Fiscal Rangers

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 →

Sentinel Editorial Questions Validity of North Lake County Hospital District tax continuing

Tavares, FL - Oct. 27, 2011 - Hip, Hip, Hooray - The Orlando Sentinel came out with an editorial today questioning the need for taxpayer subsidized Hospital Tax Districts like the North Lake County Hospital District. Right now, execs from the hospitals are going to local service clubs, Chamber of Commerces, etc. to plead NO SUPPORT for Rep. Metz's proposal to reform the existing regulations AND require a voter referendum because they want local legislators to give them another 50 years of FREE tax funds without oversight. Read it... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-hospital-taxing-districts-102711-20111026,0,5822120.story I disagree, however, with the Sentinel in saying to WAIT until Governor Scott's Commission issues their report in January. The new logo for those challenging the Hospital Tax is the pink flamingo with the "NO" circle because current regulations allow the local hospitals to spend tax funds on anything without specific oversight, even pink flamingos for the lawn. Instead, on Nov. 9th, the Lake County Legislator's Delegation forum will meet to hear arguments for and against Rep. Metz's proposed law, and they should then support it and move the process forwared, since it takes months to get a law through the FL legislative process. If Scott decides to abolish or... Read more →

FiscalRangers Call to Action: STOP Gov. Scott from Applying for SNEAKY, Liberal Federal Grant

Update 1pm Wed - added more details from Kathryn Sutherlin about the high amount used for administrative expenses and lying about budget numbers. Also, the email for Gov Scott doesn't work, and you have to wait a long time for Scott's office to answer the phone. Update 4pm: We added the official press release from the California Office of Early Learning which says it was SIGNED yesterday, but another source says it might not be a done deal. Keep tuned. Tavares, FL - Oct. 19, 2011 - Today, Wednesday, is the SURPRISE Deadline for Florida State government to apply for A STEALTH, SNEAKY Federal Grant that will over regulate one Florida industry, Child Care. I am asking you, based upon the request of a credible Lake County volunteer and the inforamtion below, to CALL Florida Governor Rick Scott TODAY to HALT any action for Florida to APPLY for the grant. Phone call and email details are below. The $100-million grant proposal ( Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge ) from a Florida State agency, the Florida Office of Early Learning, is an application for a STEALTH grant using Nancy Pelosi type hidden agendas and lack of details to... 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 →

Lake County Judge issues Decision in Constitutionality Lawsuit Against North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - Friday, Oct. 14, 2011 - 9pm - Lake County Judge G. Richard Singeltary issued his expected decision tonight and it was in favor of the Hospital District and rejected Marilyn Bainter's challenge of the Constitutionality of the District existence. Read the Orlando Sentinel's article from Steve Hudak article HERE, which is our source. Read our email article sent out by our Constant Contact email service HERE. More details and content of the actual written decision will be published by the Sentinel on Monday, Oct. 17th when quotes can be obtained by various involved parties. We will also publish our update and analysis of the printed court decision in this blog on Monday. Marilyn Bainter has said she will review the decision with her attorney and decide whether to appeal or not. We do not know when that decision will be met, but will post it here when received. Vance Jochim Read more →

Miami-Dade Inspector General Rebukes Jackson Health System for Failed Contractor Procedures

Once again, another Florida Hospital, Jackson Health Systems, screwed up again. According to their local County Inspector General, they awarded sole source contracts for "emergency venitlation and air conditioning" work to a contract without competitive bids. They awarded $1.7-million in contracts to CT Mechanical, which then submitted vague lump sum invoices and failed to get building permits on 17 projects. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/14/2454079/inspector-general-criticizes-jackson.html This all happened while they already had two local businesses approved for the work. The Jackson Health Systems staff claimed the work was only awarded to CT Mechanical because Jackson was so poor in paying vendors that few would do the work for them. Anyway, this shows that a Inspector General is what is needed to unveil these types of practices, and Lake County does NOT have one. Since our own North Lake County Hospital District gives $9-12 million to three local hospitals without any spending rules or internal audits (they have financial audits, which are different), the hospitals could be doing the same thing and the taxpayers would not have a clue. Watch this blog for updates on the North Lake County Hospital District. And, probably more on Jackson Health, since they seem to have a screwup about... 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 →

Excessive Salaries of North Lake Hospitals Compared to Orlando Expressway Authority

Tavares, FL - Oct. 8, 2011 - Actually, we aren't comparing the salaries, but discussing the relevancy of high salaries paid to managers running the two local Hospitals, Leesburg and Waterman, when taxpayers are asked to subsidize their non-profit PRIVATE corporations with $8-12-million of taxpayer funds. The North Lake County Hospital District extracts $8-12 million per year from local property owners for corporate welfare payments to the Hospitals, but there are no salary caps until the hospitals give up the 40 year subsidies. Only two hospitals(a third gets a small share) receive the hospital, while all other local clinics that provide similar services have no ability to apply for or receive payments, which is anti-competitive. Efforts are underway by Florida state Rep. Larry Metz to revamp the regulations for the District to define spending rules, remove the "entitlement" feature of only giving the money to two hospitals (which they claim is for indigent care, but no rules specify that) rather than all clinics providing such services, and also require the first ever referendum and voter approval on the tax for many taxpayers. We have advocated that the Board members of the District, and the Florida regulations establishing the District should... Read more →

Orlando Sentinel Columnist Encourages Taxpayer Action on Un-ending Hospital Tax District

This is a good overview in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel by Lauren Ritchie of last week's Lake County Legislators' Delegation forum discussions related to the North Lake County Hospital District. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-taxing-district-proposal-20111001,0,7611357.story It has taken 3+years by local tax reformers to get the word out about this tax, where many taxed property owners never got to vote on it in over 20-40 years. Since 1964, the Florida Consistitution requires taxes be approved by voters, and it is time that voters get to listen to all issues, and vote on this tax. The local Hospitals who have been receiving this corporate welfare for 40 years naturally don't want you to vote on it, since the current law shovels your tax money into a bucket (about $8.9-million this year) and splits it into two cash buckets given to the Hospitals without any clear rules on how they spend the funds. Also, the law NAMES two specific hospitals to get the funds, rather than have a process run by the County Health Dept to vett and pay for specific services like indigent or poor health care and reimburse ANY clinic providing desired services for the indigent. This all needs to be changed. Metz even includes... Read more →