Fiscal Rangers

Why doesn't Lake County, FL have a member on the Florida Assoc. of Counties Water Policy Committee?

The Florida Association of Counties (FAC) has a water policy committee. Guess what, Lake County, FL has NO REPRESENTATION ON THE COMMITTEE. Here is a link showing 30+ counties that DO HAVE a rep on the committee. Read more →

60 Local Government Employees based in Tavares, FL Earned $100k or more in 2017 per OpenTheBooks.org database

A government spending watchdog, OpenTheBooks.org, tracks wasteful government programs and also tracks local, state and Federal employee wages over $100k. We examined their reports for local cities in the Lake County area, and found 60 employees working in the Tavares, FL area for government that earned over $100k. OpenTheBooks.org also launched an initiative to encourage the Congress to launch a "War on Waste" by listing wasteful, stupid Federal programs and asking the government to publish budget details for transparency, and then eliminate the uncovered, wasteful programs. Read more →

Is Lake County, FL collecting hotel bed taxes from ALL AirBNB renters?

The Lake County, FL Tax Collector is not collecting bed taxes via AirBNB from renters using AirBNB for making reservations. Some individual AirBNB renters may file and pay the taxes, but most do not. Other Florida counties and some entire states work directly with AirBNB to collect taxes via the AirBNB reservation system, but apparently not Lake County. The result is hotels have to pay the bed tax of 4%, but many AirBNB renters may not be doing so, giving them an unfair pricing advantage. We have the details. Read more →

Transparency over local government meeting agendas, minutes, videos, etc. is being damaged by ADA compliance lawsuits

Local governments like cities are being sued because their websites are not completely designed to comply with ADA requirements that were written before the internet was created.  For instance, cities cannot post meeting videos if they don't incur the expense to provide captions that software for the blind or deaf can read and translate so they can understand it.  Thus the benefit of transparency for 97% of the populations are shut down for 3% who complain. Read more →

Wunderbar - the new Lake County, FL Court Clerk, Gary Cooney, has Appointed a new, QUALIFIED, Inspector General

Wunderbar - the newly elected Lake County, FL Court Clerk, Gary Cooney, has Appointed a new, QUALIFIED, Inspector General, Terri Freeman. Read more →

Bad Roads & Traffic Jams in Lake County? Perhaps we need a #FixOurDamnRoads Initiative like Colorado!

Fed up with bad roads or traffic jams in Lake County or your city while officials spend mega-millions on: - new buildings, - splash parks, - interest payments to pay for non-infrastructure projects, - bike trails, - brick roads, - huge benefit increases including massive retiree benefits, - employee raises costing more than the cost of living, - staff time on private projects like Wellness Way, - "lifestyle" projects, - spending on downtown city projects more than road repairs, - social welfare programs, - free buses that lose money on every trip, - police radios ($18-million), - bureaucratic "required" studies, - huge parks, - trails, - lawsuits, - events and - local charities? Instead of cutting back on those, the Lake County Board (and cities) plan to hike your fuel taxes (it is coming). Everything else, it seems, is a priority over roads. In Colorado, citizens have formed a tax rebellion movement called #FixOurDamnRoads" and collected over 150,000 signatures provided to the Secretary of State. They demand the roads be fixed WITHOUT ANY TAX INCREASES Perhaps we need such a #FixOurDamnRoads program for Lake County. If you see a Lake Country traffic jam or bad road problems, take a picture... Read more →

Today's Lake County, FL Board gets earful about St. John's River Water Management District plans to move 250,000 truckloads of sand.

