Fiscal Rangers

Schools & Common Core Update - including Impact Fee proposals

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 24, 3013 Here are several updates on Lake County School District issues, including: - How the District will handle FL Gov. Scott's announcement yesterday that Florida is dropping participation in the Common Core PARCC testing consortium, which was highly criticized. A meeting was set for this Friday to discuss it, but no one knows about it yet. There is no topic described or agenda. - Progress on re-instating School Impact Fees There are no details in the Newsletter sent out by the Lake County, FL School District HQ today. There are no details on the LCSD website Calendar or in Board Docs. However, Board member Kyleen Fischer said the Friday meeting was a public meeting to decide or describe how LCSD will handle Gov. Scott’s Executive Order to drop the PARCC testing program for Common Core, and develop an alternative. That news all came out today. I will be sending out a Common Core Update tomorrow, and hopefully have details on the Fri and the Mon meetings. The Friday meeting will be at the LCSD HQ building at 2pm. PS: School Board member Tod Howard gave a good overview of the state of Lake County... Read more →

More News on Lake County School Board Decisions on Busing & Impact Fees

Update on Lake County Schools - Somehow they are finding more funds or ways to provide FREE (i.e. paid by other LOCAL taxpayers) busing to more kids who live less than two miles from their schools. And, could the School Board on Monday actually, finally, make a decision to re-instate some impact fees to pay for unfunded school construction needs? http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-school-transportation-funding-20130920,0,3450470.story Read more →

Lake County School Board Salary Score - 4% Raise - Teachers - ZIP

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013 - Tavares, FL This Orlando Sentinel article and video is about Lake County, FL School Board members getting a 4% raise which is set by the STATE, not the Board. The picture here is NOT the Lake County Board, but some other Board...apparently the OC Sentinel doesn't know the difference. So, our Lake County School Board is getting a raise of 4% when teachers get very little. Board member Bill Mathias is the only Board member so far to donate his "raise" to the School District's Foundation. Update: Tod Howard posted this: "I stated mine will likely go to support Winnie Palmer NICU." This will make for an even better meeting at 1pm on Monday, Sept. 23, when the School Board decides whether to re-instate impact fees, discuss busing, etc. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-school-board-raises-florida-20130918,0,522020.story You can find the 1pm Special Meeting Agenda for the School Board, as well as the regular 6pm meeting agenda here: http://www.boarddocs.com/fla/lake/board.nsf/Public You can also find another take on School impact fees here (just keep in mind it is backed by homebuilders and they do NOT want impact fees at all). http://lakecountygov.info/2013/09/19/almost-a-billion-dollars/ vjl Read more →

Will Lake County, FL Schools Move to Double Sessions Due to Board Inaction on Impact Fees?

Tavares, FL - Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013 Will there be double school sessions in Lake County FL due to inaction by the School Board to approve funding methods like impact fees? Will the Lake County School Board ever make a decision to approve revenues to fund over $900-million in backlogs? They need to start building a $30-million school in South County now to provide for growing student populations, but still have not developed a consensus. They met with the Lake County Board last Monday to go over some complex ways to charge impact fees but spread the cost over future property tax bills on new construction, but it appears to complex to do now. So, next Monday, the School Board meets and will they actually get three of the five members to re-instate any Impact fees to fund future needs, or will they discuss it and THUD, the issue drops to the floor. As long as you have the Chair Kyleen Fischer making decisions based upon complaints from homebuilders (to prevent impact fees), there seems to be no funding prospects. vj Read more →

Florida Common Core may cost $1-billion to Implement & Bill Filed to DELAY Implementation

This is a great article, so just read it. It also contains details on a new Florida bill filed to delay Common Core implementation until several conditions are met. http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/09/03/beyond-the-pause-bill-hb-25-halting-the-common-core-state-standards-and-parcc/ vj Read more →

Update on Lake County FL School Busing cuts and possible reinstatement

Tavares, FL - Sept. 3, 2013 Update on Lake County FL School Busing cuts and possible reinstatement: The Lake County School District Board met today at 2pm to discuss what to do about "courtesy busing" based upon feedback from many parents. This is where the District needed to reduce their budget and by eliminating bus transportation for students living less than 2-miles from their school, they could save $650,000. However, this affected 4,000 students and 150 angry parents showed up at last week's Board meeting to protest the cuts. At today's Board meeting, they didn't vote to reinstate the buses, but did vote to move forward on providing buses for kids who must walk through hazardous conditions to get to school. Hazardous means situations like no sidewalks (responsibility of the County and Cities, not schools), crossing six lane highways or crossing roads with average traffic exceeding 45 or 55mph. However, once the "hazardous" conditions are fixed, like added sidwalks or crosswalks, or even crossing guards, the kids will lose the busing services. However, the Board is also planning to research and possibly implement paid busing like Broward County. More details and discussion are planned for next Monday's workshop or meeting.... Read more →

Florida Common Core Update: Florida Republican County leaders send detailed letter to others objecting to Common Core

Tavares, FL - Monday, Sept. 2 See update in red below - 37 people have now signed the letter. vj Florida & Lake County Common Core Update: 12 Florida GOP Committee men & women and County Republican party Chairs sent a letter to other Florida "Republican Leaders" objecting to Common Core. Signers include Mike Levine, Lake County Republican Executive Committee Chair, and Patricia Sullivan, Florida State Committeewoman for Lake County. What is interesting is that the Lake County REC never discussed issuing a resolution so Levine & Sullivan are speaking as individuals without any vote of the REC. I know, because I am chair of the Public Policy committee who was going to bring a resolution against Common Core before the REC at the end of Sept. We were going to do it last month, but the August meeting was dedicated to Lake County Transportation Funding issues. But, reasons for prompt action do exist: the recent 3 day Tampa "Education Summit" was held by Gov. Scott which was not announced until 2 business days before the meeting with already selected panel members using the “Delphi” technique and with mostly Common Core supporters on the panels. The Delphi technique is used... Read more →

Common Core Update: FL Gov. Scott Launches Education Summit to Review Common Core NEXT WEEK

