Fiscal Rangers

Guest Writer Jim Krakowski Describes last Monday's School Board Workshop meeting

Tavares, FL Oct. 29, 2015 Here are notes on what happened at the Lake County School Board Oct. 26, 2015 afternoon workshop. They are by Jim Krakowski, past President of the South Lake 912 Project Group, who was there and here is what he said (I was not there): Vance Jochim My Comments / Observation – School Board Meeting October 26, 2015 (Jim Krakowski 10/29/15) Monday’s SB Workshop agenda covered several issues: • Update on the District’s Wellness Centers • Request of the Educational Foundation for an additional staff to focus on grants • Textbook management update • Discussion of purchasing an additional 10 acres for future elementary school in Tavares • Overview the District’s strategic plan • Initial review of performance metrics for the superintendent • LifeStream’s request for funds • Internal audit review of: o Construction audit of Eustis Heights ES o Grassy Lake ES o Physical inventory • Proposed sales tax proposal regarding future bonding of sales tax revenues Wellness Centers The District’s health services for employees is self funded and done via three Wellness Centers. One of the problems these centers are experiencing is “Appointment No-Shows”. Over a 12 month period (9/14 – 9/15) there were... Read more →

Lake County Tax Hike Alert ! From another group AGAINST the Lake County Sales Tax referendum on Nov. 3 - Be sure to vote AGAINST it

Note: This unedited email AGAINST the Nov. 3 Lake County sales tax referendum was sent to FiscalRangers, and I have posted it here without the logos or any editing. There was no traceable info on who wrote it, but I post it here for another viewpoint on the issue. It was not signed so it seems it might be from a businessman or private citizen who is angry about taxes and is sending this out to many people, apparently using some Chamber of Commerce email lists. The Eustis Chamber even sent out a disclaimer to their email lists saying it was not from them. Vance Jochim - Oct. 30, 2015 FiscalRangers.com Dear Lake County voters, On November 3rd, you will be voting on the Lake County Infrastructure Surtax. Proponents like to call this a "penny sales tax".....as if everything you buy costs one dollar. We love dollar stores, but we won't support forcing you to shop at dollar stores by unnecessarily making you poorer. Many have come out against the sales tax increase. We are also opposed to this tax hike, mainly because the "penny sales tax" is a slush fund for special interests. Let's go over some facts to... Read more →

Reason why US bombed a Hospital in Afghanistan -Inaccuracies Remain in Location Data for USAID Health Program

Remember that hospital that the US bombed, causing a public relations nightmare. Well, here is the report below from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that points out the US State Dept and their aid provider, USAID, are responsible for filing correct geographic location information for such facilities which is used in a database by the military to avoid such blunders. However, USAID failed to be accurate in their geographic codes, possibly resulting in bombs hitting the hospital since it's correct location information was not in the database. I worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the State Dept and USAID folks there were never focused on professional accuracy - they were focused on emotional and liberal "capacity building" issues, and this is one result - they ignore the need for ensuring correct geographic information to prevent health facilities from being bombed. So the military did release the bombs, but hit the hospital since USAID failed to provide accurate information to avoid bombing the location. The SIGAR report also described other failures by USAID. Vance Jochim Read more →

Reason why US bombed a Hospital in Afghanistan -Inaccuracies Remain in Location Data for USAID Health Program

Remember that hospital that the US bombed, causing a public relations nightmare. Well, here is the report below from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that points out the US State Dept and their aid provider, USAID, are responsible for filing correct geographic location information for such facilities which is used in a database by the military to avoid such blunders. However, USAID failed to be accurate in their geographic codes, possibly resulting in bombs hitting the hospital since it's correct location information was not in the database. I worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the State Dept and USAID folks there were never focused on professional accuracy - they were focused on emotional and liberal "capacity building" issues, and this is one result - they ignore the need for ensuring correct geographic information to prevent health facilities from being bombed. So the military did release the bombs, but hit the hospital since USAID failed to provide accurate information to avoid bombing the location. The SIGAR report also described other failures by USAID. Vance Jochim Read more →

HUD Loan Guarantee costs taxpayers loss of $4.5-million in Colorado

Oct. 27, 2015 Tavares, FL HUD Waste Report: Colorado Springs, CO taxpayers lost $4+-million when HUD guaranteed $10-million on property loan valued by the local County at $4.5-million, which then failed and shut down. Another HUD fiscal fiasco - this time in Colorado. http://watchdog.org/…/hud-backs-9-5-million-loan-on-propert… Read more →

Tampa Bay's Hillsborough County School District Fiscal Fiasco caused by optimistic Bill Gates $100-million grant that failed