Tavares, FL July 10, 2018 Today, I was at the Lake County Board meeting, and tab 39 was a big discussion about whether the St. John's River Water Management District would be allowed to start moving sand from a conservation area they own in Lake County resulting an estimated 330,000 truck trips over 5 years or 200-250 truckloads a day on two minor road used by residents. After many public comments by affected residents, the Board voted to decide on an ordinance at a future meeting that would NOT allow trucks over 10 tons to traverse either of the two rural roads which are not designed for such heavy traffic. Lots of cheering. This whole fiasco came up because the SJRWMD Board decided to authorize selling the sand to make $1.4-million while (according to residents) decimating wildlife, quiet, road safety, etc. I gave public input about the little known fact that the LJRWMD is a multi-county regional system where Board members are appointed by the Governor (not elected) and Lake County has NOT had a representative on their board since the 1970's. Two insiders told me it was because high political contributors got the positions and apparently no one in... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Publisher files for the "At Large" Seat on the Lake County, FL Water District Board

Lake County, FL Fiscal Watchdog blogger Vance Jochim has filed to run for the "At Large" seat on the Lake County Water Authority Board (LCWA). Jochim has written the local Fiscal Watchdog blog, FiscalRangers.com for 12 years. Read more →

Who will be running the Lake County Court Clerk function after November?

At the last moment, a new candidate filed to run for Lake County, FL Court Clerk vs a favored insider who was named by the retiring Court Clerk AFTER potential candidates could collect and submit petition cards to qualify for the ballot. Instead, the new candidate will have to pay over $8000 in fees to qualify. We tell you all about it. Read more →

Lake County, FL Bad Roads - Increased Impact Fees on Tomorrow's County Board Agenda

Traffic and road conditions are getting worse in Lake County. We talk about some of the issues, and how some more funding may be on the way if the Lake County Board starts the process to increase road impact fees on new construction. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Meeting VIDEO - Mar. 7, 2018 - More admin screwups postpone Shirley Shores Annexation AGAIN

Tavares, FL Mar. 11, 2018 I uploaded a video to YouTube of the Tavares, FL City Council meeting held on March 7, 2018 which is HERE: https://youtu.be/AWMAe7TYQC0. The agenda location is on the 2nd slide. Length is 1 hr, 17 min. The short link to THIS blog page is: https://tinyurl.com/TavaresFLMarch7 I have decided to write some comments about the actions seen in this meeting video which are below. Tab 7 - Annexation and Rezoning related to Shirley Shores Road / Hidden River Lakes proposed 222 acre development. THIS WAS POSTPONED DUE TO IMPROPER NOTIFICATION OF THE PUBLIC BY THE DEVELOPER'S REPRESENTATIVES. See overview starting at 3:55 on the video then more later. Probably at least 60 neighbors were there for this issue and for the 3rd or 4th time, the procedures were botched, so the issue was postponed to a future meeting. Apparently the developer representatives must follow certain steps and the city staff does not ensure they are followed, then the opposition attorney raises the issue and ONCE AGAIN, the issue is postponed. I am flabbergasted the City staff has no sanctions or fines to apply when zoning/land use change requesters don't follow the rules. So everyone will have... Read more →

Yippee! Lake County, FL & Three Cities try to increase efficiency by measuring performance metrics

Florida is home to the largest consortium of cities and counties tracking performance benchmarks, called the Florida Benchmarking Consortium. The Lake County government, plus three cities, Mt. Dora, Tavares and Clermont joined FBC last year (2017). The first annual FBC report showing performance measures for more than 30 members was just published in Dec., 2017 for fiscal year 2015-16 and they are in it. We review the overall program here, and will cover specific results in a future article. Read more →

Trump Kills Obama Socialistic Housing Redistribution Program - AFFH - YIPPEE!!

