Fiscal Rangers

City of Leesburg, FL loses special magistrate hearing over residential development

The City of Leesburg, FL Commissioners lost a special magistrate's hearing regarding a developer litigation over Sunnyside Lake Landholding and planned construction of a 159-residence subdivision. Reading this article may give members an insight into how bad it can get when elected officials actually stand up to a developer proposal. Notice one of the contentious issues is the effect of the proposed development on local traffic where the traffic study said in my opinion "no problem here..." but City Commissioners believed the opposite. "Mayor Jimmy Burry also felt the roads were not adequate despite the traffic studies presented by the developer...". Residents need to hold Florida House & Senate members accountable until reform legislation is passed. Legislation is needed to require that affected cities or counties hire the Traffic Impact Study (TIS) engineers, not the developers. Here is a link to the Leesburg-news.com article. https://www.leesburg-news.com/2024/03/30/leesburg-commissioners-sidestep-costly-lawsuit-over-disputed-development/? And here is a link to the Sunnyside traffic impact study (TIS). Become familiar with them because in my opinion, they are biased toward the developers because the DEVELOPER, not the city, hires them for an "objective" study. Note: This TIS was published in Oct. 2019 or five years ago. A more current one may... Read more →

Two Lake County, FL Election Hob Nobs hold election straw polls this week in Clermont & Leesburg

Tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 8th, 2022 and on Tuesday, Aug. 9th, there are two election "Hob Nobs" run by local Chambers of Commerce to let the public meet and greet all local election candidates and to vote for them in a straw poll that is administered by the Lake County Supv. of Elections. We provide details and encourage Lake County, FL voters to attend and "vote" in a straw poll to support their favored candidates. Read more →

Florida US House Dist. 11 Candidate Laura Loomer is having an open house in Leesburg

Laura Loomer, candidate for the Florida US Congressional Dist. 11 (mosly Lake County and nearby county areas) is having an open house in Leesburg, Tue. July 26. Read the details and flyer here! Read more →

Leesburg, FL Residents: Two upcoming meetings you need to know about

Two Leesburg, FL City Council meetings are coming up (Dec. 30, 2021 & Jan. 3, 2022) without any details on their purpose. Both may include discussions relatedd to rampant development annexations by the City Council of Leesburg without regard to traffic gridlock that may result. As of Dec. 27, 2021, there is no online agenda for the Jan. 3rd meeting, and the Dec. 30 agenda only says each side will give presentations. Read more →

Seven Issues Needing Attention by the Lake County, FL Legislative Delegation - presented Oct. 6, 2021

Yesterday, Oct. 7, 2021, the five member Lake County, FL State Legislative Delegation met in Leesburg, FL to hear requests for action and concerns from the public and local agencies. Over 50 people, representing themselves or organizations spoke for 3-minutes each before FL Senators Dennis Baxley (chair of the event) & Kellie Stargel, plus House Reps Anthony Sabatini, Keith Truenow, and Brett Hage. Many speakers also sent documents to support their pitches which were given to the panel in 3-ring binders. You can also visit the legislative member's local office and probably be able to review their copy of the binder (call first). Here is the initial list of the first 50 speakers and their topics prepared by Aline Guy in Rep. Keith Truenow's office. About 4-5 were no-shows, and about 3-4 were walk-ins (not on the agenda) and signed up to talk. Download 2021 Lake County Legislative Delegation AGENDA You can view the video of the entire event by Sunday, Oct. 10 at my YouTube "FiscalRangersFlorida" channel. I will post the specific link here when I have it uploaded. You can link to specific sections or use extracts as long as you credit the source link and give credit... Read more →

Lake County, FL watchdog blog FiscalRangers.com launches initiative to outsource city functions to control costs

Most cities in Lake County, FL keep escalating wage, benefit and pension costs each year, Thus this Lake County, FL fiscal watchdog is launching an initiative to demand cities start outsourcing various functions to control escalating costs. The day of constantly passing through 10% benefit costs and wages twice the CPI need to stop because increasing house valuations, plus high millage rates may cause some residents to lose homes due to excessive property tax bills. Most cities don't use performance metrics like businesses to identify excess spending, and that is needed also. Read more →

