Fiscal Rangers

Updated Jan 15th: Lake Dora water flow from Lake Apopka shut off by CAT People at St. Johns River Water Management District

Updated Jan. 15, 2012 to include Fox Orlando interview link to their website. Updated Jan 9, 2012 after the meeting: The Lake County public hearing of the St. Johns River Water Management District meeting was held Jan. 5th to discuss water level management practices affecting Lake County lakes. Our update with conclusions and our recommendations are in section PS8 at the bottom of this document. (Several updates added to section PS8 with the latest on Jan 9th). Links to local media articles on this meeting also added to section PS8 thru 1/9. The ST. John's Board is having a Baord meeting in Palatka on Jan. 10th to decide their actions, and we will post a NEW article. Tavares, FL - Dec. 27, 2011 (Updated 4pm, Jan. 4th) - Water levels in Lake Dora & downstream lakes are dropping due to actions to completely shutoff water flow to them from Lake Apopka. Alien CAT People working at the St. Johns River Water Management District started shutting off water on Dec. 8th from Lake Apopka to Lake Dora and all Lake Countians should get organized. (True, except for the CAT reference (:-)) ) A public hearing for Lake Countians has been scheduled... Read more →

Goodbye & Happy Trails to Steve Hudak, Orlando Sentinel Reporter & Other Media Gossip

Tavares, FL - Dec. 23, 2011 I am beginning to think that Lake County is becoming the local farming club (like baseball) for the Orlando Sentinel and for other news reporters. They send their newer reporters here, then move them to Orlando once we break them in... or vice versa. Anyway, longtime Orlando Sentinel reporter Steve Hudak was moved from the Lake County Board of Commissioners "beat" to the Orlando area for the Sentinel. We didn't have a "file" picture of Steve, but this picture is a good facsimile. His replacement is Eloísa Ruano González. Here is one of her first articles: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-concert-south-lake-20111220,0,1479803.story One of the problems in losing an experienced reporter is they know significant background on the local government methods and officials, and it will take time for any new reporter to get up to speed and not be snookered by self serving quotes from officials or knowing when staff is snookering the officials. One example is the North Lake Hospital District issue, or the long running debate over the Emergency Operations Center, budget fiascos, impact fee actions, etc. It isn't just Hudak's beat, but the Orlando Sentinel reporters covering the Lake County School District have changed three... 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 →

Governor's Hospital District Review Commission Publishes DRAFT Report of Recommendations

Tavaras, FL - Dec. 20, 2011 - Florida Governor Scott's Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts just published their almost final report draft. This affects Lake County, because we have two hospital districts, the North Lake County Hospital District, and the South Lake County Hospital District. This blog has published numerous articles on local efforts to reform the North Lake County Hospital District. The Draft report, 30 pages long, includes several objectives that had been included in Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill recently approved by the six member Lake County Legislators Delegation (5 to 1). The Commission recommendations included: - Qualified hospital district board members should be appointed who "do not have conflicts of interest" (like also being on the Hospital Boards which receive tax funds via the Hospital District). - Board members should have "financial expertise and experience operating successful. larger businesses (i.e. not a filling station owner who likes hospitals). - Special hospital districts (like our North Lake one) should become "indigent health care districts based upon local priorities". (It doesn't say, but implied is NOT to subsidize Medicare or other expenses of the hospitals). - Millage rates should be adjustable (not fixed like North Lake)... Read more →

Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks flips vote again - Sparks flew at today's meeting

Tavares, FL - dec. 20, 2011 - Omigosh - another Sean Parks' indecision point!! Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks frequently has changed his vote on issues even after votes and called for re-votes, which really aggravates the other Lake County Commissioners. Today, Parks out of the blue says maybe the Board should reconsider the decision to build the Emergency Operations Center after he and Welton Cadwell and Jennifer Hill voted 3 to 2 to fund it's $10-million cost months ago. The picture is from one of our earlier articles where we proposed an alternative EOC design that would have been mobile and less costly, but the Board ignored it! You could see the frost appearing on the faces of Leslie Campione and Jimmy Conners because many months ago they had opposed the EOC project, but were outvoted after Parks flipped his decision at a final meeting (never say final with Parks). The grimacing staff says they have spent $500,000 on design costs already, but Parks now wants to reconsider the issue due to the recent bad budget forecast for next year. So, they will do so at a mid-February meeting after solid cost estimates are in. Parks action resulted in... Read more →