Tavares, FL Jan. 5, 2018 by Vance Jochim Hooray! Trump dumped the implementation deadlines of the Obama anti-property rights 2015 regulation AFFH (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing). AFFH required every city and county accepting Federal CDBG grants to do a detailed study of ALL residential areas then develop a plan to move poor people to wealthier neighborhoods to adjust "disparities" in income levels. This was also a huge revenue generator for Obama favored community consultants who would do the massive, required studies. HERE is the New York Times long article. HERE is a similar article in a paper that does not require online subscriptions. Here is an earlier 2016 background video on AFFH from critic John Anthony: https://youtu.be/mSYjqXffjFY Both news sources mostly complain from a liberal standpoint, and don't quote from critics of the program, so I have included my list of critics like Fox News, John Anthony, Rush Limbaugh, the National Review and other sources at the bottom of this document, including a link where Trump said in 2016 that he would discontinue AFFH. I also wrote earlier articlea on the dangers of AFFH HERE: http://www.fiscalrangers.com/affh/ The implementation of this rule was forced on Counties and Cities like Lake County,... Read more →

Observations About Nov. 7, 2017 City Council Elections in Lake County, FL

Five cities in Lake County, FL are having contested elections for City Council members today, election day, Nov. 7, 2017. We reviewed candidate's contribution and campaign filing documents to identify clear Democrats running for these "non-partisan" positions and made some observations. Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Alert: FEMA and SBA opening a Hurricane IRMA assistance office in Tavares, FL (Lake County, FL) starting tomorrow, Oct. 19 for 4 days.

Tavares, FL Wed. Oct 18, 2017 Update: Here is the official press release describing the FEMA assistance office. The article below was corrected to describe the office as an assistance, NOT claims center. Breaking news: FEMA is opening a Hurricane IRMA damage assistance shop, along with SBA in Lake County, FL at the Agriculture Center in Tavares on HWY 19 and Woodlea Road. It starts with a "soft Opening" tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 19 at 1pm to the evening, then open four more days to provide Hurricane IRMA disaster recovery assistance. This was announced at the Tavares City Council meeting about an hour ago (Wed. Oct. 18, 5:30 pm). I have no other details, so I imagine it will be in the newspapers tomorrow, so if you have damage, plan to determine how they can help. VERIFY this by watching for other notices. http://lake.ifas.ufl.edu/ Look for details as I get them at FiscalRangers.com I will go by there tomorrow to get an update - it is only about 3 blocks from my house. "Some of the services available include federal disaster assistance, low-interest loans for homeowners and businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration and crisis counseling." "For more information, call... Read more →

Updated: Two City Meetings today in Lake County, FL Illustrate dangers of building homes in rural areas that could be annexed by cities.

Tavares, FL Sept 20, 2017 Post meeting updates for both meetings were added at the end of each section at 8pm on Sept. 20, 2017. Can any Lake County, FL resident who built a "dream home" in rural or lakefront Lake County feel safe from being annexed by a nearby city with higher taxes and high density planned development over their back fence? Today are two meetings affecting future living styles of retirees in rural Lake County residences. Two different cities are trying to annex different land areas that County rural residents don't want to happen. They don't want the taxes, or they don't want the planned nearby development that conflicts with the existing land uses. (Note: I will post updates on these meetings below each section after they take place today.) 1. The Tavares City Council meets today, Sept. 20, 2017 at 4pm to review and approve two ordinances that would result in annexation of 222 acres on Shirley Shores Road of rural lands near Deer Island on the south shore of Lake Dora. The second ordinance would change the County defined "rural transition" land use to city land use densities of 3 units per acre compared to existing... Read more →

Week of July 31, 2017 - Lots of Political News and Plans

This is a recap of all the upcoming political events in Lake County the week of July 31, 2017. Read more →

Is Eustis Greedy or Smart to Annex Resistant Retirement Communities?

