COURTESY : The Daily Commercial

By AMANDA KOONCE
Published January 20, 2004 

THE VILLAGES - Wednesday marked a fresh start for the Property Owners’ Association of The Villages, with a speech by POA President Joe Gorman on accomplishments in 2004 as well as what’s in store for 2005.

Among the successes in 2004 Gorman counted was headway in members’ push to see the aging Paradise Recreation Center rebuilt rather than repaired.

Gorman also congratulated members on the defeat of a tax proposition to expand The Villages Regional Hospital. With no further progress on the expansion, though, he characterized the success as an empty one.

His focus turned to the year to come, Gorman described new efforts to reform Florida’s laws governing community development districts like those in The Villages.

The group wants changes that would see supervisors of the Village Center Community Development District elected by residents, rather than appointed.

The POA argues that Center District supervisors make decisions affecting all residents of The Villages, decisions like costly building and utility projects that he says home-buyers often don’t realize are tacked on to property tax bills as bond payments.

“They should know what they’re paying for, and sometimes there is adequate disclosure,” he conceded. “But some people never know about it.”

The POA would like to see better disclosure not only of bond obligations but also of how Villages residents’ amenities fees are used and how the developer determines what is done with common properties.

With the POA’s membership status in Cyber Citizens for Justice, Gorman said the POA has enlisted the aid of a lobbyist to take the club’s concerns to Tallahassee.

He has said he’d rather take his chances with a seasoned lobbyist than local legislators on the matter.

Gorman said the POA ended 2004 with more than 1,700 members — some 500 of those new and 100 in Marion County, where the club’s popular newsletter, The POA Bulletin, still does not circulate to homes.

“I think they’re listening to the message we’re trying to put out,” he said.

Gorman also told those assembled that for the first time, in 2004 the number of members from Sumter County exceeded those from Lake, dispelling the perception that the POA is a case of “old Villages” residents versus new.

The POA meets at 7 p.m. every third Wednesday in the Paradise Center.