Fiscal Rangers

Virginia Farmer's Fighting Property Rights Opponents over Right to Sell Locally Grown Food

Small farmers' rights to sell locally grown food without county government regulations and fines are being assailed in Virginia State. A small farmer was fined for having a party for kids and feeding them homegrown food and for advertising pumpkin carvings. Now the small farmer's are fighting back over their property rights and ability to grow and sell vegetables, etc. One of their more sane ideas is that if the County is mad about selling food that was not inspected by the government, then just require a label saying the food was not "government inspected" similar to warnings on cigarette packs. "RICHMOND, Va. — Fauquier County farmer Martha Boneta is hailing a bill that would give property owners a legal club to pummel overreaching government officials. Boneta knows the stakes. In a widely reported showdown that sparked pitchfork protests in the community, Fauquier officials cited Boneta for selling homemade products on her farm. The county threatened her with $5,000-per-day fines for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls, and for advertising pumpkin carvings." Read it here, and the abuse of local county's in overregulating the sale of home grown food. http://watchdog.org/124758/farm-property-rights/ vj Read more →

Daily Commercial Article on Common Core is an Example of Media Bias

Tavares, FL Jan. 23, 2014 Today's Daily Commercial touted a biased Florida Education boss's puff front page article on Common Core and is a great example of media reporting bias in avoiding alternative viewpoints. http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_c4ca0c1c-84bc-569a-a41f-0e1206c7b142.html#user-comment-area Here is the comment I posted about the one sided Daily Commercial article on their website (Please SHARE this if you agree): “The quotes in the article supporting FL State Education Dept. head Pamela Stewart on Common Core are one sided and use the old gobbledegook used by liberals like "state led". The reporter is using quotes around statements apparently taken from Stewart's talking points and they reflect mostly debunked reasons for Common Core. There was no attempt to quote opponents of Common Core or the reasons they cite. For instance, the reporter didn’t discuss the pending Florida legislation HB25 which seeks to prevent Common Core implementation until certain conditions are met. The article also did not discuss that the State is trying to escape visibility by renaming the Common Core standards to another name, even though by law they have to follow the copyrighted Common Core standards. Thus this front page article by the Daily Commercial was a puff piece for Stewart and the... Read more →

The Big Obamacare LIE is Even Causing Massive Medical Costs for those liberals and main stream reporters

Tavares, FL - Jan 22, 2014 The big Obamacare lie is coming home to roost as even reporters and supportive Democrats are being shocked with the costs. Many articles by naive reporters just cited the 10-30% increase in monthly rates for people, but they never asked about the HUGE jump in co-pays. Some leaped from $30 to $430 per item. So, read how main stream reporters are finding out the truth as it hits them in the wallet. I heard a presentation recently at a local conservative group by the CEO of a local hospital. He says employed people are coming to the hospital and are confronted with co-pays of $6000 or more before their new insurance pays for anything, and many don't have the funds and will go bankrupt, stiffing the hospital. Be sure to thank liberals and the main stream press for not reporting the true costs of Obamacare. Note: I get Medicare and can't wait to see what services are cut or that cost more as they run out of money since Obama siphoned off almost a billion dollars to pay for Medicaid. http://www.propublica.org/article/journalists-turn-to-themselves-for-obamacare-stories Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Video Explains Specifics of Common Core Dumbing Down K-12 Education

Tavares, FL Jan. 19, 2014 Links to this video are circulating among Common Core opponents, and the Local School Board members need to be aware of the described issues. The webpage title describes a scary quote from recommended teacher notes in the TEACHER’s version of a textbook telling her to instruct students that right wing groups are fascist. However, the speaker, Terrance Moore, also explains much of the other damaging work done by Common Core designers to reduce critical thinking, literature, math skills and Euclidian math concepts (aka logic). http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/18/teachers-instructed-to-teach-all-right-wing-extremist-groups-are-fascist-video/ Unfortunately Moore did not specify the textbook name so we can not determine if it is used in Florida or Lake County. (It apparently might be in his book “Storykillers” which is about the “Case against Common Core”). http://www.amazon.com/Story-Killers-Common-Sense-Case-Against-Common-ebook/dp/B00GB1QS9E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390142817&sr=8-1&keywords=storykillers “What is the Common Core? How will the Common Core English Standards affect the teaching of great stories in our schools? Will there be any great stories left in the minds of our children when the Common Core has controlled the curriculum and testing of both public and private schools for a few years? What are the real purposes behind the educational coup that has taken place with very little public... Read more →

