COURTESY : The Orlando Sentinel
By Erin Cox
Published November 13, 2006 

THE VILLAGES - For retiree Joe Gorman, Tuesday's straw-ballot vote delivered part of the dream his organization has envisioned for 31 years.

When Villages residents cast their ballots on Election Day, 51 percent sided with The Property Owners' Association agenda, seeking to change the developer's monopoly on distribution of $30 million in amenities fees each year.

"People recognized they should be the ones who make the big decisions," said Gorman, POA's president.

For Chico Mir, the straw ballot meddles with the promises that lured him here a decade ago.

"If it worked, it isn't broken," said Mir, chairman of Community Development District 2 in The Villages. "If it isn't broken, why change it?"

Opposing views such as Gorman's and Mir's illustrate the challenges that still lie ahead for the retirement community as stakeholders decide how to transfer some power from the developer to retirees.

Some 21,110 Villages voters in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties cast ballots Tuesday, with 10,792 favoring the change and 10,318 supporting the status quo.

Although the measure passed with a slim majority, changes are not guaranteed.

It also is unclear how more resident input will alter the system that enabled The Villages to build a manicured city for retirees in the middle of pastureland.

The developer, The Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc. now headed by Gary Morse, used community-development districts to secure low-cost loans and build infrastructure. As residents moved in, they signed contracts to pay amenities fees each month for as long as they owned their homes. After several bond issues and the sale of recreation centers and a golf course, Villages residents arrived at the current deal.

For residents living in Marion, Lake and Sumter counties north of County Road 466, the amenity fees are paid to the Villages Center Community Development District.

The bonds are repaid, and the VCCDD manages the recreation centers and golf courses. The developer primarily appoints the district board members, and residents have little formal say in how the fees are distributed.

"We've been talking about residents' rights for 31 years, and fundamental to that is the ability to make the big decisions in the community," Gorman said. "And residents have been denied that right for all those years."

This summer Morse suggested having a straw ballot to gauge opinion and then develop a solution. The straw ballot is not binding. But before the election, the VCCDD board agreed that if residents wanted change, it would create a panel with representatives from the four individual community development districts north of CR 466 and other stakeholders.

That panel would divvy up some of the responsibilities related to amenity fees.

Mir said he doesn't want the panel to change a thing.

"All we have done is expressed an opinion, and that's not binding to anybody," Mir said. "I hope it doesn't go anywhere else."

Mir said he fears another layer of bureaucracy will add costs and inefficiency to what he considers a well-functioning system.

"It has been effective," Mir said. "It's why myself and the majority of the people came to The Villages. We liked the way things were run."

Gorman sees things differently.

"You got things like this all in communities over the country, where residents are able to voice their opinion [on] a variety of decisions," Gorman said. "In The Villages now, we don't get that opportunity."