Sumter County adopts tentative 2025-26 budget, keeps millage at historic low while approving fire-area taxes

The Sumter County Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 16 adopted a tentative fiscal year 2025-26 budget and approved tentative millage rates during a special public hearing at the Everglades Regional Recreation Center in The Villages.

County Administrator Mr. Arnold presented an overview of the tentative budget, saying the document is a snapshot of estimates as of Sept. 2 that will be updated before the final budget hearing scheduled for Sept. 30. He told the board the tentative budget reflects constitutional officers’ funding requests and that the county expects changes in revenue estimates from the Florida Department of Revenue before the final adoption.

The tentative general fund millage rate was set at 4.89 mills — a rate the commissioners described as the lowest in Sumter County history — which the board cautioned nevertheless will appear as a proposed tax increase because it is higher than the rollback rate of 4.6684 mills. The board approved resolutions setting the tentative millage rates and the tentative budget in separate roll-call votes: the Village Public Safety dependent district municipal service taxing unit (MSTU) at 0.0464 mills, the Sumter County Fire and EMS MSTU at 0.8571 mills, the general fund millage at 4.89 mills (approved 4–1), the countywide aggregate millage at 5.0821 mills (unanimous), and the tentative fiscal year 2025-26 budget (unanimous). The final budget and millage-rate hearing is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at the same location.

Why this matters: commissioners said the decision balances competing priorities — sustaining public safety, restoring positions in the county fire operations, and increasing road maintenance funding — while remaining within the county’s statutory duty to adopt a balanced budget. Mr. Arnold noted that property tax is the single largest general fund revenue source and warned that eliminating property taxes would have a “profound effect on the service level related to public safety.”

Discussion and public comment: five members of the public spoke during the hearing. Topics raised included the difference between fire assessments and MSTUs, the cost of special elections, use of fuel-tax revenue, impact fees and permitting, and the condition of rural dirt roads. Several residents said higher assessments are straining fixed-income households; one resident, Mushki Davy, urged the board not to “pander to the delusion of free stuff,” adding that residents demand “high quality and quantity of essential services and that comes with a cost.”

County responses and clarifications: Mr. Arnold explained that a fire assessment is a fee based on a methodology tied to fire-rescue components and (for the Village’s dependent district) is established by the Village Public Safety Department dependent district, while an MSTU is an ad valorem tax used broadly for fire and EMS operations. He said the fire assessment represents about 42.5% of Fire & EMS funding, while the proposed 0.8571 MSTU would represent about 13.81% of that department’s revenues. Mr. Arnold also confirmed that the county will advertise the final budget hearing under TRIM (Truth in Millage) rules and that American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds remain allocated to several multi-year projects (sewer lift upgrades and broadband deployment among them). He told residents that a typical special election costs “somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000,000.”

Roads and impact fees: commissioners emphasized that holding the 4.89-mill rate would free recurring general-fund dollars to supplement road maintenance budgets, with commissioners citing an additional roughly $3 million from the general fund to augment Fund 305’s road work. Mr. Arnold reviewed road-impact fees adopted earlier in 2025 (non-age-restricted residential road impact fee $2,999 effective Jan. 1, 2025, rising to $3,332 on Jan. 1, 2026; age-restricted $10.94 rising to $12.16), and a geographically limited fire impact fee (residential rates discussed at $973 and $585 for retirement community housing in the defined area) intended to fund a planned station driven by call-volume analysis.

Dirt roads and emergency access: board members and Fire Chief Hansen said some remote roads are privately maintained and that the county has an ordinance process to accept a road into the county system if residents fund necessary upgrades. Chief Hansen said the county has smaller, four-wheel-drive brush and ambulance vehicles used for off-road responses and that those units are deployed when larger apparatus cannot reach a property.

Votes at a glance: - Village Public Safety Department Dependent District MSTU tentative millage: 0.0464 mills — motion carried unanimously (roll call: all commissioners voted yes). - Sumter County Fire & EMS MSTU tentative millage: 0.8571 mills — motion carried unanimously (roll call: all commissioners voted yes). - General Fund tentative millage: 4.89 mills — motion carried 4–1 (chair voted no). - Aggregate countywide tentative millage: 5.0821 mills — motion carried unanimously. - Tentative fiscal year 2025-26 budget: adopted unanimously; final hearing set for 6 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Everglades Regional Recreation Center.

What’s next: county staff will update revenue estimates with the Florida Department of Revenue and present a balanced final budget and millage rates for the Sept. 30 hearing. Residents with specific questions about dependent-district finances or facility maintenance (for example, tree planting at Station 51) were directed to the Village Public Safety Department dependent district and its district manager for details outside the county’s budget documents.

Ending note: commissioners repeatedly thanked staff for the multistep budget process and invited residents to attend budget workshops (January–May and July) to review line-item details prior to the final hearing.