Fiscal Rangers

Haitian Immigration? Our FiscalRangers.com Viewpoint - Does Lake County Want to Become like Garden Grove, California

Numerous articles have appeared about the possibility of bringing Haitian children or injured Haitians to Florida for recuperation. An article also said that illegal Haitian immigrants would be given an 18 month waiver to "get a job legally". Here in Lake County, several compassionate organizations are sending food to Haiti and working on other projects to help Haitians recover from their recent Hurricane. And a local Church in Umatilla is said to be bringing in up to 200 Haitian orphan babies for recovery while a search continues for their parents. But, there is an unintended consequence for such activities as described below... The US and Floridians I have seen in Florida are very compassionate - there is no doubt about that. But I would like to provide an example of the effects of too much compassion. I moved here in 2006 from California, and a major reason is that it is now over 50% immigrants - many are legal, and many are illegal. But back when the Vietnam war ended, some churches in Orange County, California acted as sponsors for many Vietnamese Boat people who were escaping from Vietnam when the US bailed out. The Curches brought the Vietnamese to... Read more →

Orlando Sentinel - Lawsuit Filed Saying North Lake County Hospital District is Unconstitutional

January 28, 2010 - Tavares, FL - This article is more about the lawsuit filed by Marilyn Bainter that was discussed in recent postings. Our earlier response to the Daily Commercial version also applies here. The lawsuit provides evidence that the current Hospital Tax District is unconstitutional according to the filing attorney hired by Marilyn. Readers can see a list of all postings on this blog regarding the Hospital District HERE, including the announcement of the lawsuit and the full text of the lawsuit posted earlier this month. They can also read the lengthy background details written in the first quarter of 2009 HERE. The reporter quoted Phil Braun as saying Marilyn should have talked to them. That has been going on at the three prior Board meetings last year, and our initial posting on this lawsuit contains not only the minutes of two meetings held last quarter with substantial public input, but my description of all the efforts taken by Marilyn's supporters to provide better accountability over the uses of funds and modification of the legislation to allow the Board to set the tax millage rate anywhere between 0 and 1 mill, rather than the current mandatory 1 mill... Read more →

Daily Commercial Defends North Lake County Hospital District Lack of Accountability

The Daily Commercial today published a brief article about the recent lawsuit filed against the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District. They also published an editorial that basically said the lawsuit should be dropped, and voters should wait for Board elections the change issues. The article and the editorial are at the bottom of this document using the link below. HERE is where you can find a list of our blog postings on the North Lake County Hospital District Here is my response which I posted on their website today: The Daily Commercial seems to think that it is ok for the existing Board of the North Lake County Hospital Tax District to continue a process of paying $11-million in tax funds to three local hospitals without ANY restrictions or guidelines on exactly how the funds are to be spent, and without defining how to measure success for the spending. Instead, the current "law" that is followed is vague and the Board basically gives the $11-million to the Hospital leadership and says "we trust you to spend the money on something that is good...". Egads - would they do that if they spent $11-million of their own funds... Read more →

Florida Legislators from Broward County to Create County Inspector General

Another Florida County is considering establishment of a County Inspector General. This is the first time I have read where it seems the County State Legislators are moving to set it up. We posted earlier about one in Palm Beach County, but that was initiated by local voters (and probably made into law by the County legislators). Inspector Generals are usually setup to investigate reports of wrong doing, and may or may not also act as operational auditors to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness or economy of operations. All Florida government agencies DO get financial audits, but that really is the routine CPA type of audit to ensure the annual financial report is correct and accurate. Such audits do not evaluate efficiencies or cost controls like many corporations do. As we have mentioned before, the oversight here in Lake County is fragmented and restricted because the County Auditor only works for the Court Clerk, and cannot initiate audits of the County Board operations or other Constitutional Officers without "negotiating" with the County Manager and getting approval of audit topics and timelines. In contrast, other states have elected County Auditor-Controllers who not only independently process accounting transactions, but also audit County wide departments... Read more →