Tavares, FL Oct. 26, 2015 Gee, will Lake County Schools have the same problem caused by Bill Gates since Lake gets Gates grants (although not anywhere as large) ? One of the results of the Fiscal Fiasco in Hillsborough County Schools was excessive spending and shifting of people to focus on teacher training rather than students? The originating Supt. of Schools is gone. It seems the halo surrounding Bill Gates grants is tarnishing... "...the (Gates) foundation is holding back the last $20 million, critics of the reform movement have been chortling." Read about the decline of the Hillsborough County School District caused by the Gates Grant HERE. Here are some excerpts: A review by the Tampa Bay Times has found that: * The Gates-funded program - which required Hillsborough to raise its own $100 million - ballooned beyond the district's ability to afford it, creating a new bureaucracy of mentors and "peer evaluators" who don't work with students. * Nearly 3,000 employees got one-year raises of more than $8,000. Some were as high as $15,000, or 25 percent. * Raises went to a wider group than envisioned, including close to 500 people who don't work in the classroom full time,... Read more →

Florida Standards Abuse: Polk County, FL Teacher resigns due to Florida Standards violating professional standards for age appropriate curriculum and standards

A teacher in Polk County, FL resigned due to her dismay at the lack of age appropriate teaching standards used in lower grades. This is her letter of resignation that explains it all. Many others call the Florida Standards (aka 99% Common Core) as child abuse due to the lower grade teaching standards that are not considered appropriate for younger children's learning abilities. Read more →

Satanist applies to give invocation at Lake County, FL Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations

Satanists apply to give invocation at Lake County, FL County Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations to deal with it. Read more →

Islamic Extremism in the UK: UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron, issues Counter-Extremism Strategy "proposal" with solid details and action steps

Tavares, FL Oct. 21, 2015 If you want to learn more about issues directly affecting Islamic extremism, and proposed non-politically correct solutions, this 41 page report, published by UK’s David Cameron, although from the UK, does it. ttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469171/51774_Cm9145_Final.pdf One of the recommendations is to DISRUPT potential extremist activities, and to CLOSE facilities (like Mosques) that allow extremist communication. Illegal cultural practices - this is just one section of proposed actions from the proposal “ 129. The Government is already taking stringent steps to clamp down on these practices including through our strategy to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls,54 and we are already actively delivering a comprehensive programme to prevent FGM and forced marriage. 130. This includes a new Female Genital Mutilation Unit, based in the Home Office, to co-ordinate action against FGM and provide targeted local support to survivors and those at risk, legislation for new protection orders which came into force in July 2015, and a £3 million national FGM Prevention Programme delivered in partnership with NHS England to support thousands of frontline professionals improve the NHS response. 131. Alongside these efforts to tackle FGM, the Government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) will continue its important work both in... Read more →

Georgia School District hears from angry parents about use of Islam biased textbooks & lessons

Georgia parents upset of over Islamic bias in World History textbooks that don't mention Islamic killing of 270-million people, beheadings, stonings, abuse of women, rape, paedophelia. Will it happen in Lake County, Florida. Read more →

Blogger Article takes down Chicago Schools CEO Indicted for Funneling No-bid contracts to former employers for kickbacks

Tavares, FL Oct. 13, 2015 "Last Thursday, former Chicago Public School CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett was indicted by a federal grand jury for funneling $23-million in no-bid CPS contracts to former employers in exchange for kickbacks." Here is a local, Chicago TV video report. The CEO was appointed by Democrat Rahm Emmanuel Read why watchdog bloggers, internal audits and oversight are needed on all government agencies. A blogger's article was read by the Schools' Inspector General, who investigated further, and then the FBI took over. "Beginning in April 2012, the federal indictment says, Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas “knowingly devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme to defraud and to obtain money and property from CPS” by fraudulent means. Byrd-Bennett is said to have agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks that would be paid by $127,000 being deposited into each of her twin grandsons’ “college tuition accounts” when she returned to SUPES as an employee–even if for just a day." VJ Read more →

Florida Syrian leader says 1000-2000 Syrian Refugees coming to Florida

Florida is expected to allow 1000-2000 Syrian unvetted refugees in the next year, spread among many cities. The Florida Refugee Services dept. in Orlando, FL is having their quarterly meeting on Oct. 14. Read more →

Suggestion for the Court Clerk section of BCC agendas to improve transparency and visibility of IG reports. Direct URL's are needed to locate the reports.

Oct. 2, 2015 To: David Heath, County Manager Leslie Campione, County Commissioner Neal Kelly, Lake County Court Clerk Bob Melton, Lake County Inspector General CC: FiscalRangers.com Tuesday's BCC Agenda tab 5, item 2 describes two new IG reports in the Court Clerk Consent agenda section. They are reports on a Probation Services Audit follow up and a report on an audit of the Fairgrounds. No details are included on how to find them. Very few people know that the IG reports are not posted on the BCC website, but instead are buried at the bottom of the Court Clerk website, and no online address for IG reports is ever included In the printed or online agenda. They IG reports are located at: http://www.lakecountyclerk.org/internal_audit May I suggest when a new IG report is listed in the BCC agenda that a web address (maybe a short bit.ly address) be spelled out in the agenda paragraph describing the report. You could not only spell it out, perhaps just to the IG page, but ask them to include an embedded link in the text, or ATTACH the report files like they do for BCC agenda items. The clear description of the online location of... Read more →