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Highlands Today

SNL's Big Landowners Should Do The Right Thing

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 13, 2008

It's time. In fact, it's way past time for big landowners in Sun 'n Lake of Sebring to allow one-person, one-vote status to residents of the improvement district. Contrary to what the district's attorney says, there is no good argument to keep the status quo, unless you're one of the large landowners. Other than that, their argument doesn't pass the smell test.

When Sun 'n Lake of Sebring special improvement district formed, Highlands County allowed it to happen under a state law that has long since been tossed from the books. In the law, it allowed big landowners to hold a vote for each lot they owned. That now means they get three seats on the five-seat board that decides what direction the district goes. Citizens there have little chance of having a fair say, unless the big absentee landowners agree to it and it benefits them.

In the beginning, this arrangement worked. With few homes in the development, it made sense for the biggest landowners to make decisions to ensure that the area had what it needed to continue to grow. At some point, however, when enough people live there, that needed to change. The problem is that no clear, concise transfer was put into the original deal.

It's difficult to imagine anyone who honestly believes the current setup is fair. Perhaps it's legal due to a flawed law, but that doesn't make it right.

As expected, the big landowners have no intention of giving up that deciding vote on the board of directors. Local residents have threatened to file suit to make it happen, but it's questionable if they have a case or the money to pursue it.

Highlands County commissioners have wanted to step into the fight and support the homeowners, but they see a legal quagmire that's not worth the risk. And even if they took over the improvement district, residents there would see much higher property taxes than the current assessments they pay.

The big dogs have played their cards well, and seem smug about their position. The problem, however, is that they are on the wrong side of this, and it will come back to bite them. The tensions growing out there between residents and the landowners who can out-vote them is teetering on downright nasty.

We don't know how this all plays out, but we believe enough residents now live in the district to make their own decisions. A stacked deck by large absentee landowners isn't fair and it needs to be changed.

Will the powers that be give up that third seat? Will residents be willing to see much higher property taxes if the county takes it over? The bad news is that we doubt either of those things will happen.

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