Canadian Columnist's View of Damage Done by Obama

I rarely post here about national politics, but a friend sent me this Canadian columnist's view of the Obama mess in the US. It is very compelling as a view from someone outside the US. My favorite statement is that the "the French think he is rude...". His prediction that Obama may even be bumped from office BEFORE the end of his four years is quite interesting, since he believes the Dems are more loyal to their own political future than to the country. Read it and be educated about a world view of Obama... vj Barack Hussein Obama: I Told You So, Yes I Did By Howard Galganov Montreal, Quebec, Canada When Obama won the presidency with the help of the leftist media, Hollywood and entertainment liberals, ethnic socialists (ACORN), stupid non-business professionals and Bush haters, I wrote: It won't take six months until the people figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they've made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great it will take a generation or more to repair - IF EVER. The IDIOTS who not only voted for the messiah, but... Read more →

Lake County School District Wages Increased for Teacher Union members

I am posting this without comments until I can return to provide analysis. See article at link below. vj Lake union chief: 'The best agreement we can get this year' Many teachers looking at several hundred dollars more in pay By Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel HERE 10:46 p.m. EST, January 16, 2010 Many Lake County teachers would receive an increase of several hundred dollars this year under a tentative agreement reached recently by the teachers union and the school district. About three dozen fortunate enough to be in a certain stage of their careers would receive as much as $4,800. But everyone would get another year of free health-insurance benefits — a value of about $474 a month for full-time employees, said B. Grassel, president of the Lake County Education Association. Many Florida school districts pass on at least some of the cost of health-insurance premiums to their employees. Lake has covered this expense for years. Though teachers would like more money in their pockets, Grassel said the district couldn't commit to spending more for salaries when its financial future is so uncertain. The state Department of Education recently cut per-pupil funding again because it underestimated enrollment statewide this academic... Read more →

Economic Development Examples: Rural Oregon County Gets $188-Million Facebook Data Center

So, what has your local Economic Development Commission done for Lake County lately? Below is an example of what happened with an EDC in Oregon. A rural county created an "Enterprise Zone" that gave tax breaks to new businesses, and they got a $188-million data center project for Facebook. Read the DETAILED article below from the local Bend, Oregon paper, then ask your local Lake County Commissioners when we will get a data center from Facebook!! The article gives a good overview of all the considerations of how such a project was defined. vj http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100122/NEWS0107/1220410/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01 Read more →

FiscalRangers Consumer Tips on Internet Password Creation - And what NOT to use

A website was hacked recently and the hackers posted online all the user accounts and passwords they used for that website. Some people analyzed which passwords were used the most and how easy they were for an internet "hacking" routine to guess them. Amazingly, 290,000 user accounts used the very easy to hack "123456". So, if you want to find out how weak or easy your online internet passwords are to "hack", then read the article below. vj from PCWorld.com (a personal computer magazine) RockYou Hack Reveals the Worst 20 Passwords 01.21.10 3Comments by Mark Hachman In December, RockYou.com was hacked, and a list of usernames and passwords was exposed to the Web, in plain text. A month later, security analysis firm Imperva has analyzed the most common passwords, and the results are depressing, to say the least. By far, the most popular password on the site was "123456," apparently satisfying a minimum character limit on the site's password restrictions, but doing little for security. A full 290,731 users used this password, far more than the runner-up, the slightly less complex "12345, which attracted 79,078 uses. For years, security experts have been arguing that users need to use more complex... Read more →

An Overview of Medical Clinic Scams, and example of one that was fined $24-million

A chain of clinics providing "free" medical services for kids from low income families was just fined $24-million because they ran a scam that implemented unneeded medical procedures on kids to run up Medicaid billings. Examples including performance of numerous root canals on screaming kids tied to boards which were not needed. Read and understand so you can ensure YOUR kid or friend is a victim of similar medical scam clinics in Lake County. One of the many scams resulting in Medicaid fraud around the country is when a firm or clinic gives free or low cost "screenings" for certain maladies, then magically finds them, and tells the patient work is needed right away. Then the clinic or rolling clinic (like a traveling bus) provides the "services" and may or may not do the actual work on low income adults and kids who qualify for medicaid or they bill an employee's insurance firm. An example is doing work on an ingrown toenail, but classifying it as a more complex case, and billing insurance for $9500 for a one hour procedure. Then the clinic bills or overbills medicaid and immediately collects a check. California is run by Democrats and their attorney... Read more →