Tavares, FL - Aug. 23, 2013 by Vance Jochim Below (scroll down) is the press release sent out by Gov. Scott’s office yesterday about the Education Summit in Clearwater next Mon-Wed. They only gave ONE day’s notice for this. I don’t see the names of ANY well known Common Core opponents on the list except Randy Osborne. Update 4:30 pm Friday: I just talked to FL Rep. Marlene O'Toole (The Villages and Lake County) and she says the process is a "collaborative lab" designed to brainstorm many ideas, and the Summit is open and info will be available afterwards. She also said that PARCC is OUT per Florida legislative leaders, so they may discuss other testing systems or alternatives. She agreed to let me interview her after the Summit. If anyone is in the Clearwater area and can video this meeting, that would be great. If you do, let me know. Also get names of handouts and ask for them. Use the list of titles to ask for them later and get the contact who is recording the audio. Besides the press release below, here is an Associated Press article about the Summit: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/aug/22/gov-rick-scott-calls-review-school-standards/ They didn’t give much notice, so... Read more →

Common Core Video & Update for Lake County, FL

Eustis, FL - August 6, 2013 Here is my video of a Common Core Presentation by Lake County FL School District on Aug. 6, 2013 in Eustis, FL. http://youtu.be/1ACDJ4UeOTU It only contained the Schools viewpoint, but they did provide some good answers to some public concerns. This was a presentation to about 80-100 public attendees by the staff of the Lake County School District (Florida) on how they are implementing Common Core, along with answering questions. Contains a segment by a representative of the Florida Dept of Education, plus an overview of security over kids data, and three good presentations by teachers on how they are implementing Common Core. Several questions from the public were answered including a lame one I asked because I tried winging it. This was the second of two public events on Common Core by the School District. The first one in Clermont, FL, had the same speakers, but was not as good because most questions were from teachers about administrative issues. So teachers might want to watch our video of that one also at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKdzx7Gej0k . Additionally, the Lake County Republican Party had an earlier public event on Common Core with both advocates and opponents... Read more →

Videos of June 27th Common Core Forum in Tavares, FL Hosted by Lake County Republican Party

Tavares, FL - June 29th, 2013 Two videos of the June 27th, 2013 Common Core Forum in Lake County, FL are embedded below or linked HERE (Part 1) & (Part 2) . Hosted by the Lake County, FL Republican Party. Names of panelists are in attached page below or in text on YouTube pages. Two panelists were for Common Core and two were against it. Note: The panelists assumed attendees knew the history of Common Core, so it was not clearly presented. To get better background on Common Core, look at our Factsheet at www.tinyurl.com/HaltCommonCoreNow . Download Common Core Forum Panelists Info Download 2013-06-27 CC REC Forum Download Top 10 Objections to Common Core Education Standards - Handout Summary of Event: Both sides made relevant points. However, most audience sentiment was against Common Core, so a planned straw vote was not taken. Video - Part one - Two hours Video Part two - about 30 min Read more →

Meeting Notice: Lake County June 27th Common Core Forum on Pros & Cons in Tavares, FL

Tavares, FL - June 22, 2013 Download 2013-06-27 CC REC Forum <<<< This is the flyer in Word format. Please send to your friends in Lake County. Updated 6/27/13 to add Dr. Karen Efrem as a panelist and to add biographical information on each panelist. (Vance Jochim will not be on the panel, since we were able to get Dr. Efrem. Meeting Notice for Thursday, June 27th, at 7pm in Tavares, FL June 27th Lake County, FL FREE Public Forum on Understanding Pros and Cons of Florida’s Common Core Education Standards for Public Schools (K-12) Who should attend: Parents, Grandparents, policy makers and anyone from any political viewpoint concerned with Florida K-12 Education quality or costs. Hosted by: Public Policy Committee of the Lake County Republican Party (Republican Executive Committee) Date: Thursday, June 27 Time: 7 pm - we suggest you arrive early and bring a chair in case there are not enough Location: Tavares Community Center, 100 E. Caroline St., Tavares, FL Note: Another forum will be scheduled later in July for the Clermont, FL area. Contact for info: Vance Jochim, [email protected]; 352-638-3578. Updates on the meeting and pros (section F) and cons (section C) of Common Core will... Read more →

Lake County School Board Votes to TABLE discussion on allowing Gay Clubs at Middle Schools

Tavares, FL - Thursday, Apr. 25, 2013 by Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com - UPDATES will be added to this document as received. The Lake County Board meeting this past Monday, April 22nd, included an agenda item for the second and final vote to approve extra-curricular clubs at Lake County middle schools, which would include a proposed Gay Straight Alliance club (GSA) at Carver Middle School which many people objected to because they believed 6th & 7th graders should not be confronted with groups focuses on sexual lifestyles. The only other alternative allowed by the Federal “Equal Access” law was to prohibit all extra-curricular clubs, including those focused on community service, Christian groups, etc. but it would also exclude the GSA club. Note: This blog writer was against formation of Gay Clubs at Middle Schools (see why in attachment below). This picture taken from the right side of the room, which had about 1/3 of the audience in the "Communist Red" shirts, indicating support of the liberal coordinated GSA club. The other 2/3 on the far side of the room were LOCALS who were against it. Plus there were many sitting outside this filled room watching on monitors. Normally, Lake County... Read more →

Rick Riker Guest Editorial on Common Core Teaching Standards - Are they Marxist Standards?

Tavares, FL - Wed., March 26, 2013 Guest Editorial on Common Core Teaching Standards Being Implemented by Lake County, Florida and 40+ other States by Rick Riker Rick is an active member of the North Lake Tea Party and the Lake County Republican Executive Committee On October 16th, 2012 the Lake County School Board rolled out an introduction to Common Core Standards at Leesberg High School. The moderately well attended presentation included remarks by the school board superintendent on how wonderful the program was and how excited she was that Lake schools would be participating in it, a motivational speaker spoke for a half hour also praising Common Core , and finally a choir of elementary school students sang a song praising Common Core. The presentation was meant to be uplifting, instilling a sense of optimism in those attending, with hopes they would spread the word that Common Core Standards were here, thank goodness. However, I’m sure there were those such a my wife and myself, who left the presentation wondering what Common Core was all about , why no specifics were presented, why a motivational speaker was need , and in fact why this was turned into an “event”.... Read more →

Florida Bill SB-806 to Provide More School Schedule Flexibility Being Fought by Tourism Industry & Disney

