Fiscal Rangers

Tomorrow, the Lake County Board Should REJECT any Tax Hike to Fund the Sheriff Unless They Require These Conditions

The Lake County FL Board will be discussing tax hikes and budget increases for the Lake County Sheriff. We do not believe that is fiscally sound without the conditions we describe. Read more →

Lake County's Trout Lake Center asks City of Eustis for huge Land Grab discount

Tavares, FL June 22, 2014 You can read about it HERE in this Daily Commercial article. These ducks are from my backyard, not Trout Lake. I posted my comment to the proposed giveaway of taxpayer assets: It has not appeared yet, but here is an overview of my comments: Trout Lake is a great nature preserve and fun to visit for lectures and nature displays. http://www.troutlakenature.org/ However, they are asking the City of Eustis to sell them nearby land for $400,000, about 35% of market value, which is $1.4-million after the Property Tax appraiser update values. And that is just their TAX appraisal, and not the result of a true, independent property value appraisal. If the City of Eustis agreed to the lowball offer, they would essentially be giving away City of Eustis assets to subsidize this non-profit operation. That is a land grab and not acceptable for taxpayers. They also have not discussed if they even have funding for developing the land for human access and funds for maintenance, staffing, etc. And, as a non-profit, they are proposing offering cabins and other commercial activities that would compete with TAX paying businesses. One final possibility is to have a City... Read more →

Thuy (Twee) Lowe wins Seminole County Straw Poll for FL US Congressional Dist. 5 race (which includes part of Lake County)

Lake County, FL resident Thuy Lowe wins straw poll in Seminole County in her race to beat incumbent Corrine Brown in Florida's US Congressional District 5, which includes part of Lake County. Read more →

New Board Members for the North Lake County Hospital District (FL)

These are the new and outgoing Board members for the North Lake County Hospital District This email was sent to each of them Duane Booth - NE seat 2 - replaces outgoing Jerry Brown Vic Donahey - NW seat 4 - replaces outgoing Fran Grossi Joyce Richey Huey - NW seat 6 - replaces outgoing Robert Bone Friday was the deadline for opponents to file as candidates for the three open Board seats on the North Lake County Hospital District. Three current incumbents decided not to register for re-election. None of you had opponents, so you will be on the board. (Note, three incumbents did not run for re-election, so they are being replaced by the above new candidates after the final Nov. 4 election. See the list of outgoing and replacement Board members at the bottom of this document.) Congratulations. You should be commended for joining a Board that pays nothing and is facing the task of getting voter support in 2015 or 2016 to renew the District and it's millage rate. I write a blog in Lake County on local politics, including the NLCHD. I am a taxpayer advocate and fiscal watchdog and come to all Board meetings... Read more →

Should a Peat Harvesting Project North of Lake Eustis be Approved or Killed by Environmentalists??

Tavares, FL June 20, 2014 - Updated Monday, June 23, 2014 - contains opinion and added documents. The short link to this page is: http://tinyurl.com/o5wr84e A Peat Harvesting project known as the Goose Prairie Peat Harvesting Project (300 out of 600 acres north of Lake Eustis by HWY 44) is in process of getting approval from the Lake County Board and is scheduled to be discussed at the Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Lake County Board meeting. It is listed on the agenda under tab 23 for Planning & Zoning issues. Unfortunately, you have to download the entire 1176 page "Packet" file to find the 300 pages on the Goose Prairie proposal. Half those pages are pro and con emails and letters to Board members. I think liberals have hijacked this issue to use it as a fund raiser for environmental issues. The Opponents are led by the former head of the Lake County Democrats, Nancy Hurlburt. They have used half truths and diversion tactics to frighten nearby residents when County staff appear to have addressed all resident concerns. I have attended a community hearing and a presentation at the Lake County Water Authority, and I believe this proposal to harvest... Read more →

Will Democrats Be Able to Vote in Florida House District 31 Republican Primary?

