Community Development District 9 supervisors are taking a hard look at reducing the maintenance assessment paid for by residents, but the board chairman wondered out loud whether residents are paying attention.
Last year, CDD 9 reduced its maintenance assessment by 20 percent. It is looking at a possible 11 to 15 percent reduction for 2022-23.
However, CDD 9 Board Chairman Jack Reimer wondered whether residents would even notice another reduction in the maintenance assessment.
“We are spending a lot of time on this. I don’t think people even notice. It’s a couple of nights at the Chop House,” Reimer said.
CDD 9 is in a strong financial position with $13 million in reserve. There have been persistent questions as to whether too much money is being held in reserve.
However, supervisors expressed wariness about potential threats ranging from inflation to the rising costs of CDD 9’s participation in the Project Wide Advisory Committee.
“We are well funded for what we want to do. I have NO confidence that we are well funded when it comes to PWAC,” said Supervisor Dan Ruehl.
The largest portion of the 2022-23 CDD 9 budget will be $1.89 million devoted to supporting PWAC, which provides for common infrastructure south of County Road 466. The CDD 9 portion of the PWAC budget will be increasing by $243,995 or 14.8 percent.
Ruehl added that the board has a responsibility to be sensitive to residents’ financial situations.
“Right now people are hurting. Gas is $4.50 a gallon. Many people are on Social Security and a fixed income,” Ruehl said.
His comment prompted Chairman Reimer to “clarify” his earlier remark about the Chop House, a popular restaurant at Lake Sumter Landing.
“I am not against a reduction (in the maintenance assessment.) We just don’t want to put ourselves in a difficult position. We don’t want to find ourselves like Sumter County,” Reimer said, invoking the memory of the infamous 25 percent tax increase approved by the county in 2019.
CDD 9 includes the villages of Charlotte, Fernandina, Gilchrist, Pinellas, Sanibel, Haciendas of Mission Hils and the Atwood Bungalows.
Are you paying attention to your maintenance assessment? Share your thoughts in a Letter to the Editor at letters@villages-news.com