Tavares, FL - Thursday, March 21, 2013 School Districts in Florida are waiting for progress on a bill SB-806 (2013), that will allow them more flexibility in scheduling student calendars and when end of session tests are given. Right now, the Florida state mandated schedule calendars force them to give exams AFTER Christmas break, which disrupts the learning and success rates. Read more on the bill and about who is fighting the bill here: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/mar/20/bill-floating-in-the-legislature-gives-florida/ You can monitor progress of Bill SB-806 here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0806 NOTE: Below are the 2013 Lake County School District Legislative Priorities, but this bill is not on it, although I remember them discussing it at a Board meeting. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com ============================================================ Lake County Schools (Florida) 2013 Legislative Priorities (Source: N. Challenger in Superintendant's Office) 1. Respect the constitutional authority of local elected school board members to "supervise, operate and control" public schools in all areas, included, but not limited to, flexibility in categorical spending, instruction, performance pay, budget, personnel, charter schools, and school calendars. 2. To adequately fund community colleges for offering Dual Enrollment programs to high school students. 3. Redistribute available PECO funds to include public schools. Prior to 2011, PECO funds were allocated... Read more →

Volusia County Schools Could Save $17-million by Outsourcing Custodial Services

Tavares, FL - Feb. 11, 2013 by Vance Jochim The School District in Volusia County FL lost a referendum last year to raise annual property taxes by $26-million, so they are hunting for every idea to reduce costs since revenues are down. One method is outsourcing, and they are seriously considering outsourcing of custodial services to reduce costs and save an estimated $17-million. The article below brings up a number of outsourcing examples. One major reason is the high health and pension costs for workers who could be outsourced. Meanwhile, here in Lake County FL, there is much talk of running out of money, but no discussion yet on obtaining outsourcing proposals for services like custodions, food service, etc. Many of the employees subject to similar outsourcing proposals are members of the SEIU Union. So, you might wonder why School Board member Rosanne Brandeburg took about $12,000 in contributions from SEIU and Teacher's unions for her recent re-election campaign. http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130211/OPINION/302089949/1028?Title=Schools-wise-to-consider-outsourcing-some-services Note: I have been laid off three times in corporate downsizings, buyouts and mergers, so Government employees need to be competitive with the private world. Read more →

Fitch Rates Lake County School Board an A+ bond rating JUST Before they decide to refinance $90-million in bonds.

Tavares, FL - Jan. 5, 2012 This rating actually came out on December 20th, but I just found it today. This was before the School District Board decided on December 31 to refinance another $90-million in bonds without any competitive bids. That means they sole sourced a bond consultant and approved the deal without any competitive bidding. Fees described in the online agreement were over $500,000. I can't explain the relevance of the rating, but the analysis seems interesting. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121220006225/en/Fitch-Rates-Lake-County-School-Board-FLs VJ Read more →

Our Take of Yesterday's Lake County Legislators' Delegation Forum & Video Posted

Leesburg, FL - Jan 5, 2012 Yesterday, Jan. 4th, Lake County's three Florida Representatives ( Larry Metz, Bryan Nelson & Marlene O'Toole) and two Senators (Alan Hays & Dorothy Hukill) held their annual "Lake County Legislators' Delegation" meeting to listen to "pitches" from over 20 people from different government and other agencies asking for funds, legislation changes or other Florida State Support for their issues. The publicity for the meeting was so bad that hardly any members of the public attended. Details on meeting locations were confused with three different sites being described by different people. Agendas were stacked at the side and there was no table to greet attendees or get their names to send out follow up documents. I only found out about the meeting in the morning and had to cancel a dental appointment to attend. Hardly any members of the public or press attended. The only member of the press there was from Lake Sentinel. The picture shows you what I mean - this was halfway through the meeting after first speakers all left. If taxpayers and conservative groups don't attend these types of meetings and make their positions known, don't cry when nothing is done.... Read more →

Upcoming Lake County Impact Fee Decisions Could Result in NEW Taxes for YOU!

Tavares, FL - Lake County, FL - Monday, Nov. 26, 2012 After taking a 3-week period to recover from the election results, we are back at it! Your taxes could be raised next year if the Lake County Board decides to continue waiving local Impact Fees on new construction. By waiving the impact fees, the Board is giving up tax revenues that will need to be provided by another source, like property taxes, sales taxes, etc. The Lake County Board and the Lake County School District Board are in the process of deciding whether to renew suspension of impact fees for County transportation (roads) and Schools on new construction of homes and commercial buildings. If you read about or see Lake County (not city) roads being overcrowded, or schools not being able to buy new buildings, computers or school buses, one reason is that impact fees for them were waived by the County Board the last 2-3 years. The resulting County & School Board impact fee decisions in the next 1-2 months could re-enact transportation and school impact fees on new construction waived by the Lake County Board for the last 2 years. The homebuilders and commercial construction firms don't... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Lake County, FL Voting Guide PLUS Tips to Ensure your Ballots & Votes are COUNTED!!

Tavares, FL - Nov. 1, 2012 Here are the FiscalRangers Lake County voting guide & recommendations, followed by tips to ensure your ballots or votes are not denied due to stupid voter mistakes (which are infrequent, but do happen). FiscalRangers.com Lake County Voting Recommendations (Cities not Included) By Vance Jochim Many offices were decided during the primaries, thus I don’t list them here. My bias is I mostly vote Republican and for candidates who are intelligent, create initiatives and exercise sound fiscal decisions. If you don’t have a sample ballot, go to this Lake County Elections page, select your precinct and print or download your specific sample ballot: http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/sample_ballots/index.aspx President : Romney/Ryan – duh! Or did you forget that Obama ran the deficit up to $1-trillion per year, and the national debt up to $16-billion for your kids. Don't even get me started on all those Executive Orders or Obama failing to provide security, resulting in the murder of a US Ambassador in Libya. US Senator: Vote for Connie Mack, NOT Nelson. Democrat Nelson voted like Obama and is part of the problem we have with the economy. US Representative – District 10: Vote for incumbent Daniel Webster (not Deming).... Read more →

What is a Florida Millage Tax? A Tax RATE on Private Property like Residences, Commercial Buildings, etc