Last minute political tricks may result in Democrats and other voters voting in the Republican Primary for Florida House District 31. District 31 covers Apopka, Mt. Dora, Eustis and Tavares areas. Read more →

Federal Excess Spending: Heritage Action webinar discusses need to shut down Ex-Im Bank funding, and also why Highway Safety Fund is being robbed

Federal Excess Spending: Heritage Action webinar discusses need to shut down Ex-Im Bank funding, and also why Highway Safety Fund is being robbed Two excess Federal spending issues were discussed in a phone conference by Heritage Action yesterday, and one will cause underfunding of corporate pensions, a BAD thing. Here are the notes they sent out: Highway Trust Fund (HTF): Thanks in no small part to a surge of activist protest, the plan to bail out the Highway Trust Fund using “savings” from postal reform was removed from the tentative proposal. House leaders, at least for the moment, will not seek to use this particular failing institution to finance another one. To replace this funding, lawmakers are considering other options to generate revenue, including pension smoothing and tax repatriation. Pension smoothing would allow companies to lower payments into pension funds, stretching them over a longer period and distorting the interest rate, to generate “savings” to the government because companies would pay more in taxes. This scheme underfunds pensions and is not a good offset for transportation spending. Repatriation would allow Congress to offer American companies a one-time tax break on condition that they “repatriated” profits stashed abroad, thus creating additional... Read more →

Fox News - Ethanol E15 or E85 fuel will destroy engine parts in cars built before 2012

Fox News - Ethanol E15 or E85 fuel will destroy engine parts in cars built before 2012 Here are some really disturbing facts about the 15% Ethanol gasoline that the Obama Administration is trying to push on the public. Vance Jochim Lake County Fiscal Rangers Chief Fiscal Watchdog Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness Tavares, FL 32778 (Lake County) 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 →

Monday's Lake County School Board Workshop was controversial and here are TWO opinions

Two opinions of issues discussed at the June 2nd workshop of the Lake County FL School District Board. How the Board voted DOWN a Federal income redistribution scheme, and how staff manipulated data to justify wage increases. Read more →

Florida Gov. Rick Scott Visits Lake County and we have video and pictures

Florida Gov. Rick Scott made a campaign stop in Lake County, FL. Here are links to a video of the event, a newspaper article and pictures on Facebook. Read more →

Common Core Update: 'We Will Not Conform': Glenn Beck Announces 'Call to Action' on July 22 to Take on Common Core This Summer

Glenn Beck recently published a book “Conform” about the dangers of Common Core.Now he is planning an action event for later this summer on July 22. Get on his mailing list and watch for more news. SEE Jim Krakowski’s notice BELOW. From: Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 6:43 AM To: Undisclosed-recipients: Subject: ‘We Will Not Conform’: Glenn Beck Announces ‘Call to Action’ to Take on Common Core This Summer | TheBlaze.com FYI ... "Glenn Beck on Thursday announced a “call to action” that will take place on July 22, which he said will arm Americans with the knowledge to speak out against Common Core education standards." Go to http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/29/we-will-not-conform-glenn-beck-announces-call-to-action-to-take-on-common-core-this-summer/ for more information. Jim James A. Krakowski Read more →

Lauren Ritchie's Column on Benefits of Moving from "Block" K-12 Class schedules to 7 periods a day

Lauren Ritchie's Column on Benefits of Moving from "Block" K-12 Class schedules to 7 periods a day http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-high-school-scheduling-lauren-ritchie-20140604,0,2993734.column She mentions the EngageLCS program which uncovered this issue and asks why the analysis was not done years ago. The savings were $4.6-million and should have been known years ago with competent management analysis skills. That is because teachers that move up to Administration are Administrators and NOT Managers who do analysis. Everything they do is for the kids and teachers and they have no analysis or emphasis on methods to ensure operations are efficient. That lack of management skills is a major weakness in School Districts, and a reason to never elect a School Board member who has not worked in business and has mostly teaching in their background. Vance Jochim Lake County Fiscal Rangers Chief Fiscal Watchdog Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness Tavares, FL 32778 (Lake County) 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... Read more →