Goodbye & Good Luck to David Donald, the Reporter from the Daily Commercial

I just learned that local Daily Commercial reporter David Donald is leaving the paper and will be "in charge" of SEO (search engine optimization) and website content (which requires good writing skills) at the local rising star web design firm, Buildtelligence. That firm was recently in the papers when it was reported they are moving from cramped quarters in Mount Dora to another larger facility near the Leesburg airport to accomodate their growth in staff. At one point, it was thought that the firm would move to Orlando due to shortage of "class A" professional office space in Lake County, but they found the place in Leesburg. When I first met David, he was covering the School Board news, then later moved to cover the County Commission (and other subjects), and we always exchanged a wave at the County meetings. When I asked if he would ever get the chance to write investigative stories on local government, he said there wasn't any time allocated to do it - thus he had to focus on "spot journalism" (my term - I also have a Journalism degree), which is objectively reporting the facts without any background investigations or writing opinion articles (like... Read more →

Notes from Ralph Smith's Lake County Radio Show today - Jan 20 - Mt. Dora Pension Issues & Leesburg Veteran's Memorial

Tavares/Eustis, Florida - Wed., Jan. 20, 2010: Ralphs local show in on AM790 WLBE each Wed at 11am to noon, and he covers mostly conservative political issues. The current website for WLBE, which also provides online recordings of shows, is at www.WLBE.org . Todays show: Guests are from Mt. Dora City Commission and from the Leesburg Veteran's Memorial - Great news - the Republican won the Senate seat race in Massachusetts to replace Edward Kennedy, which changes the ratio of Dems to Republicans in the Senate from 60 / 40 to 59 / 41, which eliminates the ability of the Dems to ram laws through the Senate without involving any Republicans in the issue. First Half Hour - Guest was Mt. Dora Councilman Jim Eppich Note: If you are concerned about excessive government spending, I recommend you listen to the first 20 minutes of this show by going to the AM790 WLBE website "past shows" and listening to the recording for Jan. 20 at 11am. AT THIS WLBE website (which does NOT show up in Google searches). - Ralph introduced Mount Dora Councilman Jim Eppich who won in a tightly contested race. He is a CPA and former CFO of... Read more →

Fiscal Rangers Overview of Lawsuit Filed Regarding North Lake County Hospital District Legitimacy!!

Yesterday we told you about the lawsuit filed by local taxpayer activist and Board member Marilyn Bainter (and her husband, former State Representative Stan Bainter) of the North Lake County Hospital Tax District against the District as well as related parties such as the tax collector (who is responsible for verifying the legality of the law before collecting the tax.) The lawsuit, prepared by an experienced Florida State Constitutional attorney, basically says the tax district is NOT based upon proper legal processes, thus the District and the tax are not legal. (Note: We have attached the entire 94 page legal summons, plus minutes of the last two Board meetings at the bottom of this blog posting). The "law" enacting the District has been in place for at least 40 years, and has been modified several times. The law takes 1 mill in taxes (i.e. 1/1000 or $100 for every $100,000) and splits the collected $11-million into 50% portions and pays it to the two major hospitals in North Lake County, Waterman and Leesburg, without ANY verifiable requirements other than the funds be spent on "continued hospital services". Additionally, each hospital then gives 5% of their total to Lifestream Behavioral Center,... Read more →

Another Federal Mandated Fiscal Fiasco? - EPA Proposes New Tough Water quality standards Costing $1-billion plus for Florida, Effective by October

