The Villages Developer versus the residents in the Sumter County Commission election. The fundamental question to be decided in the Sumter County Commission election is: Will the Sumter County Commission be a government of the residents, by the residents, and for the residents or will the Sumter County Commission be a government of the Developer, by the Developer, and for the Developer? The answer to that question will, among other things, determine whether new county infrastructure necessitated by the Developer’s massive expansion of The Villages is paid for by the current residents, through our property taxes, or by the Developer, though an impact fee.
Impact fee. An impact fee is a fee that is paid when a building permit is issued. It is used to pay for county infrastructure such as roads, parks, schools, sewers, police stations and equipment, fire stations and equipment, libraries, and other government buildings necessitated by the new construction. The current impact fee paid by the Developer was set at a level to cover only 40% of the cost of his county roads. It covers zero percent of his other county infrastructure, such as the new fire stations. We pay for the rest.
Election will be decided in the Republican primary. There are six candidates in the Sumter County Commission election. They are all Republicans, running for three open seats. The candidates are Coon vs. Estep (District 1), Lazich vs. Butterfield (District 3), and Wiley vs. Miller (District 5). The candidates must live in their respective districts, but they are elected at large, i.e., each voter votes in all three races. District. Because no Democrats are running, the County Commission election will be decided in the the Republican primary. While the primary date is Aug. 20, mail-in ballots have already been sent out.
Developer’s money aimed at paving path to victory
Until recently, it looked like candidates Coon, Lazich, and Wiley would cruise to a fairly easy victory. This was because:
- Developer financing of Coon, Lazich, and Wiley. Through the end of June, they had received a total of $282,313 (almost all of which came from the Developer and his suppliers and affiliates). The pro-resident candidates (Estep, Butterfield, and Miller) only had campaign funds totaling $13,380, much of it self-financed. In other words, the pro-Developer candidates had more than 20 times more campaign funds than the pro-resident candidates.
- Developer ownership of local newspaper, TV channel, and radio station. The Developer’s Daily Sun has already started a propaganda campaign, disguised as news, supporting Coon, Lazich, and Wiley.
- Disenfranchisement of 50,000 registered voters. The right, under the Florida Constitution, of 50,000 registered voters to vote in the Republican primary was denied through a fake-candidate scam. https://www.villages-news.com/2024/06/23/is-use-of-fake-candidates-illegal/
- Lack of knowledge on the part of many voters. But the biggest factor that Coon, Lazich, and Wiley initially had in their favor was that many Sumter County voters were tuned into national, not local, politics and had no understanding of the importance of control of the Sumter County Commission. For example, many voters still do not realize that when they pay their county property tax, they are making a gift to the Developer by paying for his county infrastructure instead of the Developer’s paying for it through an impact fee. In other words, memories have faded since 2020. That was when an enraged citizenry voted out, in a landslide, the then-current Developer-puppet Commissioners Butler, Burgess, and Printz who had enacted a 25% tax hike to protect the Developer’s sweetheart impact fee.
Cartoon may have turned the tide
Although I am aware of no polling to prove it, it appears that the tide may now have turned, and pro-resident candidates Estep, Butterfield, and Miller stand an excellent chance of being elected despite the Developer’s backing of their opponents. This is because the Property Owners’ Association has issued a strong endorsement in favor of Estep, Butterfield, and Miller. That endorsement was disseminated not only in the POA Bulletin but also is being recirculated via emails.
But perhaps equally important, the POA endorsement was accompanied by the cartoon reproduced at the beginning of this opinion piece. That cartoon describes for those voters who haven’t been following local politics what is at stake in this election. The old adage is that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here, however, it may turn out that this cartoon is worth more than a thousand words. It may be worth more than $268,933. That amount is the difference between the $282,313 raked in by the Developer’s puppets Coon, Lazich, Wiley and the $13,380 raised by pro-resident candidates Estep, Butterfield, and Miller.
So, will a cartoon be a major factor in turning the tide in overcoming: massive Developer donations to his puppets, Developer ownership of the local media, the use of fake candidates to disenfranchise 50,000 voters, and the lack of knowledge of local issues by many voters? We will know the answer to that question when the votes are counted on Aug. 20.
Scott Fenstermaker is a resident of The Villages.