REDUCE YOUR Lake County, FL Property Taxes by 50% by buying property in a low tax Lake County city

Buyers of residential, rental or commercial property in Lake County, FL can SAVE 50% on property taxes if they pick the right, low millage rate city in Lake County. This article describes the 2020 millage rates for all 14 cities plus the unincorporated Lake County areas so you can decide to buy in a LOW or HIGH property tax location. Read more →

Are PACE Commercial loans in Florida risky or worthwhile - our overview and video link

The Federal Government and many states like Florida have created a mechanism for "green" construction builders and remodelers to offer residential and commercial property owners low-interest loans for desirable "Green" energy-efficient construction designs and products ranging from solar roof panels to high-efficiency air conditioners. We provide a fiscal watchdog overview of the PACE Commercial and PACE Residential loan programs and their risks and our opinion for Florida projects. Before viewing this, you might also do a search on "PACE Lawsuits" to see the results of such loan programs around the US. Read more →

Is Your Lake County City FAILING to provide VIDEOS of tax decision meetings, hiding their decisions?

City Councils in Lake County, FL are RAISING taxes while claiming credit for reducing tax RATES. The problem is property valuations are leaping, and multiply them by barely reduced millage tax rates equals TAX INCREASES. We discuss this manipulation of public information by elected officials. Read more →

Lake County, FL Cities are Raking in your Property Tax Cash Up to 18% OVER the Roll-Back rate and not Explaining How Much

September is when Lake County, FL cities discuss and approve new millage and budget figures after property tax valuation reports are out. Most cities except two of 14 in Lake County are increasing millage rates above the "roll-back" rate, thus increasing tax bills to property owners. Read more →

Hydrilla Treatment Priorities for Lake Harris Chain of Lakes in Lake County, FL Discussed April 2, 2019

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC) held a public meeting on April 2, 2019, in Tavares, FL for citizens to "vote" on areas to receive priority treatment to control Hydrilla in the Harris Chain of Lakes in Lake County, FL. Citizens added colored dots to maps of the lakes to indicate priority treatment areas. This video includes the full meeting and we listed all the questions and answers during the Q&A session. Read more →

Bad Roads & Traffic Jams in Lake County? Perhaps we need a #FixOurDamnRoads Initiative like Colorado!

Fed up with bad roads or traffic jams in Lake County or your city while officials spend mega-millions on: - new buildings, - splash parks, - interest payments to pay for non-infrastructure projects, - bike trails, - brick roads, - huge benefit increases including massive retiree benefits, - employee raises costing more than the cost of living, - staff time on private projects like Wellness Way, - "lifestyle" projects, - spending on downtown city projects more than road repairs, - social welfare programs, - free buses that lose money on every trip, - police radios ($18-million), - bureaucratic "required" studies, - huge parks, - trails, - lawsuits, - events and - local charities? Instead of cutting back on those, the Lake County Board (and cities) plan to hike your fuel taxes (it is coming). Everything else, it seems, is a priority over roads. In Colorado, citizens have formed a tax rebellion movement called #FixOurDamnRoads" and collected over 150,000 signatures provided to the Secretary of State. They demand the roads be fixed WITHOUT ANY TAX INCREASES Perhaps we need such a #FixOurDamnRoads program for Lake County. If you see a Lake Country traffic jam or bad road problems, take a picture... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com 2016 Lake County, FL Election Recommendations AND RESULTS for the August 30 Primary Ballot

This is the FiscalRangers.com Guide to Recommended Candidates for local Lake County, FL primary elections held on August 30, 2016. Does not include cities or special districts. Read more →

Lake Countians: Tonight, Tuesday and Thursday are the Public Hearings to collect your feedback on selecting a new Lake Schools Superintendent

The Lake County School District Board has initiated a process to use a headhunter to find candidates for a new School District Superintendent for 2017.   This article describes three public hearings the week of August 15 to collect public input on attributes needed for the new Superintendent. Read more →