Broward County, FL Inspector General Issues First Report and blasts County Economic & Small Biz Development

The new Broward County Inspector General just issued a report blasting the total mis-management of a County run small business certification program designed to give County contracts a local preference. Only local government could create a $750,000 fiscal fiasco like this (or State or Federal Government.). I can't stop - there is a basic management rule cited by Ronald Reagan - "Trust but verify", but these county managers trusted, but didn't verify the vendors' true eligibility for local government contracts. Best quotes: “The OIG determined that at least $750,000 in public funds, and in all probability a lot more has been misspent as a result of gross mismanagement by the OESBD,’’ Scott said Friday. “Our office is going to work with county government to make sure this doesn’t happen.’’ In one instance, the Inspector General found that a county vendor, Everytrade International Company, was awarded 37 county contracts worth nearly $750,000 since June 2007. At least 35 of those contracts required the vendor to be certified as a Small Business Enterprise, which gives the designated company exclusive access to certain county contracts and preference in the procurement process. But according to the Inspector General, Everytrade International is actually a brokerage... Read more →

Action Alert regarding Lowered Water in Lake Dora, Lake Harris & Lake Eustis

Dec. 18 Update #2: Commissioner Campione says she may move the discussion on the water issue UP to the front of the meeting if many people show up to discuss it. That means, be there at 9am - and I assume she MAY allow public input. vj Sun. 10pm Update Dec. 18 - Added info that we confirmed that this issue WILL be discussed at the Tuesday 9am meeting of the Lake County Commission, but it will probably be at the end of the meeting during the Commissioner "Reports" section, usually after 11am. We still do not know if public input will be allowed - return here to find any updates Monday afternoon. Dec. 16, 2011 - Send this to any other Lake County resident concerned about dropping water levels on local lakes like Lake Dora, Harris, Eustis. The Issue: The St. John’s Water Authority is restricting the amount of water flowing from Lake Apopka to upstream lakes like Lake Dora, the Harris Chain, etc. Lake Apopka is the source for most water in most of our other Harris Chain lakes. It is considered, however, to be one of the most polluted lakes in Florida. The St. John’s Water District... 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 →

Agenda 21 - Citizens of Rutherford County, TN Object to Planning Commission Revisions to Comp Plan

Dec. 15, 2011 - Citing the UN Agenda 21, which focuses on "one government" and reduction of property rights, "concerned citizens" of Rutherford County, TN objected to plans by the County Planning Commission to "update" zoning laws to comply with a new "Comprehensive Land Use Plan" (aka Comp Plan. This article gives an overview of complaints and the issues, which seem to center on revising zoning related to rock quarries to shift them to an "industrial" use and subject them to changed setback requirements and state level approvals which were not required before. I didn't read anything in the article that was specific enough to understand what property rights were being removed except that if a land owner wished to create a rock quarry, they would be subject to much LOWER setback requirements than currently, and subject to State approvals. Favorite quote: “All this is, is a hidden anti-development, anti-growth agenda under the veil of preservation and scenic beauty – all at the expense of the property owner,” said Timm Rudd, Rutherford County Republican Executive Committee member and real estate agent. Apparently, in this County, the zoning has not been updated since 1984 (similar to what happened in Lake County... 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 →

Tomorrow's OFFSITE Lake County Board Meeting Might be a Doozy

Tavares, FL - Dec. 12, 2011 - Will tomorrow’s offsite Lake County Board meeting at Camp Challenge result in approving support for $500-700-million in new and continued taxes for roads without verifying the validity of the $700-million spending target calculated by staff??? Will they receive SHOCKING reality of five years of future budgets? Will they only listen to, or actually decide to pursue a radical new taxing method being pushed for roads to offset impact fees – it is called mobility fees. Will new Board Chair Leslie Campione implement a new policy of always allowing public input on each agenda tabbed item – this current meeting’s agenda doesn’t allow for ANY public input. We will have spies at the Tavares Admin building to see who does NOT read this and goes to the wrong location. The agenda was not posted until late last week and the offsite location was NOT disclosed in the agenda (they never insert the location at the top of the agenda, although we have constantly asked for that improvement.) And, the agenda gave no address for Camp Challenge, and to prevent you from going to the Camp Challenger in California, WE PROVIDE the correct Lake County... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Tax Reform - another report of Legislators' Vote