Here is a great article explaining what a millage tax is, also known as a property tax in Florida. http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/10/30/what-is-a-millage-tax/ What is a Millage Tax - from Florida Political Press - Written for Seminole County (FL) property owners By Ed Ghiglieri (TIP: First, Florida residents and home or commercial property owners, get out your house's property tax TRIM Notice from your County Property Appraiser (estimates of pending millage rates and property values for the coming tax year) OR your most recent actual Property Tax Bill (from the Tax Collector). Both is better. Millage rates don't affect renters except that the tax WILL be included in the house or business building rent you pay to the owner. If the local city, county or government agency increases a millage rate, your rent will probably go up.) Recently the Seminole County School Board proposed “up to a 1 mill” increase on property taxes in Seminole County to increase the school revenues. In talking to residents, homeowners, business owners and renters of all types there is some confusion of what a millage tax is. I have been told from some people that it’s a mileage tax on your cars and it’s used for road... Read more →

Factors in Successful Applications for New Florida Charter School Approvals

Tavares, FL - Oct. 11, 2012 Florida has regulations that provide incentives to create charter schools, and most School Boards are seeing charter school applications increase. The proponents of a new charter school must apply to the local Countywide School Boards for approvals. In Lake County, FL, we have several "conversion" charter schools, where existing County schools convert to Charter schools, and we have several other schools run by external groups. The Lake County School Board gets 2-3 applications for new charter schools each year, but most of them are incomplete and end up not going anywhere. This article about a wave of Charter School applications in Duvall County, FL (Jacksonville area) indicates some unique reasons for charter school applications: - Counties with POOR school rankings are a target for new charter schools since the parents are more easily convinced that alternative schools are needed. - Counties without poor rankings, like St. John's County, rarely see charter school applications and local parents reject them because the local public schools are highly ranked and respected. Thus the big lesson for school district staff and officials is that if you get the school rankings up, there is less public support for charter... Read more →

Lake County School District Lunch Food Waste Problem Reported by Huffington Post, NBC & Dennis Miller

Tavares, FL - Oct. 3, 2012 MORE on the Lake County School District lunch waste program. We wrote two blog entries on it, and the Orlando Sentinel wrote an article, then the Huffington Post reported it, then today NBC reported it and last night Dennis Miller talked about it. Get the scoop. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/03/14199709-florida-school-district-considers-trash-cams-in-lunchrooms-to-study-wasted-food?lite If you missed our earlier posting on this issue, here it is: http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2012/10/lake-county-school-lunch-programs-fail-to-track-waste-food-thrown-out.html Note: This issue is not about the School District wasting food, but about Michelle Obama's school lunch program rules to from a Federal funding mandate that each kid gets a fruit and vegetable, and reduced calorie counts. Many kids are throwing out that food and wasting it, but the staff of the Lake County school district is hesitant to spend the staff time to MEASURE the amount of waste so policy makers know the cost of the mandates. Our opinion is they could at least do a sampling program and contact local Federal legislators and request modification of the mandates. Vance Jochim Lake County Fiscal Rangers Chief Fiscal Watchdog Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness PO Box 1042 Tavares, FL 32778 Mobile: 352-638-3578 [email protected] www.FiscalRangers.com TWITTER: @FiscalRangers... Read more →

Lake County Lunch Progam Waste Issue Hits Huffington Post & We Get a Response

Tavares, FL - Oct. 2, 2012 Yup – Lake County is in the big time now… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/florida-school-leaders-mu_n_1930447.html?utm_hp_ref=food&ir=Food Also, there are some good videos about school lunch programs on that page. Here is a video on comedian Jon Stewart’s take on Michelle Obama’s school lunch programs. Watch the video or read the text. “Kids are throwing out twice as much food as last year…” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/28/school-lunch-fight-jon-st_n_1922703.html “That's where students across the country are waging war against the first lady. Teens from Kansas to Wisconsin have staged protests against the new school lunches, launching Twitter campaigns, boycotting cafeteria meals and filming videos in hopes of bringing widespread attention to their cause: the new rules are too restrictive, leaving kids hungry. Growing adolescents, teens say, require more calories because they're burning more through sports and other activities.” A written response was received to our earlier post on the Lake County School lunched where we stated that there didn’t seem to be much interest in measuring the amount of waste : The earlier post was here: http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2012/10/lake-county-school-lunch-programs-fail-to-track-waste-food-thrown-out.html Here is the response from the head of the School Lunch program Gary Dodds – notice he states one of the factors, which is the Federal government MANDATES... Read more →

Lake County School Lunch Programs Fail to Track Waste & Food Thrown Out

Tavares, FL - Oct. 1, 2012 The Lake County School District Board recently received an annual update on School Lunch programs from the head of the school food programs, Gary Dodds. Most of the food is for kids who get free lunch funded by Federal funds. However, Michelle Obama pushed through a "healthy foods" initiatives which among other things, mandates that each kids MUST be GIVEN fruit and vegetables, even if they don't want it, and the kids throw the food out. Dodds doesn't want to measure the waste. Why is it that government won't measure waste or allocate enough funds to track waste AND take action to fix it? You can read today's Orlando Sentinel article about the School food program presentation and Board discussions about food that the kids are throwing out. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-school-food-waste-20120930,0,1993800.story Here are my comments submitted online below the article: I attended the Lake County Board meeting where this was brought up, just like a year ago, when Gary Dodds gave his annual update on school food. As a taxpayer, I am aggravated at Dodd's ambivalence over tracking wasted food - it could be done on a sampling basis either by weighing and counting trash cans... Read more →

Lake County School Board Meets OFFSITE today at 1pm to Discuss Capital Spending

Tavares, FL - Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 Sorry for the short notice, but anytime the Lake County School Board sets an offsite meeting, and changed the normal meeting time, there is usually something being discussed where they want to minimize attendance. Today the Board is having an offsite meeting and the time was moved up to 1pm, and the location is in Eustis at 1pm today, Sept. 17 (not normal 2pm) at 200 W. Golf Links Ave. Eustis, FL (Note: The actual online agenda, below, was poorly edited and left in the HQ address ALSO, but Golf Links is the proper address) The key issue is the discussion of the Capital spending plan where some Board members want to keep spending remaining funds on more school renovations rather than technology suggested by Board Member Jim Miller. Since Miller is running against Board Chair Rosanne Brandeburg for the same District (due to redistricting boundary changes), and she supports old style capital spending, it should be interesting. The issue is whether remaining, about to run out capital funds should just be spent on old buildings, or rather on new technology and learning procedures. Today's Orlando Sentinel Lake section had an article by... Read more →