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... Read more →

Tonight's 6pm Meeting of the Lake County, FL School Board District has some issues you should know about, and the Board should discuss in public

Tonight's 6pm meeting of the Lake County, FL School District Board includes an agenda with several consent items that should be "pulled" for public justification by the School Board. There are also discussion items with the most important being the approval of the contract and start date for the new Superintendent of Schools, Diane Kornegay. Read more →

Voting Fraud Update: US Agency that certifies voting machines was hacked, Russian selling their logins

US Agency responsible for certifying voting machines is hacked and staff login credentials are offered for online sale by Russian hacker. Just another example of the loose systems used for US voting. Read more →

Important new Scientific chemical element discovered - Governmentium aka the "Critical Morass"

Tavares, FL 32778 Dec. 18, 2017 This improtant scientific news is from Cathy Holden on Facebook: Subject: New Chemical Discovered The heaviest chemical element yet known to science A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium". Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons,75 deputy neutrons, and 111 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of governmentium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization causes some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads... Read more →

Video of Lake County, FL Elections Canvassing Board "Audit" of vote machine counts vs manual count

The Lake County, FL Elections Canvassing Board performed an audit on Nov. 21, 2016 to compare a sample of paper ballot counts to machine generated totals. This is an overview of the process and a link to the video of the 3+ hour process. This includes some observations about loopholes in the "audit" process. Read more →

Voters Challenging Elections Processes More Often - Tampa Bay Times

Tavares, FL Oct. 30, 2016 The Tampa Bay Times posted an article about how local voters are challenging vote integrity and questioning processes more than before. The concern was enough in Hillsborough County that last week Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Craig Latimer printed " a flier titled "Let's talk about safe and secure elections" for staff and volunteers to give out at voting sites. It includes a list of 10 safeguards his office employs to ensure that only eligible voters cast a ballot and that they only get to do it once." I think all this questioning is a good thing. Here in Lake County, the Republicans have undearthed several absentee and sample ballot screwups forcing the County Elections Supt. Emogene Stegall to answer them. She still hasn't answered my last email questions about incorrect absentee ballots sent to residents of one community. If you have not voted yet, be sure to inspect your ballot to ensure you got the proper one with the candidates you expect to see on it. If you encounter any disparities, let me and the Lake County Republicans know about it so a possible larger problem is not buried. PS: Unlike the Lake County Elections... Read more →

Updated FiscalRangers.com Conservative Voting Recommendations for Lake County, FL voters

Here are my recommendations for candidates and issues on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot for Lake County, FL voters. Read more →

Lake County Scoop: County Commissioner Leslie Campione discloses plan for school impact fee waivers

A new plan for school impact fee waivers was presented to the Lake County FL School Board today by Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione. Read more →

Weekly FiscalRangers Update: Election Hijinks, Drug Smuggling, Supt. of Schools Search & More

Here is the FiscalRangers.com weekly update of local government and political issues in Lake County, FL. Read more →

Here is a $90-million REASON to vote out Lake County, FL Commission Incumbents - they ignored discussing a new $90-million liability

Here is a reason to vote out all three incumbent Lake County Commissioners on the August 30 ballot, and vote for Lake County Commission Candidates Wendy Breeden, Josh Blake and Tim Loucks (or Mike Levine) by August 30, 2016. Lake County staff and elected Board members are whining about lack of funds to pay for roads. But we describe how current Board incumbents ignored a new NINETY MILLION DOLLAR liability for retired employee pension and retiree health insurance benefits. We describe how more money would be available for roads, but instead, County staff and incumbent Board members are allocating increased pension costs first in the budget rather than reduce retiree or employee health insurance coverage to match rates spent by private sector employers. This is one of many reasons to vote out all incumbents and vote in new blood for County Commissioners like Wendy Breeden, Tim Loucks and Josh Blake. Read more →

North Lake County, FL Candidate Hob Nob Results - Leesburg, FL

Here are the results of over 700 straw poll votes for Lake County local, State and Federal elections taken at the Leesburg, FL Hob Nob. Read more →

FiscalRangers.com 2016 Lake County, FL Election Recommendations AND RESULTS for the August 30 Primary Ballot

This is the FiscalRangers.com Guide to Recommended Candidates for local Lake County, FL primary elections held on August 30, 2016. Does not include cities or special districts. Read more →

Lake County, FL Commissioner Leslie Campione Opinion on Jimmy Conner's Re-election Claims.