Tavares, FL - Dec. 10, 2011 - We previously reported on the results of the Lake County Legislator's delegation vote to approve a reform bill affecting the North Lake County Hospital District. However, we just found this Daily Commercial article on the meeting at the beginning of this month, so we include it here for the record. Our earlier reports were from our observations and articles in the Orlando Sentinel. This article is fairly balanced, with viewpoints from both sides of the issue. As our readers know, we have always favored reforms of the Hospital District. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/120211hospitalbill Read the comments. vj Read more →

Broward County, FL Inspector General Office up and running...

In 2010, Broward County, FL Commissioners amended the County charter to create an Inspector General department, and in April, 2011, they hired an ex-US Justice Department manager to run it. The IG department was setup after pressure from citizens due to excess government fraud and corruption. They now have a website up and running and some background pages, but no reports yet. The IG had independent authority over all County operations AND all cities in the County. Lake County does NOT have an Inspector General, and the "County Clerk Auditor" in the County Clerk's department has no authority to open audits in other County or City operations. Basically, there is no central auditor in Lake County with authority to audit or investigate County operations, Constitutional officers or cities. And, you can't request an audit from the Florida Auditor General without approval by the separate Legislative Audit Committee (which rarely does give approval or funding) So, this posting is a place marker to contain the website information on the Broward County Inspector General: http://www.broward.org/InspectorGeneral/Pages/Default.aspx vj Here is a short SunSentinel.com article explaining the announcement of the new website... http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/12/broward_inspector_general_offi.html Read more →

Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks Exposed as source for "Snarky" Online Comments

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 - Normally, you have to wait until Wednesday morning to read Lauren Ritchie's next column in the Lake Section of the Orlando Sentinel. But, we were tipped that the Wednesday column has already been posted to their website HERE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-lauren-ritchie-sean-parks-20111207,0,3833276.column Apparently, Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks has been posting "snarky" comments online in the Orlando Sentinel comments sections using a hidden name, and Lauren has the info. He has attacked various people, including this blog's author, and also insists that "others" also used his secret accounts to post comments. Here are some quotes from Lauren's article: "The childish individuals who hijack the public-discussion area to engage in name-calling and unfounded allegations are, fortunately, a small minority." "Commissioner Sean Parks, 40, acknowledged last week that in late May he created an account from which anonymous comments have been posted at OrlandoSentinel.com, repeatedly calling his constituents "hacks and loons," labeling one of his colleagues a "kook" and using a clever turn of phrase to refer to a fellow anonymous poster as human waste." Lauren also wrote: "Voters have the right to expect county commissioners to lead the community with integrity, and Parks no longer can... Read more →

Glorious Update on North Lake County Hospital District & Rep. Metz Reform Discussions -

Tavares, FL - Sun., Dec. 4, 2011 - It is a grand and glorious week in Lake County, Florida. This was sent out earlier today to our full email list: TO: Members of Gov. Scott’s Commission to review Hospital Districts BCC: To other recipients of FiscalRangers.com emails From: Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com HOORAY – five of the six legislators at this week’s hearings voted to APPROVE Rep. Larry Metz’s reforms (after some minor amendments that took two hours of discussion) to the existing legislation that created the North Lake County Hospital District. HERE is reporter Steve Hudak’s Orlando Sentinel article published yesterday on the results. HERE is Orlando Sentinel’s columnist Lauren Ritchie’s column published today on how State Senator Alan Hays botched his credibility by constantly trying to water down Metz’s bill. Everyone receiving this email should have received earlier emails with the Metz proposed bill, the 3-page summary and my review of the summary. If you did not get them, let me know. I do not have the pending revised version that includes the amendments approved at the recent meeting (yet). The bill, once revised, will go to the house for a bill number. Once that is assigned, I will... Read more →