Lake County FL area Florida District 31 House Candidates Need to Learn School Board Legislative Priorities

Tavares, FL Jan. 17, 2014 This was sent by email to the District 31 Candidates today: To: Republican Florida House District 31 Candidates (Apopka and northeast section of Lake County including Mt. Dora, Eustis & Tavares) (B. Grassel, Terri Seefeldt, Jennifer Sullivan & Randy Glisson) Attached are the long version of the Lake County School Board's Florida legislative priorities discussed on Oct. 21, then the shorter list approved by the Lake County School Board late last year on Nov. 4th. (Source is Natalie Challenger at the District office.) Download Board approved 2014 legis.priorities Download Legis.Priorities 2014-shortened list The priority lists will be used for discussions with Legislators in the upcoming legislative session. Lake County School Board member Tod Howard is the new legislative liaison for the School District and you might talk with him about the priority list and develop an understanding of them and have a position on their legislative priorities you will support. I am encouraging voters to ask you about your positions on these issues so you don’t appear to be one issue candidates. Vance Jochim Lake County Fiscal Rangers Chief Fiscal Watchdog Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness Tavares,... Read more →

Broward County, FL Decides to Stop Contributions to CRAs

Tavares, FL - Jan. 16, 2014 Most cities in Lake County have CRAs which set aside future property tax revenues to use to “redevelop” blighted downtown areas in specific “zones”. Projects might include repair of old sidewalks, painting and fixing exterior fronts of old retail buildings, and other projects to improve the attractiveness of the downtown area. Note: The book cover at the left is NOT a real book, but who knows, someday. The hitch is that part of the CRA revenues come out of County property taxes, not just city tax shares. For instance, if you look at the Lake County budget, you will find they pay out over a million dollars to CRAs in the County. That money comes right out of COUNTY property taxes but goes towards CITY CRA projects. So the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida just reported that Broward County, FL Commissioners got fed up with those tax losses and will stop approving any extensions of expiring CRAs by cities that use County Tax funds. The Commissioners want to use the funds for their own projects. Broward County has much higher tax collections than Lake County, so the numbers are much larger. Cities in Broward County... Read more →

Highlights of tomorrow's Lake County Board Meeting agenda

Tavares, FL Mon., Jan 13, 2014 The Lake County Board of supervisors have been off for about a month, and you can find their agenda here, and also the detailed 600+ page “packet”: http://lakecountyfl.suiteonemedia.com/web/home.aspx <<< I find it doesn’t work with Firefox, so use Internet Explorer This is a quick overview of issues: This meeting includes an initial period for awards, which will probably take 15 minutes. Tab 5.03 and 5.05 - Two recent County audit reports are not described as such in the agenda. The Court Clerk’s Internal Auditor issued TWO audits of County operations, and magically they are not attached to the agenda and the descriptions don’t even say they are audits. One is an audit of “ARRA Grant Reporting” and you can find it here: http://lakecountyfl.suiteonemedia.com/web/home.aspx The other audit is about the BCC Web Server / Application Security, but is also not on the agenda or on the Court Clerk’s website, so I obtained it from the Auditor and attached it here: Download 2014-01-14 Audit BCC-112 BCC Web Server-Application Security I will write articles about these soon. This continues a pattern where staff and the Board are avoiding public awareness of recent audits and is a bad... Read more →