This is another costly surprise program driven by liberal lawsuits that will increase taxes and reduce lifestyles in Florida. When will it end? The end of the article below says that the plan, which supersedes in progress Florida State quality plans, will go into effect in October after three public hearings in February. Apparently, environmentalists have sued the Federal EPA for not enforcing long standing environmental "improvements", and Florida is the first state where the Feds are enacting tough standards. The standards would include tougher standards for "up stream" lakes in a chain, which means up-stream sources like Lake Apopka, the source of much of the pollution flowing through the Harris Chain of Lakes would have tougher standards to meet to reduce effects of bad water quality on downstream lakes. It must be a coincidence that the canal behind my house is green with algae and Tilapia are floating to the surface trying to breath enough air. Guys in boats are catching the lethargic fish with hand held nets. Yes, I want better water quality, and all the farms around Lake Apopka are feeding the phosphorus in the lake, but it seems the State put off enacting earlier required standards,... Read more →

Which Lake County Commissioner Bought this $230 Nascar Office Chair Using County Funds?

So Lake County, Florida Commissioner Jimmy Conner just sent out an email about upcoming "breaking news" on a "Major Personnel Change" touted on his blog HERE. And, Office Depot just got the exclusive to sell this $230 Tony Stewart Nascar chair, as described HERE, so guess which County Commissioner used County funds to buy one, listing it as a stenography chair? Well, none of them that we know of so far... but we are watching while we wait for Jimmy's breaking news!! But, I may not be able to resist getting one of the Chairs myself using personal, not government funds or grants. Or, maybe I can apply for a County CDBG Federal Grant to restore my living environment? vj Read more →

FiscalRangers Breaking News: Lawsuit filed against Constitutional Officers and Board of the North Lake County Hospital District

A lawsuit has been filed by Marilyn Bainter and Stan Bainter against: - Bob McKee, as Tax Collector of Lake County, Florida; - Ed Havill, as Property Appraiser of Lake County, Florida; - the North Lake County Hospital District; - Leesburg Regional Medical Center, Inc.; - Florida Hospital Waterman; and - Lifestream Behavioral Center, Inc. and served on Patricia A. Sykes-Amos, Registered Agent for North Lake County Hospital District for the review of the Board of the District. An Answer is required 40 days from the date of service of January 8, 2010. I don't have time right now to review and write the details, but Marilyn has been working on this for months in conjunction with a Constitutional Law attorney. Marilyn's point (summarized by me, which may change) is that the District's formation was unconstitutional, and according to Marilyn, the current District was "formed" illegally in the past, so has no right to collect funds, and the Constitutional officers were sued because they are part of the tax collection process and should have researched the legality of the District. Her attorney agrees. We have posted numerous articles on this blog about Marilyn's fight to improve accountability for how funds... Read more →

Important Lake County Board and School Board Actions This week and our Comments

I will add more details later, but here is an overview of what happened at the Board meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Make sure to read both the section on the School Board, AND the County Board's controversial workshop on the Economic Development program below. School Board Issues - The School Board decided to go ahead with an application for the "Race to the Top" Federal Grant. It was controversial because the Board would have to sign an agreement that lacked a lot of specifics, and they were worried they would be tied down to future, unspecified actions when the agreement did specify sanctions if they did not go through with the program. Basically, this was a POORLY written agreement from the State to file an application to be part of a Florida State application competing against other states to get some of the available funds, which are significant. I was not at the Monday night meeting, but was at an earlier workshop where all the background was discussed. Below my comments is a memo from Board member Cindy Barrow that describes the decision and the Board went ahead and signed the agreement. Another controversial point is that the program... Read more →

Important Lake County Board and School Board Actions This week and our Comments

I will add more details later, but here is an overview of what happened at the Board meetings on Monday and Tuesday: School Board Issues - The School Board decided to go ahead with an application for the "Race to the Top" Federal Grant. It was controversial because the Board would have to sign an agreement that lacked a lot of specifics, and they were worried they would be tied down to future, unspecified actions when the agreement did specify sanctions if they did not go through with the program. Basically, this was a POORLY written agreement from the State to file an application to be part of a Florida State application competing against other states to get some of the available funds, which are significant. I was not at the Monday night meeting, but was at an earlier workshop where all the background was discussed. Below my comments is a memo from Board member Cindy Barrow that describes the decision and the Board went ahead and signed the agreement. Another controversial point is that the program requires merit pay or bonuses for teachers and most teacher unions fight that. However, I have been reading over the last year that... Read more →

