Eustis, FL May 16, 2017
Staff leaders from Eustis, Mount Dora and Lake County met in Eustis on May 15, 2017 to discuss a Eustis ISBA (Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement) proposal to greatly expand their city by annexing several retirement communities east of Mount Dora that don't want to be annexed (or pay higher Eustis property taxes).
A full video of this two hour meeting is HERE.
There was standing room only with sparks flying when County residents gave public input. The County and Mount Dora got the revised proposal late from Eustis, so would not make any decisions because their attorneys did not have time to analyze it.
As it was, the apparent direction from the County Board to the County Manager David Heath is they did not think it appropriate. The Eustis City Manager Ron Neibert was the proponent of the expansion to annex communities about 8 miles outside of Eustis. The Mount Dora Manager mostly watched the County and Eustis Managers verbally exchange comments. No decision was made, and the proposal will go to a joint meeting of all three Boards in a public meeting to discuss further.
It was interesting, however, that a number of the affected retirement communities claimed they were blindsided by the issue and only just heard about it. I see this often where residents stay in their cocoon and don't read the papers. Earlier discussions and meetings have been held since March, 2016 and are documented on this City of Eustis webpage:http://www.eustis.org/business/development_plan_approval/interlocal_service_boundry_agreement_(isba)/index.php
Here is a list of some of the Daily Commercial articles on the proposed ISBA change. http://www.dailycommercial.com/search?text=Eustis%20ISBA&start=1
And here is a column by Lake Sentinel's Lauren Ritchie about "Greedy Eustis's" plan. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/os-lauren-ritchie-eustis-profit-wekiva-parkway-20170504-story.html
Reporters from both papers were at the meeting, so I expect stories to appear soon in both publications.
My Conclusion:
It seems to me that Eustis is working uphill on this issue and will probably be denied their proposal.
The City of Eustis is not really clear about how much the property taxes will increase if the communities are annexed, but the County Manager had data showing they went up quite a bit. The Eustis City Manager did agree to post some estimates within property value ranges on the above Eustis website on the proposal.
Article and Video by Vance Jochim at : https://youtu.be/Q5OhhUzBZro Permission is granted to use the video or photos if credit is given to Vance Jochim at FiscalRangers.com .