Lake County FL Republicans Request County Officials to NOT Increase Property Tax Millage Rates

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 We recently wrote how many Lake County, FL government agencies are planning to increase property tax millage rates even though property values have dropped about 5.9% in Lake County according to the Lake County Property Tax Appraiser (see earlier article about our planned community meeting on Sept. 6th). Lake County Republicans voted on August 28th to have the Chairman, Mike Levine, write & send a letter to Lake County tax authorities, including the Lake County Board, with the recommendation NOT to increase millage rates as proposed by many entitites. However, the Chairman in my opinion added several personal requests not discussed at the meeting, such as tax abatements. The original emphasis approved by members was to have the Chair write a straightforward request not to increase property tax millage rates. Normally the Republican Executive Committee (REC) would process a written resolution and approve a written document, but time was short, so they authorized the Chair to write and send a request. So, in my opinion, the purpose of this letter was to only request that millage rates not be increased, thus the government agencies would live within the revenues received from the current,... Read more →

Lake County FL Election Primarys Concluded Today and here are Results

Tavares, FL - August 14, 2012 Here are the final results for the primaries for Lake County, FL local elections: Upset was Carey Baker over Ed Havill for Property Appraiser. Margie Eaton, Republican, won with 52% and will face Democrat Emogene Stegall in runnoffs. Jim Miller will go against Rosanne Brandeburg in runoffs on Nov. 6. Thuy Lowe will go against Debbie Stivender in runoffs. Sheriff Borders won handily. Matthias won. http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/pdf/081412_ElectionSummary.pdf Read more →

Is Lake County School Board Candidate Plagiarizing Campaign Platform Ideas?

Tavares, FL - July 29, 2012 A candidate for Lake County School Board, Cheryl Thomas, appears to be using much of the same campaign platform wording as another former School Board candidate in Virgina, and gave it to the Orlando Sentinel for publishing. Should a School Board candidate be apparently plagiarizing another website and providing that as original campaign platform content to the Orlando Sentinel? Shouldn't we expect the candidate to be able to write their own original campaign platform information, and would we want someone on the School Board defining policy who plagiarizes ideas? Is that fair in politics, but not school test taking, and what do you think? Cheryl L. Thomas is running for Lake County FL School Board District 4 against incumbent Debbie Stivender and opponent Thuy Lowe. The position is non-partisan, but she is a Democrat opposing the other two who are Republicans. We sent her an email and left a phone message using the contact information on the Supt. of Elections website, but they were not returned by our deadline. Thomas has a website here: http://www.thomas4lakecountyschools.org/ She also was recently interviewed by the Lake Sentinel staff of the Orlando Sentinel. Under the heading "Platform" she... Read more →

Lake County Republicans Publish List of Endorsed, Recommended or Certified local Republican Candidates

Tavares, FL - June 29, 2012 by Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com The Lake County Republican Party met last Wednesday and voted on whether to "certify", "recommend" or "endorse" key local Republicans for various elected offices in Lake County. The category definitions are below. To get a category recommendation, the candidate had to get 2/3 of the REC precinct members present. Some candidates barely got 2/3 of the votes , others got quite a few votes, and some only got about 30% support. About 72 REC voting members were there, but not all voted in each motion. The results of the event are in a press release at the bottom of this document. The upset was Margie Eaton receiving the sole "Endorsement" approval of the group for Elections Supervisor. Eaton has been campaigning for almost a year, visiting political groups and has done the most research on her targeted position. Incumbent Property Appraiser Ed Havill did not get 2/3 approval for the Republican categories. He had dropped out of the Republican party during the Charlie Crist / Jim Greer fiasco, said disparaging things, and then re-registered as a Republican, but did not get approval. I was surprised at how strongly some... Read more →

Lake County School Board – Update on CFAC Committee to identify alternative revenue sources for Capital Projects

Tavares, FL - Monday, June 11, 2012 by Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com Lake County School Board – Update on CFAC Committee to identify alternative revenue sources for Capital Projects The School Board is not meeting today (Monday) , either for a workshop or regular meeting. Lake County CFAC Meeting (Capital Facilities Advisory Committee) This Lake County committee (see info here) started a new series of meetings to examine details on Lake County SCHOOL capital funding to determine what revenue methods could be used as alternatives to the currently waived School Impact Fees. So far, the schools have “lost” $6-million in revenues for capital projects because the County Board waived their impact fee revenue sources. The Committee is only looking at capital funding (to build schools, buy buses, etc), and not salaries, operational costs, etc. Only certain revenue sources can be used for capital projects due to ALL School Districts still using the archaic “fund accounting method” which even a tribe of gypsy hackers could not understand without hours of information. More modern governments now use “program budgeting” where reports and budgets are tracked by programs or projects, not by different fund source data. HERE is the page on the Lake... Read more →

Should Lake County Emulate the Massachussets High School Looking at Auctioning Naming Rights for Football Field, etc

Here is a high school where they are so short of funds to buy new computer technology that they are planning an auction to sell naming rights to areas in the school. http://articles.boston.com/2012-06-08/yourtown/32127075_1_bid-process-campaign-state-inspector The Newton, MA High School "foundation has proposed selling the naming rights to school spaces, such as athletic fields, science labs and classrooms, to raise as much as $6 million in three years for technology infrastructure and training." Even the State Auditor General got into the act, saying the foundation should have competitive bidding for the firm chosen to market and run the naming rights campaign. I would do that for free (plus advertising expenses) for the Lake County School District. Just think, if local Lake County School District did the same thing, we could have a Lake Tire High School, Daily Commercial restroom and a Welton Cadwell parking lot. vj Read more →

Guest Columnist Jim Krakowski on Lake County School Board Fiscal Weaknesses

Tavares, FL - June 8. 2012 This is a guest column from Jim Krakowski of the South Lake 912 Tea Party. He attends many workshops and regular meetings of the Lake County School Board, and this column is based upon his attendance at the Lake County (FL) School Board workshop and regular meeting held last Monday, June 4, 2012: =========================================================================== My comments / observation regarding June 4, 2012 Board Meeting. (Jim Krakowski 6/7/12) james krakowski [[email protected]] After hearing the last few budget presentations and subsequent discussions, I am becoming more and more convinced that the board should request monies be spent on educating themselves and the administration on financial management and fiscal responsibilities. The CFO (Carol MacLeod) has made several presentations on the fiscal year 2011/12 budget and this is what I take away from these presentations: Transportation: The district’s buses travel approximately 29,000 miles per day or 5.2 million miles per school year … yet there doesn’t seem to be any reserves being established to replace buses. Utilities: Utilities cost the district $25,000 per day or $9.1 million per year … yet there doesn’t seem to be any reserves being establish to replace heating, air conditioning lighting, etc. Staff:... Read more →

