To the Editor:
Sumter County millage rate was 5.3365 and it was increased to 6.7 in 2019. 6.7 mills minus 5.3365 equals an increase of 1.3635 mills. Now to get the percentage difference you take this 1.3635 increase and divide it by the original millage rate of 5.3365 and that equals an increase of 25 percent in Ad Valorem tax for the Sumter County portion of the tax roll. You also have to account for the increase in assessed values prior to the new millage rate being applied, which then pushed many taxpayers well over the 25 percent rate for the Sumter County line only in Ad Valorem tax.
This infuriated the residents and we elected new County Commissioners. Well, the story did not end there. The new County Commissioners approved a 70 percent increase in Impact
Fees for the Developer this year for all new construction south of Fenny. The Developer with the help of our own State House Representative Brett Hage engineered a change in the tax law in State of Florida RETROACTIVE to Jan 1, 2021 which negated that 70 percent increase in Impact Fees and limited it to only 12.5 percent .
The result is that not only did we pay for the roads in Fenney, now we are going to continue to pay for the roads further south of Fenney wherever the Developer is expanding in Sumter County. This is a very unfair outcome for the long-term residents of The Villages in Sumter County.
Ash Marwah
Village of Belvedere