Issues from Agenda for tonight's Lake County, FL School Board meeting

Tavares, FL - Mon., Jan. 13, 2014 You can find the agenda and related attachments in the “Board Docs” section for today’s date under the “Board” tab or click here: http://www.boarddocs.com/fla/lake/board.nsf/Public Here are my selected issues on tonight’s agenda. These may not include items of concern to members of the public, since I focus on fiscal and performance issues. The Board will be asked to accept the annual audited financial statements, known as the CAFR - The auditors said at a recent audit committee that the District is very close (4%) to the statutory limit for reserves of 3%, and if they drop below that, the State initiates some actions. That happened at Manatee County School District recently and many people had to be laid off. - The auditors repeated last year’s recommendations that there be a perpetual inventory system for food services. I am amazed there never was one, which smacks of fiscal malfeasance. Without a perpetual inventory, food can be taken without discovery. Why did this never get implemented? Below are more details and other issues. Item and description 5.02 - An update on two school construction projects. Attachments on the agenda show routine progress. 7.01 - “Acceptance”... Read more →

Candidates for FL House District 31 Must Know More than One Legislative Issue

Tavares, FL - Monday, Jan. 13, 2014 To Candidates for Florida’s House District 31 (Apopka & parts of Lake County): Belita Grassel; Terri Seefeldt; Randy Glisson; Jennifer Sullivan You are all registered as Republican candidates, and are planning to replace incumbent Bryan Nelson who is termed out. As I have said before, candidates for District 31 should not be one issue candidates, but should know and have positions on FL legislative and public issues from conservative groups, the Lake County legislative issue priorities, and the School District legislative priorities. This attached annual report from American’s for Prosperity (AFP) is just one source, and you can see how you might be ranked if you win. Download AFP-FL 2013 Scorecard I suggest you review these issues and have a position on the important ones. Do not be surprised if the media or local voters ask you about your positions on issues like these. Additionally, attempts may be made to provide you support in return for actions if you are elected to DELAY or kill a planned 2016 voter referendum on renewing the North Lake County Hospital District 1 mill tax. The 2016 voter referendum was mandated by HB1299 recently, and no changes... Read more →

Chicago Schools Inspector General finds staff and Principal faking student attendance to hype attendance figures

Jan. 13, 2014 - Tavares, FL FYI - this is similar to the local Lake County case of the incorrect attendance figures provided by a charter school that resulted in a possible mandated return of up to $1-million from Lake County Schools to the Florida State Education Dept. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-inspector-general-chicago-investigations-20140112,0,95296.story Some quotes: “Sullivan's (the Inspector General) latest annual report, issued earlier this month,revealed that a high school principal and her programmer created "ghost students" to pad enrollment so the school would be eligible for an assistant principal and additional non-teaching staff. Also uncovered was an elementary school principal who changed grades to allow children to graduate.” “The IG's report in the past two years has detailed cases of fraudulent applications for free and reduced-price lunch. Principals and assistant principals were found to have falsified data on their own children's forms. The data helped financially strapped schools earn extra state and federal funds.” The article is quite long and indicates many areas where school district controls were found to be lax. However, the Chicago School system has 650 schools, so more chances of wrongdoing to occur. The issue is that if data resulting in payments to the School District, Charter schools or... Read more →

Common Core Update: Many Conservative Groups Expanding Strategies to Kill Common Core

Tavares, FL - Jan. 10, 2014 Common Core Update: This is a great update on all the conservative groups and strategies fighting Common Core. You kinda wish that our elected officials and school administrators were educated enough to know this was going on and understand the concerns. The article points out that Common Core problems are so well known now they are being used to push expansion of school vouchers, end of teacher tenure and other education reforms. http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/common-core-conservatives-education-101796.html Read more →

Common Core Update: Writer explains that now Common Core is a Damaging Monopoly

CCstop02FiscalRangers Update on Common Core - This is an excellent overview by the Chair of the Republican Party in a North Carolina County. He explains that Common Core is now a monopoly, without competition (remember, college entrance tests are now moving to be Common Core "aligned") and do you want your kid to be learning what radical, communist liberal Bill Ayers inserts into the standards and resulting curriculum. Read more →