Fiscal Rangers

Staples use of Misleading Pricing in Advertisements

We mostly focus on improving government efficiency and effectiveness in Lake County, Florida, but I am extending our coverage to businesses that use deceptive practices that should be regulated more closely by government in Florida. I get aggravated when I see retailers using mis-leading prices in advertisements. I come from California where they have stronger consumer protection laws than Florida. For instance, Staples advertisements use the term "after easy rebate" instead of the more commonly used term "after mail-in rebate". Florida also apparently allows retailers to publish the net price after rebates in the largest type, while then describing the larger cash price paid at the cash register in much smaller type. In contrast, California requires the actual cash price to be in big type, and any rebates and net cost after rebates in smaller type. Thus the customer always sees the actual cash price in the largest type size. Additionally, California requires statements that sales tax is charged on the cash price and not the after rebate price. Florida doesn't apparently require that. After looking at the Staples ads once again, I realized that that for rebated items, there is NO place where they say what amount is actually... Read more →

Merit Pay Study from UF and related issues

We have been reading about the Lake County, FL School District's filing of a STAR "awards plan" with the State of Florida to obtain an estimated $5-million for one shot financial awards to teachers who have improved student FCAT scores in the subjects of math, science, etc. Then there were the articles where Teacher Union leaders said that would be "unfair" and reduce cooperation between employees. They want to siphon off some of the FCAT incentives in STAR for teachers who don't teach those subjects. But, then why have organized sports where winners are announced, or give test exams where all students compete for higher grades, but not use incentives for teachers who help students improve FCAT scores that increase their survival skills in the real world? Some people might say the teachers just don't want to compete, or be measured, or that the union doesn't want variable merit pay which rewards the good performers over the less motivated. Here is what the UF study press release said (full text further down): Many teachers criticize these bonus plans, saying they raise questions about fairness and they destroy cooperation among teachers. ”It’s important to note that the form of performance pay... Read more →

New Jersey School District Construction Investigative Unit

Here is an interesting link to the New Jersey District Attorney's website section for the Office of Government Integrity (OGI) that investigates various New Jersey agencies, including School District construction programs. A friend of mine works there and investigated organized crime (the mafia). So, New Jersey centralizes invesigation and oversight of school construction, but Florida DOES not. Maybe that is why Florida lost over $100-million in the Miami-Dade School District construction program we reported earlier. For info only... http://www.nj.gov/oag/ogi/about.html Here is the text on what they do : Fiscal Integrity in School Construction (FISC) In July 2000, the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act (EFCFA) initiated the largest public works program in the State's history, authorizing the expenditure of up to $8.6 billion to build and renovate public school facilities in every school district in the State. Recognizing that "the State must also protect the interests of taxpayers who will bear the burden of this obligation," the Legislature created the Unit of Fiscal Integrity in School Construction (FISC Unit) and authorized it to "investigate, examine and inspect the activities" of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority [now the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC)] and the more than 600 school... Read more →