Fiscal Rangers

Tired of Biased Liberal Presidential Polls? Here are some that are NON-Biased

Tavares, FL - Sept. 29, 2012 Correction: Sept. 30 - The link below shows you results from existing, biased polls that have been corrected by removing sampling biases to get new results. Thus the links on the list go to the original biased polls. Many “Main Stream” media, including some on my media list, are publishing biased election polls claiming that Obama is winning, but it is widely known that the polls oversampled Democrats and UNDER-sample Independent voters so the results are really biased towards Obama, when Romney is really leading when the sampling biases are removed. I still have my classic book “How to Lie with Statistics” and hopefully some of the reporters on this list will get one and actually read it, and then report non-biased poll results. Here is a website listing several NON-biased polls comparing Obama to Romney, and also their approval ratings – and, no, I have not validated these, but the others are known to be biased. This list includes links to articles examining the lack of accuracy of the biased polls. http://unskewedpolls.com/ Why aren’t there journalistic and editorial professional standards on providing non-biased poll results? Maybe that is why more and more people... Read more →

Florida Voter Fraud Update: More Situations Uncovered, but Press Ignores Most of Them

Tavares, FL - Sept. 29, 2012 Voter Fraud Update: Recently, TrueTheVote disclosed hundreds of voters registered in both New York and Florida, and that was just from a small sample. Almost immediately, liberal media all at the same time came out with a story about one SINGLE voter reg group used by the Republicans that had submitted questonable voter registration (or absentee ballots), although the GOP immediately fired the vendor. Some reports indicated all the problems were caused by a single person. Now we have another voter registration vendor supporting Obama sending out questionable voter registration forms in several states, but the Dems don't fire that firm. So, ignore the liberal press & Democrats when they say there is no evidence of voter fraud. http://watchdog.org/57427/57427/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/rebeccaelliott/four-citizens-thrown-off-floridas-voting-rolls Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Board Subverts Intent of HB-1299 & Still Awards 95% of Business to three Hospitals

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 Last week, on Sept. 13, the first of two required Board meetings were held for the North Lake County Hospital District to discuss and approve their budget and millage rates. We wrote a posting on Sept. 12, the day before that meeting listing weaknesses in their plans and website. The Board is in the middle of also creating the administrative process to implement Florida legislation HB-1299 which was passed earlier this year to improve oversight and accountability over the approximate $8-million in property taxes they a receive. One feature of HB-1299 was to remove NAMES of any specific providers to receive the funds in order to establish an approval process for lower cost clinics to provide indigent care to residents in the District. This was in contrast to the previous 30+ years when three specific hospitals received an allocation of all available funds without any cost constraints or oversight or spending rules. In the two prior meetings to Sept 13, the Board Chair, Ken Carpenter, refused to allow any public input, while they let staff from the three local hospitals provide lots of input and written documents and speakers on how to spend... Read more →

Lake County School Board Meets OFFSITE today at 1pm to Discuss Capital Spending

Tavares, FL - Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 Sorry for the short notice, but anytime the Lake County School Board sets an offsite meeting, and changed the normal meeting time, there is usually something being discussed where they want to minimize attendance. Today the Board is having an offsite meeting and the time was moved up to 1pm, and the location is in Eustis at 1pm today, Sept. 17 (not normal 2pm) at 200 W. Golf Links Ave. Eustis, FL (Note: The actual online agenda, below, was poorly edited and left in the HQ address ALSO, but Golf Links is the proper address) The key issue is the discussion of the Capital spending plan where some Board members want to keep spending remaining funds on more school renovations rather than technology suggested by Board Member Jim Miller. Since Miller is running against Board Chair Rosanne Brandeburg for the same District (due to redistricting boundary changes), and she supports old style capital spending, it should be interesting. The issue is whether remaining, about to run out capital funds should just be spent on old buildings, or rather on new technology and learning procedures. Today's Orlando Sentinel Lake section had an article by... Read more →

Local Orlando Blogger Takes on Liberal Orlando Sentinel Columnist With REAL Facts

Sept. 17, 2012 Tom Tillison, who runs the blog Florida Political Pres, is based in Orlando, and has outed the movement in Orlando by former ACORN members and national liberals to get an Orlando County ordnance passed mandating sick leave for employees of small companies. Tillison has provided facts that Orlando based Organize Now, an ACORN spinoff, and other national groups funded the collection of petitions to put the issue on the ballot for November. Now there is a squabble between those groups and the Orlando County Commission because the Council found legal reasons to not put the issue on the upcoming Noverber ballot, but maybe later. Here is the lastest fron Tillison, who is now the target of liberal Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell, and conducting "dialog" on Maxwell's Facebook page: http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/09/16/orlando-sentinels-scott-maxwell-attacks-blogger-over-sick-leave-initiative/ The Sentinel is part of the Tribune group, which also owns a Chicago paper and the liberal Los Angeles Times (I used to live in LA). I can't help but notice that the Sentinel used to have liberal Maxwell, and also a conservative columnist, but the conservative position was cut upon retirement and replaced with a non-conservative columnist during this election year while still keeping Maxwell. There... Read more →

