Community Development Districts in The Villages will be burning through reserves to pay for huge SECO Energy increases.
The SECO Energy pole rental cost in Community Development District 5 will climb from $60,249 to $435,423 as of Oct. 1 – a 623 percent increase.
“How can SECO Energy have the unmitigated nerve to propose such a ridiculous increase?” asked CDD 5 Board of Supervisors Chairman Gary Kadow. “They look at The Villages like a cash cow. They think they can charge anything and we will just pay it.”
Other CDDs are feeling the pain, with the more than $2 million SECO increase to be absorbed over a large swath of The Villages.
“We really need to get after these folks,” said Community Development District 8 Supervisor Duane Johnson.
CDD 8 will see its SECO costs increase from $54,108 to $329,569.
CDD supervisors from The Villages have been invited to a special meeting with SECO representatives on Tuesday at SECO headquarters in Sumterville. The meeting is not open to the public and supervisors who plan to attend the meeting must RSVP to guarantee entry.
SECO representatives had been invited to attend CDD meetings this week in The Villages, but did not attend.
The Villages District Manager Kenny Blocker will hold a closed door meeting Monday with SECO executives.
The CDDs are already deep into planning for the 2024-2025 fiscal budgets. All have agreed they will have to reach into their reserve funding to pay for the SECO increases.
CDD 6 Supervisor Peter Moeller noted that while CDDs can avoid a maintenance assessment hike this time around, residents should not shrug off the pain of the sudden SECO increase. He said there is “shadow” lurking over the financial future of the CDDs.
