THE VILLAGES - Marion County and the Village Center Community Development District Board of Supervisors are moving forward in anticipation of negotiating a purchase of Little Sumter Utility from an ownership group led by Villages developer Gary H. Morse. 

Both have hired financial consultants to assess the value of the utility. 

Some residents of The Villages fear the burden of taking on more financial debt, and Marion County officials foresee many roadblocks to the purchase. 

Marion County Utilities Director Vince Riccobono said county commissioners hired Orlando-based utility consultant Gerald Hartman to conduct its feasibility study. Riccobono said the purchase would be complicated because The Villages spans three counties. 

“Our county would be operating a utility in two counties (Lake and Sumter), and we can’t do that without their consent,” he said. 

Sumter County Administrator Bernard Dew could not recall a time when one county provided water and wastewater services for another county. 

“But if it happens, we will need an agreement,” Dew said. Tarik Noriega, a Florida Public Service Commission spokesman, said Marion County would not need its approval to buy the utility; however, the VCCDD would need approval of the state agency. 

“If it’s a county or city interested in obtaining a utility of that type, it’s considered a matter of right. They’d have to notify us but just as a procedure. If a community development district wants to purchase it, there would be a more thorough and detailed analysis. We’d have to determine that the the sale was in the public interest,” Noriega said. 

The Villages Property Owners’ Association seldom objects to the manner in which the VCCDD conducts business. However, the group’s biggest complaint is the retirement community’s residents have no official say in decisions made by the board. 

“If we could change one thing in The Villages, it would be all members (of the VCCDD board) and the district administrator could stand for popular election,” Joe Gorman, the association’s president, told a Daily Commercial staff writer in September of 2002. 

Members of the board and district administrator are appointed by Morse, many of whom are friends or business associates. State law gives majority representation to the owners of the majority of land, which in the VCCDD’s case is the developer. 

Villages resident Tom Poss is area chairman for the Florida Silver Haired Legislature, a senior citizen’s rights group. He is concerned that property owners may end up footing the bill if the VCCDD purchases Little Sumter Utility. 

“Morse appoints the board and he owns part of the utility. Let me put it in the form of a hypothetical. A developer builds a utility for $1 million and sells it to the community development district for $5 or $6 million. The people will be the ones to pay off the bonds issued by district,” Poss said. 

Such a maneuver on the part of a privately owned utility and community development district would be perfectly legal. 

Although Chapter 112 of Florida Statutes prohibits public officials from taking part in any vote which could bring them, their employer or a business associate potential financial gain, supervisors of community development districts are allowed to vote on issues in which they or their employers have a financial interest. 

Village Center Administrator Pete Wahl said the VCCDD is a full governmental unit “with some exceptions,” as specified in Chapter 190 of Florida Statutes. 

“We are in the business of development. Traditionally, utilities are run by governments,” Wahl said. 

Wahl said the VCCDD has hired an independent financial consultant and may be interested in buying the utility, “because the owner may be interested in selling.” 

Wahl said the purchase would be financed through bonds and that utility subscribers would be the ones billed for the cost. 

The Little Sumter utility began providing water and wastewater service in 1997. It is currently a Class A utility and according to the utility’s 2001 annual report, at year end it had 6,212 water customers and 6,194 wastewater customers. In its 2001 report, the utility reported revenues of $1.3 million and $1.44 million for water and wastewater respectively. 

On June 18, 2001, North Sumter Utility Company filed an application for original water and wastewater certificates in Sumter County. 

North Sumter Utility and Little Sumter Utility are now both housed in the same office at The Villages. Wahl said the new utility company is also owned by Villages developer Morse. Wahl said work on the new utility facilities are not completed and won’t be for several months. He said Little Sumter serves Sumter and Marion counties, essentially The Villages, north of County Road 466 to County Road 42 in Marion. North Sumter will serve south of County Road 466 in Sumter County. 

Riccobono was not aware that North Sumter Utility had been formed. He said Marion County was going to proceed cautiously and expressed doubt that the county would ever purchase Little Sumter, because it is primarily owned by Morse, who, in Riccobono’s opinion, is most likely inclined to sell it to the Village Center District Board, which he also controls. 

“That’s probably the way it will go down,” Riccobono said.