Florida Water District Audit finds Complete Mis-Management of Taxpayer Funded Lands

Saturday, Sept., 15, 2012 - Tavares, FL An audit by an Inspector General found that the South Florida Water Management District, "the largest public landowner in Florida — has no detailed inventory of the 1.4 million acres it owns and no formal process to sell or lease land it no longer needs, according to an audit by the district’s inspector general. The audit was made public at the monthly meeting of the district’s governing board on Thursday. Board members were briefed before the meeting and there was no discussion or comment from the public about the findings. The audit follows 18 months of questions — from the state, media and the district’s own inspector general — about the practices used to purchase and manage $2.8 billion the district said it needed for restoration, flood control and water storage projects. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/audit-faults-water-district-for-loose-management-o/nSByH/ The results of the audit point out a constant failure I see with government - the lack of business like programs to track and react to asset management methods used by businesses. In other words, once they get the land, there is no cost to them, and they horde it and want more, regardless of whether the taxpayers are informed... Read more →

Lake County Board Holds the Line on Millage Rates & Lake Sentinel Cries Wolf

The Orlando Sentinel published an article today about Tuesday’s Board meeting where the Lake County Board decided 4 to 1 to NOT increase most property tax millage rates, thus causing a need to fix funding shortages. About 20 people provided public input, and all of them but one sixteen year old told the Board to NOT increase millage rates. The sixteen year old wanted the millage rates to be increased. The Board agreed with the majority by voting 4 to 1 to NOT increase millage rates, and they decided to take the needed funds from cash reserves. They also discussed the need to have public discussions early next year to put service cuts on the table for discussion for the FOLLOWING tax year of 2014. Unfortunately, today’s Orlando Sentinel article made it seem like that decision would reduce bus, library and other services this coming budget year starting Oct. 1, 2012, and in my opinion that was not true. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-14/news/os-lk-lake-county-property-tax-20120914_1_taxable-value-tax-rate-rollback-rate#mod-blogs You can also watch the actual videos of the meeting here - watch the videos for the Sept. 11th meeting: http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/board_agendas/board_regular_meetings.aspx Here is my answer, as posted in their comments section, and I confirmed this today with Board Chair Leslie... Read more →

Updated: North Lake Hospital District Board Meeting Tomorrow (Thursday) to Set Millage Rates

Tavares, FL - Wed., Sept 12, 2012 - Update Sept. 14 - As expected the NLCHD Board approved continuation of the 1 mill tax. Most other taxpayer advocates left the meeting before public input, and only three people, including myself, gave public input. The second required public hearing for final approval of their budget and millage rates is next Thursday, Sept 20th, at 5:15 pm at the County Admin building in Tavares. They also implemented several adminstrative steps to implement HB-1299. Watch for an upcoming article, plus we will post videos of the entire meeting to our YouTube account. The Board agreed to implement many of the website deficiencies we describe below. Attendance of taxpayers probably isn't needed, since 4 of the 6 Board members favor the hospitals and will approve a full 1 mill rate regardless of public input. Here is our original Sept. 12 article: Readers who are concerned about the spending of taxpayer funds by the North Lake Hospital District are encouraged to attend tomorrow's Board meeting: When: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, 5:15 pm (allow time to park due to traffic circle construction) Update: 8:25 pm Wed - A recipient of our email pointed out the TRIM... Read more →

Former ACORN Voter Fraud groups Behind Orlando Vote on Mandatory Sick Leave

Tavares, FL - Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 Below is a great article about the reasons behind the effort to get mandatory sick leave passed in Orlando. It is part of an organized, national effort by progressives, liberals and former ACORN groups to use the issue to attract voters who want another government mandate to get them a reason to vote. So, it is really a get out the vote project for liberals. http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/09/02/whos-really-behind-orange-county-sick-leave-initiative/ Vance Jochim Lake County Fiscal Rangers Chief Fiscal Watchdog Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness PO Box 1042 Tavares, FL 32778 Mobile: 352-638-3578 [email protected] www.FiscalRangers.com TWITTER: @FiscalRangers "FiscalRangers" page on Facebook YouTube: NEW 6/2012 - Videos of local political candidate forums and other meetings, like North Lake County Hospital District & Lake County Legislators' Delegation annual forums - visit the youtube channel "FiscalRangersFlorida" CLICK HERE to see recommended internet links related to Local Lake County government fiscal issues. Read more →

Please attend Lake County Board Meeting Tomorrow, Tuesday, to Give Public Input on Plan to RAISE property tax millage rates

