State Road 44.
“There are numerous issues that need to be addressed/corrected like: the needless high property tax increase brought on by paying for a developer’s infrastructure, low impact fees for a developer, the sale of water in pumping out of the aquifer of Sumter County increasing the risk of sink holes, the loss of precious farm land, improvement of roadways in South Sumter, and animal shelter concerns and issues,” said Search, who moved in 2008 to The Villages.
Search has picked up the endorsement of the Fair Government for Sumter Political Action Committee.
He will square off against Butler, who is seen as the Developer’s candidate, in the Aug. 18 GOP primary. The winner of that contest will go on to face Village of Osceola Hills resident Larry Green, who is running as an independent.