There has been much written in the last couple of weeks about Community Development Districts (CDDs) in various parts of the county. In the Saturday News-Gazette, the editorial board says Kissimmee's first CDD "is a good idea that has been a long time coming...the area will be able to devise its own mini-government, through which it could raise money for various projects through bond issues. It appears to be a win-win situation for all involved and might serve as a poster child for other areas of the community."
In the same issue of the Gazette, there is a page-one article on how the Stevens Plantation CDD in St. Cloud is hoping to recover about $250,000 that it now appears they mistakenly overpaid to a consulting firm.
Now, we don't know that CDDs are good, bad, better, worse, and so on. Obviously someone created them to solve a problem they were facing. But here are our questions:
1. In St. Cloud, the CDD board and the City Council are the same folks. Different titles, same faces. Is this the norm, and who will be on the Kissimmee CDD board? What is the dollars-and-cents advantage of having two
entities with the same membership?
2. Municipalities can issue bonds. CDDs can issue bonds. Does a CDD get a better interest rate on their bonds than a municipality does?
3. Municipalities have staff. CDDs apparently do not, based on what happened in St. Cloud where consultants were hired as project managers. Is there ever recurring work in a CDD that would justify hiring staff, or is everything a one-time project bid out to consultants? If a CDD hires staff, would that resource be better utilized in the larger environment of the municipality?
4. In the Stephens Plantation CDD, in addition to the CDD board (City Council), there are apparently a dependent special district board and a resident owners association. Who actually makes decisions, and are the other boards simply "advisory" in nature?
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3 comments:
I would like to know what makes a mini-government a legal entity? Is a mini-government like a quasi-government? Is this just another trick that elected officals us to tax residents in new and more creative ways?
You have to also look at Harmony as CDD that is running into problems. Residents in Harmony are starting to question the additional taxation and spending habits of the CDD board, but there is little they can do.
I just find it amazing how quickly people will give up there rights for a charlatan's promise.
IN RESPONSE: DIDN'T WE GIVE UP OUR RIGHTS WHEN WE ELECTED G BUSH TO A SECOND TERM?
Chapter 190 of Florida Statue covers the do's and don't of CDD's
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