Lake County Board to hold Workshop on Economic Development Tuesday, Jan. 11

Below is a notice with my stern recommendations I sent out today regarding a pending workshop at the Lake County Board meeting on the Economic Development program for Lake County. The workshop includes a 60 page powerpoint presentation on the MOEDC (Metro Orlando Economic Development Council) and the volunteer Economic Development Advisory Commission, plus input from the County ED Manager Dottie Keedy. I will post a follow up by Wednesday on the results of the meeting.vj =========================================== A workshop will be held at the end of tomorrow’s (Tuesday) Lake County Board meeting. Although the Board has mentioned such a workshop, the only notice of it was buried in the last few lines of the Agenda in “Section VI. Workshop” for the Lake County Board meeting ( SEE main agenda HERE ). But, there were no linked supporting documents to the “Tab 5” to provide background information. Then, in today’s late afternoon, links were ADDED to the main Calendar page (not the online agenda tab) for the January 12 meeting in the same cell with the link to the agenda. So, use the links below or go to the online agenda calendar and click the two new lines for January 12... Read more →

Broward County, Florida - Next County that is Victim of String of Fraud & Corruption

Recently we reported on the corruption schemes in Palm Beach County (Florida) which resulted in the County citizens, encouraged by a local Tea Party group, to establish a very strong Inspector General program which is planned to end up having authority over all County government entities as WELL as cities. Palm Beach County corruption cases followed massive cases in Miami-Dade County before that. Now, as reported in the article below, it is Broward County, Florida's turn (Fort Lauderdale area), and more elected officials are being prosecuted and going to jail. It seems they now are uncovering a string of corruption cases as well as a large Ponzi scheme run by a big political contributor. My observation, as a former internal auditor, is that Florida does NOT have an adequate oversight program over local counties. Some other states have elected Auditor Controllers for each County who provide oversight, but here in Florida, there is no such thing. As I have posted earlier, Lake County's "County Auditor" works for the County Clerk, and does not have authority or a charter to initiate audits of other County departments, including the Board's operations or the Sheriff. You can't help but wonder which Florida County... Read more →

Florida State GOP Chair Jim Greer to Resign today

The first article has appeared on Google News so more will be coming. Jim Greer has been under pressure to resign by many State Republicans due to various decisions not regarded as appropriate. Locally, I only met Greer once when he came to Tavares to hold a meeting that resulted in him pulling the "Republican Club" affiliation with the local Lake County Republican Founder's Club. He did the same to two local women's Republican clubs (I believe). So, now the Founder's club is known as the Lake County Conservative Founder's Club. I can't even remember the reason why Greer was antagonistic towards official "Republican" clubs, but he was. Some say it was because he wanted more control over any effort using the Republican name, but it turned off a lot a people towards him. Below is the link to the first article from a Palm Beach paper - look for more, with details why... http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/florida-gop-chairman-to-step-down-under-pressure-163248.html Read more →

Example of County being Audited by Feds for Proper Grant Documentation

This is an example of what the Federal government can audit in a local County program that received Federal funds. This illustrates why Lake County government leaders need to make sure proper controls are used in documenting state and Federal program spending. In the case described in the article below, the Federal Government auditors will audit a $10-million FEMA grant received by a local Missouri County in 2007 to make repairs during an ice storm. It seems this may be a routine audit, since no information was provided of possible wrongdoing. Notice at the end they hired a "debri removal" firm that knew FEMA documentation rules, which was wise. Hopefully, Lake County government managers are doing the same for Federally funded programs and grants. If they don't, and the documentation is not adequate, they would be forced to repay the funds. vj January 1, 2010 Federal agency to audit Greene County's ice storm funds Wes Johnson From the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader HERE The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will conduct a weeklong audit of Greene County this month over $10.2 million in FEMA money the county received after the 2007 ice storm. Although the City of Springfield and City Utilities... Read more →