Lake County Deadline to File for County Offices Expires and Last Minute Surprises Occur

Tuesday, June 8, 2012 - Tavares, FL by Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com UPDATED 7pm with info on Bill Smalley & Ralph Smith, who filed so late they were not on the candidate list I was given by the Elections staff at noon. Today at noon was the filing deadline for Lake County elections for positions like Sheriff, Constitutional Officers and some County and School Board Positions. The only new candidates filing by the deadline were for Board position openings on the North Lake County Hospital District. Additionally, County Property Appraiser Candidate Pam Lee changed her candidacy to a Write In Candidate, which means she will not be listed on the ballot but people can write her name in as a candidate. Lee was unable to get enough signed petitions or fees to file and be listed on the ballot, so she is a write in candidate. As of this writing, the updated, final list has only been posted in the Excel format on this page: http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/candidate_information/index.asp Incumbents that are safe, where no one filed to run against them include: - Welton Cadwell - County Commissioner - Bob McKee - County Tax Collector - Neil Kelly - Clerk of the Circuit... Read more →

Boca Raton Watchdog Group Complains about Excessive Firefighter Benefits & Pensions

Tavares, FL It seems that the CITY of Boca Raton, FL (not County) is slipping into heavy deficits, and like Lake County, the elected officials are ignoring the steep costs of pension and benefits for employees. In this case a new watchdog group was formed to disclose facts about excessive pensions and benefits and wages for city firefighters and EMS employees. We also added a link at the bottom of this posting to a story about how San Diego and San Jose referendums were passed to drastically reduce government employee pensions costs. Here is the Boca Raton story: http://www.bizpacreview.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.details&ArticleId=738070&returnTo=dale-king And, attached below is a VERY GOOD graphic 12 page Powerpoint that clearly shows the effects of excessive pensions and benefits for the firefighters. Watch the Powerpoint first - it is very good, then read the story. This is very clear analysis that should be an example of the type of visual analysis required of EVERY government agency about the effects of their pension, wages & and benefits. Download 2012_BCFRGoalSetting AND, here is a story how both San Diego and San Jose citizens pushed through referendums to drastically reduce government employee pensions. One city eliminated "pension spiking" which is the common... Read more →

We Analyze the newly proposed, 3 year, $1.2-million Lake County School District

Tavares, FL - Sunday, June 3, 2012 by Vance Jochim Here is my analysis of the proposed NEW 3-year LCEA Collective Bargaining agreement going to the Board for approval on Monday night, June 4, at 6pm. This report has already been sent to the Lake County School Board and key administrators for comments on Friday, June 1, with a deadline for comments of Sunday evening. Only one comment was received and I revised the wording. The agenda for the “regular” 6pm Board meeting on Monday, June 4th can be located in the Board Docs menu section of the Lake County School District website here: http://www.boarddocs.com/fla/lake/board.nsf/Public Below, I listed my review notes for the entire 96 page agreement, where I commented ONLY on changes from the prior agreement. MY summary conclusions are: FiscalRangers.com Conclusion Summary of our Review (details are further down): - Overall the wording changes seem to improve the Administration and Board authority over some important staffing decisions. - The wage increases have a total impact of $1.2-million, and the increases are under 2% for most teachers for a one step increase, and not huge in comparison to inflation and CPI rates. The contract does not specify how long... Read more →

Lake County Republican "Listening Tour" Set for 5 Locations - BE there to provide input

May 22, 2012 - Tavares, FL This is the official press release from the Lake County Republican Executive Committee ============================================================ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 17, 2012 Contact: Alan Winslow, Chairman 352-742-9953 [email protected] Lake County Republicans Get Innovative, Host Five “Listening Tours” Reaffirming the Importance of Grassroots Involvement, a Series of Town Hall Meetings is Scheduled Across Lake County. In preparation for the upcoming elections, the Lake County Republican Party is seeking to increase the involvement of Republicans across the county. Alan Winslow, Chair of the Lake County Republican Executive Committee, stated “Our party is already actively engaged in the 2012 Election Campaign, but our Lake County Executive Committee wants to ensure that we are addressing the vision and the expectations local Republicans have for their Party. Valuing the experiences and insight of our local supporters, we are confident that enlarging the input of local citizens can only strengthen our Party and positively contribute to a successful campaign in 2012.” As our nation stands at a crossroads, so does Lake County. “Over the past three years, we have seen an explosion of citizen interest in how we are being governed”, said newly elected Lake County Republican State Committeewoma n, Patricia Sullivan.... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Update on Lake County School Board & Tomorrow's Lake County Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2012 (This is a duplicate of an email sent out today to our FiscalRangers.com email list.) First, an overview of an issue at today’s Lake County School Board meeting which might save taxpayers $400,000, and then read items I have selected from the agenda for tomorrow’s Lake County Board meeting, and finally “other news” about local candidate forum events and an upcoming meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District. In my opinion, the item under Lake County's Agenda (belows) tab 24 needs Board attention. Once again, the Board is asked to approve the annual CDBG Federal grant programs, and little details are provided for early analysis, and we point out some issues from last year’s CDBG discussions. Lake County School Board today – Cutting FREE transportation to Orange County Charter School Could Save $400,000 - At today's Board meeting, the School District staff requested Board approval to turn off paying for transportation to Princeton school in Orange County for about 32 autistic kids in order to save about $400,000. They want the kids to go to Lake County facilities and services, which were not available 7 years ago when the students were sent out... Read more →

