The legislators who represent The Villages in Tallahassee have each earned an A rating from the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
“Florida’s economy won with the Florida Chamber-backed, pro-jobs policy passed during the 2021 Legislative Session,” said Florida Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Mark Wilson. “The actions taken by Gov. DeSantis and Florida’s lawmakers will go a long way in continuing to build momentum towards creating the more than 2 million jobs necessary to take Florida from the 17th largest economy in the world to the 10th largest by 2030 and securing Florida’s future.”
Rep. Brett Hage, R-Oxford who works as a vice president for The Villages, earned a 94 percent rating from the state’s chamber of commerce. Hage’s major accomplishment of the legislative session was fighting for the passage of a measure that would retroactively hold down impact fees on developers, including his employer, The Villages of Lake Sumter Inc. It was seen as an end-run around the Sumter County Commission which had attempted to redirect the tax burden from residents who were handed a 25 percent tax increase in 2019 by a Villages-controlled Sumter County Commission that was shown the door by enraged voters in 2020.
State Sen. Dennis Baxley, a Republican from Ocala, earned a 100 percent favorable rating from the state chamber of commerce. Baxley is a funeral director and lists his occupation as a “consultant” for Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, the largest funeral provider in the tri-county area. Baxley also voted in favor of the controversial impact fee measure that benefitted The Villages, which used The Villages Daily Sun to campaign hard for the legislation.