Lake County, FL County Commissioner Leslie Campione wrote an opinion article about how "fellow" Board member Jimmy Conner is spouting half truths about a local sand mine in order to frighten people into voting for him. Read it to understand why many residents are supporting his opponent, Wendy Breeden. Read more →

Pictures & videos of Lake County, FL Republican candidates assembled for Flag Day and speeches

Many Republican candidates for elected office showed up Saturday, June 25, 2016 to make speeches and talk to voters during the Flag Day celebration held by the Lake County Republicans in Tavares, FL. We posted pictures and videos will soon be uploaded to YouTube. Read more →

Video of Candidate Forum for Lake County, FL Board of County Commissioners

The video of the full candidate forum held on June 16, 2016 in Tavares, FL is now on our FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube channel HERE. Read more →

Summary of Actions by Lake County Board of Commissioners at the June 21, 2016 Meeting

This is an overview of the June 21, 2016 meeting of the Lake County, FL Board of County Commissioners. Read more →

Lake County and Cities Ignore warnings about Federal HUD AFFH program, but Colorado City Doesn't

The Obama Administration's HUD rolled out new AFFH rules in 2015 that reduce local control of zoning and reduce property rights. The AFFH (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing) rules are new conditions for cities and counties to get HUD and CDBG grants. By accepting the conditions, city and county officials are agreeing to expensive AFFH rules where Federal rules would override local zoning and planning decisions. A town in Colorado has just rejected renewal of the HUD CDBG grants due to the AFFH rules, and they explain why in a letter to HUD. Read all about it and more about AFFH dangers in this FiscalRangers.com blog report. Read more →

Breaking: Jimmy "Chainsaw" Conner, Lake County Commissioner, resigns to run for Elections Supervisor

Lake County, Florida's County Commissioner Jimmy Conner is resigning and running for Lake County Elections Supervisor. Here are all the details. Read all the article before posting comments. Read more →

Lake County, FL Sheriff Borders drops out of re-election race

Lake County, FL Sheriff Gary Borders has dropped out of his re-election race. Read more →

Lake Sentinel Columnist Lauren Ritchie picks on County Commissioner Tim Sullivan

Lake County, FL Political News: Columnist Lauren Ritchie from the Lake Sentinel is picking on incumbent Lake County, FL Commissioner, Tim Sullivan, about his living in Jimmy Conner's district but renting an empty apartment in the District he represents as a "residence". Read more →

Lake County, FL Candidate Meet & Greet Notice: Feb. 18 in Tavares

The North Lake County Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women’s Club is hosting a local candidate election meet and greet event on Feb. 18 at 6:30 pm in Tavares, FL for ALL new and re-election partisan and non-partisan candidates for any party or office in Lake County. The event is open to all voters. Read more →

Just Retired Lake County Public Services Director files papers to run against Incumbent Lake County Board member Jimmy Conner

Lake County, FL Politics: Just Retired Lake County Public Services Director Wendy Breeden files papers to run against Incumbent Lake County Board member Jimmy Conner. Read more →

Lake County, FL Legislators Delegation Summit - Dec. 9, 2015, Leesburg, FL

Every year the five Lake County, Florida Legislators hold their annual Lake County Legislators' Summit to hear three minutes of public input from local agencies and citizens. Yesterday, Dec. 9, 2015, they held the annual meeting for three hours with 53 speakers. They use the input to set their priorities for the upcoming Florida legislation session that starts in January, 2016. Read more →

How to Use Common Law Grand Juries to Investigate Government Officials

Who knew there is a method defined in the US Constitution and descended from the the British Magna Carta on how citizen activists can convene a Common Law Grand Jury (CLGJ) to investigate local Governent corruption. A well known conservative talk show host and author, Jason W. Hoyt, visited Lake County, FL recently and explained how to setup a CLGJ. Read more →

Satanist applies to give invocation at Lake County, FL Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations

Satanists apply to give invocation at Lake County, FL County Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations to deal with it. Read more →

German Town tells Schoolgirls to "Cover Up" so as not to upset Muslims

Tavares, FL Sept 27, 2015 A German town is telling school age girls to "cover up" so as not to upset Muslim refugees located next to their school. Will this happen in the US and Lake County, FL? One problem with allowing Muslim refugees or immigrants into a town ( or like Lake County) is their fundamentalist "culture" will cause conflicts with American culture. In this article, a German town told all the schools to forbid girls from wearing revealing clothes or bare arms due to refugees being located nearby. They expect conflict like is happening in the UK and other locations in Europe where a small number of Muslims can disrupt communities by demanding accomodations to THEIR culture. Muslims move to other countries but usually refuse to adapt to the local country culture. An example is demanding that women be completely covered up. So, if you read about some of the 85,000 Muslim refugees being re-located in the US by the Obama administration into your neighborhood, this is what you can expect. http://newobserveronline.com/german-girls-must-cover-arms-and-legs-to-appease-syrian-refugees/ Read more →

North Lake County FL Hospital District Board approves 1-mill property tax and budget of $9.3-million

The North Lake County Hospital District Board met for the second required public hearing on Sept. 24, 2015 to determine the new fiscal year millage rate and related budget which were set at 1 mill and an expenditure budget of $9-million for fiscal year 2015-2016. Read more →

10+ Reasons to Vote AGAINST Lake County, Florida's $800-million "Infrastructure Sales Tax" Referendum on Nov. 3

On Nov. 3, 2015, the ballot in Lake County, FL will have a referendum asking voters to renew an existing one penny sales tax for another 15 years that will generate between $450-800-million in taxes. The funds will be for capital spending like buildings or computers or vehicles and split in thirds for each of these three groups: 1) Lake County government, the 14 cities in Lake County, and the School District. This article covers 10+ reasons to vote NO on the referendum and conditions needed to save taxpayers $100-million plus by prohibiting use of bonds to run up government debt. Read more →

EPA announces new over reaching Land Grab rules to reduce property rights even more!!!

The EPA has issued a new land grab rule that reduces property rights even more. Read this to find out how. Read more →

Video of Lake County, FL debate over Nov. Referendum to Renew $800-million "penny sales tax" for another 15 years

The Lake County North Lake Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women's Club hosted a panel debate on whether to renew the "penny sales tax" for another 15 years, which would collect about $800-million from consumers. Below is the link to the video. Read more →

Be SURE to attend tomorrow's debate on renewing the Lake County Penny Sales Tax in November

Lake County Florida voters are asked to vote no on the "penny sales tax renewal" issue on the Nov. 2015 ballot. This article includes links to pro videos and info on why the tax should be voted down until certain conditions are inserted into the ballot language. There is also a flyer and info for a panel on August 20, 2015 in Tavares to discuss the ballot issue with two for, and two against the referendum. Read more →

Invocations in Public Meetings - Will they disappear due to a new court ruling?

A North Carolina County Board this week followed a new court ruling prohibiting "Christian only" invocations and allowed a Muslim to give the invocation. Then the Chair walked out and the remaining four Commissioners voted to replace invocations with a "moment of silence". Can this happen in Lake County, FL government agencies? Read more →

FiscalRangers Alert: Lake County Board to approve CDBG grant Tuesday morning that requires compliance with Obama's HUD AFFH program to shift poor residents into wealthier existing communities

The Lake County Board of Commissioners meeting agenda for Tuesday, August 4, 2015 contains a consent agenda item to approve a Federal CDBG grant plan. That plan contains a condition to comply with AFFH or Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing which can result in damage to existing property values of full neighborhoods. The Board should pull the agenda item and schedule it for a full staff presentation at a public workshop with public input to understand all the negative implications. The CDBG grant should be rejected due to the requirement for AFFH implementation. Read more →