Petition Card Counts & Status for Candidates for Lake County, FL Offices

2012 Local Lake County, FL Election Candidates and Petition Card Counts as of Friday, May 4 As of Friday, May 4, 2012 by Vance Jochim [email protected] Most candidates for elected office in Lake County have turned in the required number of election petition cards exept Jim Miller and Paul Richardson, who are very nearly there. Additionally, four candidates are not turning in the required 1951 cards, and apparently plan to pay required fees in June. This report doesn't cover Judges or State elected positions like a State Rep. That information would be on the State Elections website, while Lake County specific candidates are listed on the local Lake County Elections Superintendent website (see link below). Candidates running for major elected positions in Lake County are required to turn in 1951 validated petition cards signed by registered voters, or pay a fee ranging from about $1500 to $8000. We visited the Lake County, FL Elections Dept. today, May 4th, to examine the progress of announced candidates in collecting petition cards. You can find the official, updated list of candidates at the link below. The Excel version has more data, but neither list provides petition card status like we furnish below. http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/candidate_information/index.asp... Read more →

Jim Krakowski Comments on Apr. 2 Lake County School Board Meeting

Guest Columnist: Jim Krakowski =================================================== My comments / observation regarding April 2, 2012 Lake County (FL) School Board Meeting. (Jim Krakowski 4/4/12) - Krakowski is active in the South Lake County 912/Tea Party April 2nd “special” school board meeting focused on three issues … one dealing with finances, one with operations and one with education. Finance: There are approximately $16 million of bonds funded by sales taxes that can be “re-financed” at a much lower rate. According to the districts CFO (Carol MacLeod) these bonds have a current interest rate of 3% - 5% and can be refinanced at 1.22%. The district currently has over $39 million of funds that are earmarked for capital projects. Impact fees generated these funds. I asked “… is it possible to pay off the $16 million in bonds and use the sales tax revenue stream to fund the replacement of school buses or HVAC systems that are in need of repairs or replacement …” I was informed that none of the $39 million can be used to retire the $16 million because the purposes of each are different. Apparently one fund cannot be used to retire bonds that had another purpose. What does not... Read more →

National Website Monitors "State Integrity" and Ranks States - Florida is a C-

Tavares, FL - March 20, 2012 I found a new website that is run by a number pf public integrity types of organizations, and they rank all the States by several categories and rank their "Corruption Risk". Here is Florida's page, which shows abysmal rankings in most categories, and an average C- in Corruption Risk . Even with that ranking, they are 18th out of all the states, which shows how much worse other states are. http://www.stateintegrity.org/florida I noticed that they ranked "Internal Audit" as one of the only "A" categories, so I posted this comment: As a former corporate internal audit director, Certified Internal Auditor and anti-corruption adviser, I was amazed to see you give Florida an A for internal audit. I write a blog on local Lake County, FL government agency fiscal fiascos and mis-management at www.FiscalRangers.com . After five years of monitoring issues here, I do not believe there is ANY oversight on about 2000 local government agencies comparable to what I saw in Fortune 500 firms, the County of Los Angeles or even the Federal government. They may do nice, clean "financial audits" but the Inspector General has no authority to initiate performance or internal audits... Read more →

Lake County School Impact Fees - Will Two Boards Vote to Re-instate them, or Support Builder Welfare and Waive them for another year?

Lake County, FL - Feb. 27, 2012 An Important Decision Regarding Approval or Waiver of School Impact Fees will be discussed at the Lake County School District meeting on Monday. On Monday, the 27th, at a 2:15 pm “Special Meeting”, the School board will vote on impact fee recommendations (see the attached agenda) to be sent to the Lake County Board, and the next day, the 28th, the Lake County Board will decide whether to continue an existing waiver, or approve impact fees with or without the information sent by the School Board. You can get more details on the agenda at the School Board “Board Docs” section HERE, and the Lake County Board meetings page HERE. This has been an ongoing issue with contention between Board members of the School District who would not vote on a recommended impact fee schedule to be sent to the County Board. The County Board is the final approver of the School Impact Fee schedule. Currently, a 15 month waiver passed by the County Board will expire at the end of March. The School Board sent a required consultant’s study to the County Board a few months ago, but without any vote recommendations... Read more →

Florida Online Virtual Schools Outscore AP Tests from Regular Schools & Cost $2159 Less

Tavares, FL - JN. 23, 2012- SunshineStateNews.com reports that Florida's virtual online school for K-12 students is getting higher scores on AP (Advanced Placement) tests than regular schools, AND it costs $2159 less than regular schools to do so. Read and understand... competition once again hits the union dominated teacher ranks, and shows how well routine tasks can be implemented. We do know that Florida recently mandated that online classes be given also by local school districts, which means the unions may dominate that new skills area and be a reason for increased costs. However, we do understand that the online courses may be designed to enable passing tests, but perhaps not on how to think. In other words, will we just be getting robots that are good at test taking? Are online learning software programs also available to teach critical thinking and other non-rote learning skills? I think so, but that is another story. http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/spending-2159-less-student-online-school-outscores-florida-campuses-ap-exams?utm_source=constantcontact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=012312 If you like this, and want to keep up with news on Lake County, FL local government issues, join our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/FiscalRangers vj Read more →

Rick Riker on the DROP of Lake County School District High Schools Rank to a "C"

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 From Guest Writer Rick Riker, who attends most of the Board meetings and workshops of the Lake County School District On January 4th 2012 the Florida Department of Education unveiled their 2010-2011 High School grades. The grades are based 50% on FCAT and 50% on other components, ie. Graduation Rates and College Readiness. The letter grades the schools receive are much like the grades we all received in school, a C = Adequate or Average and an A or B = Better than average, of course we all know what D & F represent. (Editor's Note: Here are the new and prior High School Ratings taken from the official press release from the Lake County School District (link is at bottom of this article):) "The 2010-2011 grades for each high school are (and grades for the previous four school years): · East Ridge High School “B” (2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “D”) · Eustis High School “B” (2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “C”; 2006-07: “D”) · Leesburg High School “C” (2009-10: “C”; 2008-09: “D”; 2007-08: “D”; 2006-07: “D”) · Mount Dora High School “D” (2009-10: “B”; 2008-09: “C”; 2007-08: “B”; 2006-07: “C”) · South... Read more →

New Federal Report Indicates Teacher Pay is DOUBLE the pay for private sector

Tavares, FL - Dec. 23, 2011 - A Sunshine State News article describes a new Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report indicating that nationally, teachers pay, including benefits, is significantly more than the private sector or other government employees. The first half of this article discussed national figures, then they discuss Florida, where we do know teachers are less paid because this is a right to work state, but then so are all employees in Florida. Read and understand - much blame is put on the unions for focusing on rewards for seniority vs competence. "Two surprising new reports show that hourly pay and benefits for public-school teachers are higher than the compensation received by other government employees or similarly qualified private-sector workers." Meanshile, in Lake County, the teacher and SEIU unions are already in negotiations to lock in wage or benefit increases before the School District Board finds out how little money they have for next year. Watch and see the Lake County Board approve either wage or benefit increases in a closed meeting early next year. Then they will cry that they don't have money to pay for teaching the kids and other services. It is my belief... Read more →

