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 of County. 8 parents showed up and pleaded to keep kids at Princeton. Lake County is talking about giving them a choice (no final decision yet) to keep going to Princeton but not get County buses, or go to Lake County special centers that NOW exist which can handle autistic kids. By doing this, County will reduce transportation costs by at least 400k for just 32 kids. If you need accurate info, confirm details with Nancy Velez at the School Board. The County does NOT pay for transportation to any Lake County charter schools, so why pay it for one in Orange County? Apparently the one in Orange County won’t even provide transportation for Orange County kids. No final decision was made until more info is received and a committee is formed to determine. Kudos to School District staff Judy Miller & Nancy Velez for bringing this up to the Board. I thought it was a very good presentation of analysis by the staff, trying to find ways to reduce costs, and I agree with this.
Lake County Board of Commissioners meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, May 8) – here are some interesting agenda items: – Agenda is HERE
- Tab 16 – LEACHATE Disposal Contract ( $500,000) - 500k contract for leachate disposal. No info explaining why they need to do this, how we got leachate, what it is, or any indication they have a plan to reduce future leachate disposal costs. This item is on the “consent agenda” which means unless a Board member asks that it be “pulled” for discussion, no more “facts” will be provided and no Board discussion, and 500k will be spent without providing the types of details we describe above.
- Tab 18 – Re-Financing $10-million loan with Hancock Bank – not all fees or costs described. County has a $10-million loan agreement with Hancock Bank which was part of the financing source of paying for the notorious Motorola radio system that cost more than $30-million a few years ago. Agenda claims they will save 170k but they don’t have total COSTS of the deal, i.e. bond counsel and consultant fees. School District did similar thing recently for refinancing a $32-million bond (I think) and had fees over 170k. So the issue is whether they are pushing this to generate advisor fees and get small savings. Also it is worse if they don’t keep length of new financing at same length as what is left on the current loan. This should not be the final decision. This item is on the “consent agenda” which means unless a Board member asks that it be “pulled” for discussion, no more “facts” will be provided and no Board discussion. That means the Board is letting this go through without having the full costs of the re-financing, or knowing if the term was expanded. Thus, is this a boondoggle for bond counsels to earn fees, or is there a genuine, total savings worth the time. And, did they include the cost of internal staff time to do work on this? (Note: The School Board was much better in providing details and getting solid estimates that this BCC item where it might sail through without discussion. Is staff or friends of the bond counsel trying to pull a fast one? Until I see much better details and analysis on high cost items like this, I will keep saying that.
- Presentations – no real details to know if these are routine – no files on agenda page for items 20-23
- Tab 20 – Quarterly budget report – wait and see – no details provided.
- Tab 21 – Lake County Health Dept update – no info provided, but I plan to ask if they are open to running administration for reformed plan for North Lake County Hospital District
- Tab 22 – Economic Development – this is their required monthly report to the Board, but no details were provided as an attachment.
- Tab 23 – Update on construction (probably includes the new Courthouse and unexpected costs for security and staffing they never budgeted for – about $1-million impact) – NO DETAILS provided. Sometimes this periodic report is used as a backdoor vehicle to ask Board approval on a project budget, etc. so you have to watch what happens because they don’t describe it in the agenda.
- “The Lake County Facilities Development and Management Department is managing the improvements to several facilities. Examples of these projects include: Animal Services Building Renovation, Astor Substation Renovation, Combined Fleet Operations Center, Emergency Communications and Operations Center, Fire Station 10 Mold Remediation, Fire Station 112 Mold Remediation, Historic Courthouse (HCH) Renovation, Judicial Center Expansion, Leesburg Health Clinic Building, Radio Operations Center, Road Operations Center Expansion, South Lake Health Department Clinic Building.”
- Tab 24 – CDBG Budget – $967,000 - This is a Federal “block grant” that the County has received for years and they pay funds out to different social service programs. Last year, Leslie Campione noted that some of the programs have been going on for YEARS with no change, and perhaps they need to change priorities. So, let’s see if Director Dottie Keedy and County Manager Darren Gray remember that and maybe reduce or cut funding for some routine programs for some needed now (I recommended job placement training programs, and programs to find a way to fill all the foreclosures which I think have higher priority.). Some of the prior programs provide funds for services now also provided by many other charities, so why continue funding them and instead select more current priorities. You can see the furnished list of projects proposed in the budget HERE. (see attachment also since the County software is horrible and the hyperlinks don’t open the page directly. ) The provided project list doesn’t provide all details – they list “Community Projects” at $458,000 but do not list them. Last year, there were some controversial projects funded where there was little explanation about how the funds would be spent or any method to measure the value of the project and spending effectiveness. The Board needs to have staff walk through each item and examine whether they should be curtailed. Matter of fact, the Board should determine priorities FIRST after discussing all types of projects that can be funded with the CDBG grants, THEN review and prioritize projects. As it is, the information provided is vague, general and not conducive to determine what the value is of the projects. My experience is that the explanations of CDBG grants is usually weak, just spending on the same things and without discussing methods to rank value or effectiveness of the programs. There isn’t even a comparison of prior spending on programs compared to this list, or indication that anyone determined that last year’s spending was effective and had value. Watch the Board to see if they take this seriously, or they rubber stamp projects that have been going on for years…
Other News:
- The North Lake County Hospital District will be having a special meeting on Wed., May 16 (NEXT week) to discuss how to implement the reform bill that was passed by the Legislature. Details to follow early next week.
- Several groups are having candidate forums for announced candidates for local Lake County offices, including School Board, County Commissioners, Constitutional Officers. The Lake Federated Women’s club is having one, the South Lake 912 Group is having one, the North Lake Tea party is having several. Also, the Lake County Conservative Founder’s club is having one. Check out the Lake County Republican’s FACEBOOK page at https://www.facebook.com/LakeGOP to see the event details under “events” – starting tomorrow afternoon).
Vance Jochim
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