Tavares, FL - Mon., Sept 10 - Updates added at 7:30 pm, with link to Ritchie posting. Please attend tomorrow’s Lake County Board of Commission EVENING meeting at 5:05 pm when they MAY Approve a Property Tax millage rate Increase. Be there to give public input or just watch government in action. Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 at 5:05 pm (not the morning meeting) in the Lake County round administrative building , 315 W. Main St., Tavares. UPDATE: At 7pm, Monday, Lauren Ritchie, columnist fro the Lake Sentinel paper posted a blog article about tomorrow's meeting. I have no idea why she has Sean Parks in the web address, since she interviewed Leslie Campione, not Parks: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-10/news/os-lk-county-budget-taxes-20120910_1_rollback-rate-county-budget-commissioner-sean-parks Some people get mad when I say a millage rate is a tax increase, but if the normal method to calculate your property tax is to multiple the property value (on your TRIM Notice) by a standard millage rate, but then government officials decide to increase the millage rate to get more revenues, that to me is an increase, even if valuations are lower. I don't see sales tax rates being increased due to lower retail sales. I said that just to make tax... Read more →

Lake County FL Republicans Request County Officials to NOT Increase Property Tax Millage Rates

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 We recently wrote how many Lake County, FL government agencies are planning to increase property tax millage rates even though property values have dropped about 5.9% in Lake County according to the Lake County Property Tax Appraiser (see earlier article about our planned community meeting on Sept. 6th). Lake County Republicans voted on August 28th to have the Chairman, Mike Levine, write & send a letter to Lake County tax authorities, including the Lake County Board, with the recommendation NOT to increase millage rates as proposed by many entitites. However, the Chairman in my opinion added several personal requests not discussed at the meeting, such as tax abatements. The original emphasis approved by members was to have the Chair write a straightforward request not to increase property tax millage rates. Normally the Republican Executive Committee (REC) would process a written resolution and approve a written document, but time was short, so they authorized the Chair to write and send a request. So, in my opinion, the purpose of this letter was to only request that millage rates not be increased, thus the government agencies would live within the revenues received from the current,... Read more →

Florida Legislator Describes Planned Legislation to Ban Agenda 21 Initiatives

This is from Florida legislator John Hallman. We previously mentioned that FL Senator Alan Hays read from a draft of this bill (or a version) at a recent North Lake Tea Party meeting. You can see the video of the meeting at our FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube page - look for the meeting on Property Rights, and Hays reads the draft near the end of the meeting. http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=85e6877146ca8bd1caf2f0bdd&id=96fec9c963 Vance Jochim Read more →

List of Lake County Officials Delinquent in Filing Ethics Disclosure Forms

Tavares, FL - Lake County, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 UPDATED to today, Sept. 4th -see UPDATE section at the bottom of this document from Integrity Florida regarding Lake's late filers. This information was sent out by email yesterday to some local officials: Below is a link to a list of numerous Lake County officials who will soon face fines for not submitting required financial statements. Lake County I received this notice below from a local officer of the North Lake Tea Party. He received it from IntegrityFlorida, which apparently tracked people in public positions who have not filed required annual Financial Disclosure statements that were due July 1, 2012. I have not verified the accuracy of this list or how CURRENT it is (the memo below says as of August 29), and most of the names are city officials or in other smaller districts or agencies. I did not see any major elected officials from the County or School District on the list. Since today (Sept. 3) is a holiday, I can’t contact the Elections Superintendent to determine if her office is even involved in ensuring compliance, since the reports are due tomorrow. I know, that as a... Read more →

Today is National Labor Day, aka Obama Empty Chair Day & Clint Eastwood Speech

Sept. 3, 2012 - Tavares, FL One result of liking a lot of conservative pages on Facebook is they all come up with their own takes on political issues at the same time. Facebook, twitter and the internet are inundated about National Empty Chair Day. If you saw Clint Eastwood's talk at the Republican Convention, you will understand these pictures. If you did not see it, watch his speech first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoqKdWY692k Scroll down for more graphics... I couln't resist - I took this one: Read more →

FiscalRangers Watchdog to Host Sept. 6th Public Meeting to Explain Coming LOCAL Lake County Property Tax Rate Hikes up to 72% & Understanding TRIM Notices

Tavares, FL - Sept. 2, 2012 - News and local government issues for Lake County, FL by Vance Jochim Updates Sept 4: Added section 10 to "homework" section that includes links to FL Dept of Revenue guides that most taxpayers never see. Added section 11 for email from Lake County Republican Party to Tax Authorities recommending NO increase in millage rates. This Thursday, Sept. 6, 6-8pm, FiscalRangers.com, a blog on local Lake County Florida Government Fiscal issues, will host a FREE property taxpayer public meeting at the Tavares Civic Center, 100 E. Caroline St., Tavares, FL to explain how and why your property taxes or rates are going up, and tips if you want to appeal your property valuations, lost exemptions, etc. You should have recently received your TRIM notice showing new valuations, changes in exemptions, proposed changes in millage rates, etc. Have you heard that many local Lake County tax "authorities" like cities, Lake County and various special districts are RAISING the millage rate used to calculate your property taxes? Even though your property tax valuation may be dropping, those authorities want to tax you as much or more as last year, so they are increasing your property tax... Read more →