Jim Krakowski Comments on Dec. 12 Lake County, FL School Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Dec. 15, 2011 Guest Commentary: Jim Krakowski is a member of the South Lake County 912/Tea Party and he attends many meetings of the Lake County School District Board in Tavares. He has significant business experience, and below is his report of the Dec. 12 meeting, with comments from three Board members. You can usually find the meeting agenda and attachments supporting the agenda items at the School District website HERE. Go to the "Board Docs" menu and select the "public" option, then find the meeting date to open the agenda. VJ ===================================================== My comments / observation regarding December 12, 2011 School Board Meeting. (Jim Krakowski 12/14/11) Long Range Planning Monday’s board meeting was filled with recommendations, options, wish lists, etc. The Director of Growth Planning presented the findings from the Northeast Lake Long Range Planning Committee along with the committee’s recommendations. They focused on which older schools needed to be repaired, modernized and/or expanded for potential future growth. These older schools had suffered from lack of funding due to the need to build new schools in faster growing areas of the county (specifically south lake). As part of the committees recommendations “… Eustis Elementary and Umatilla... Read more →

Palm Beach County School Board Resists Coverage by new County Inspector General

Gee, why would a government agency board NOT WANT an outside, independent watchdog group to look at their internal operations? But, Palm Beach County has a new Inspector General with authority over the County operations and local cities, but not the School District. So, the School District is now creating their OWN Inspector General and PROMOTING their existing internal auditor into the position. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/for-school-district-internal-inspector-general-weaker-than-2030290.html?cxtype=rss_editorials This editorial supports the idea of the County Inspector General having oversight of the School District, and we think it is a good idea. What do you think? vj Read more →

Bi-Weekly Report to the North Lake Tea Party on Local Government

Tavares, FL - Nov. 16, 2001 - Twice a month I give an update to the North Lake County Tea Party which meets on the first & third Wednesday evenings at 7pm at the Tavares Civic Center, 100 E. Caroline St., Tavares. Check their website to verify details: http://www.northlaketeaparty.com/ So, here is my update, and I may add more after tonight's meeting. Lake County Government & Board of Commissioners (see meeting agendas HERE) - Poor Meeting Transparency Continues: Chair Jennifer Hill continues to indicate she doesn't like public input and is hiding issues from the public. She controls the agendas and meeting rules like allowing public input. Out of an average of four public meetings on Tuesday mornings each month, TWO never allow public input, but yet there are business issues decided and the public is NOT allowed to provide input. Those are any meeting billed as a "Workshop" or the "Zoning Meeting", yet you will always find political and business decisions on the agendas and decisions made. The worst example was LAST week, on Nov. 8th, when the workshop had five items on the agenda that used vague, nebulous terms and no explanatory attachments on the website agenda. I... Read more →

Lake Schools Wisely hold $3-million in Reserves, but other BAD Budget Practices are Used

The Orlando Sentinel published an article by Reporter Erica Rodriquez on how the Lake County School District and their CFO set aside $3-million due to a teacher union lawsuit over Governor Scott's request that teachers contribute 3% of their wages directly to the Florida State pension fund, rather than the prior practice of having the employer (School District) pay for the pension contribution without deductions from wages. Read the story, and the other comments, then my comments below (which are longer than allowed by the Sentinel on their site: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-schools-money-unspent-20111030,0,6229510.story Here is my comment about the issue, with some extra issues about BAD budget practices thrown in for good measure: The Lake Schools CFO, Carol MacLeod, has done a good job of keeping this specific School District budget item on a conservative track, but other bad budget practices exist as described below. This is one of those issues where it would have been easy to blow the $3-million like the Lake County Board did, but set it aside. The teacher's unions shot their foot off when they sued about the pensions, and MacLeod and the Board did the wise thing and set the funds aside. But, not all budget procedures... Read more →

Lake School Board Pushes off Decision on School Impact Fee Changes

Tavares, FL - oct. 17, 2011 - Here is an Orlando Sentinel article on a recent Lake County School District meeting where the Board postponed a decision to forward a new, required consulting study on future School Impact Fees to the Lake County Board of Commissioners. However, I need to provide you with some more insight not in the report. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-lk-impact-fee-stall-20111014-13,0,2128163.story The Sentinel article, written by Erica Rodriguez, quotes School Board member Rosanne Brandenburg as wanting more information. It also describes that the newly proposed rate for a single family home would go up from the current charge of $9324 (which has actually been waived for 15 months) to a new rate of $10,292. The new study had been presented to the School Board at an earlier meeting. The consultant walked through the entire process, in detail, on how the data was accumulated and used to calculate recommended future impact fees at "100%" of the appropriate rates to provide funding for future capital spending due to population growth. He clearly described the method used, and the fact that the new rates included a factor for bond financing fees, thus the $10,292 rate above, which includes a factor for bond financing... Read more →

Benefits of Florida Government Pension Reform are Increasing

The Orlando Sentinel editorial describes the improved funding available to Florida Schools and other agencies due to last year's pension reform implemented by Governor Rick Scott. He initiated a 3% employee contribution to pensions, which reduced direct employmee costs at schools and other agencies, releasing funds for other uses, AND starting the path for government employees to start contributing to their own pensions. Finally government employees are learning the harsh realities of costs of pensions and other benefits because now some of it is coming out of their pocket and not just provided FREE. Read and learn: Taxpayers benefiting from pension reforms 12:00 a.m. EDT, October 8, 2011 From Orlando Sentinel HERE Pension reform has encountered its share of push back, no question about it. And understandably so. However, lawmakers and municipal decision-makers who showed spine in proposing, defending and enacting necessary pension reforms this year, and the constituents and taxpayers who backed them, are being proved right. We are all starting to reap some of the benefits as a result. Because of Tallahassee's pension changes in this year's legislative session, school districts across Florida have as much as $819.4 million more to spend on other necessities. Counties in the... Read more →