Lake County and Cities Ignore warnings about Federal HUD AFFH program, but Colorado City Doesn't

The Obama Administration's HUD rolled out new AFFH rules in 2015 that reduce local control of zoning and reduce property rights. The AFFH (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing) rules are new conditions for cities and counties to get HUD and CDBG grants. By accepting the conditions, city and county officials are agreeing to expensive AFFH rules where Federal rules would override local zoning and planning decisions. A town in Colorado has just rejected renewal of the HUD CDBG grants due to the AFFH rules, and they explain why in a letter to HUD. Read all about it and more about AFFH dangers in this FiscalRangers.com blog report. Read more →

Lake Sentinel Columnist Lauren Ritchie picks on County Commissioner Tim Sullivan

Lake County, FL Political News: Columnist Lauren Ritchie from the Lake Sentinel is picking on incumbent Lake County, FL Commissioner, Tim Sullivan, about his living in Jimmy Conner's district but renting an empty apartment in the District he represents as a "residence". Read more →

Leesburg, FL ViaPort Mall Employee "sexually batters" a female customer IN THE STORE.

A "foreign appearing" employee in a home furnishings store in the ViaPort Mall in Leesburg, FL guided a female customer to the back of the store and pushed her down on a bed and groped her. His actions to us seem to be the same type of sexual abuse grooming techniques used by Muslims in the UK and German sex abuse attacks. Read more →

10+ Reasons to Vote AGAINST Lake County, Florida's $800-million "Infrastructure Sales Tax" Referendum on Nov. 3

On Nov. 3, 2015, the ballot in Lake County, FL will have a referendum asking voters to renew an existing one penny sales tax for another 15 years that will generate between $450-800-million in taxes. The funds will be for capital spending like buildings or computers or vehicles and split in thirds for each of these three groups: 1) Lake County government, the 14 cities in Lake County, and the School District. This article covers 10+ reasons to vote NO on the referendum and conditions needed to save taxpayers $100-million plus by prohibiting use of bonds to run up government debt. Read more →

Election Recommendations and News of School and County Board meetings this week

Tavares, FL Nov. 3, 2014 This post covers several issues: ( Updated at 2pm to fix some typos and add clarifications) - Election recommendations. Tomorrow is election day, so my recommendations are at the BOTTOM of this document - If you have NOT voted, be sure to do so tomorrow. I also include the Lake County Republican Party voter guide as an attachment. - Tomorrow's Lake County Board meeting is canceled: The Lake County Board of Commissioners (BCC) website today showed a meeting scheduled for tomorrow on their website, but it was canceled at a prior meeting. However, they did not send out update notices to their email list nor did they post the cancellation on the website. So, no meeting tomorrow, and I let them know in clear terms they need to keep the website updated and should ALWAYS send out update and cancel notices when they occur. I also told them about a programming error where if staff remove a linked document, there is no "error trapping" and the user gets an cryptic technical error notice rather than one written for users with a contact for solving the problem. The problem is there is an outside software firm... Read more →

Tod Howard, Bill Mathias & Nancy Muenzmay win Leesburg, FL Elections HobNob Straw Poll

A Lake County, FL area elections HobNob was held Aug. 14, 2014 in Leesburg, FL and here are the results and links to pictures. 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 →

Lake County Fire Rescue Fiefdoms Raise Risk of slow Responses, Damage & Death

Saturday, Dec. 28, 2012 - Tavares, FL Due to lack of fire response coordination in Lake County, you might as well wait for horse drawn fire wagons in some County "enclaves" Lake County has a problem where many cities and the County each have a fire department and they won't coordinate initial responses to fires or rescue situations to ensure the CLOSEST equipment is sent to a fire or emergency. A few cities are now using the County centralized dispatch system, but when a fire rescue response is needed, you might not get the closest and fastest response due to lack of a coordinated response agreement. (Note: This article is not about the separate County EMS or Emergency Management System for ambulances) Thus a resident living in a Lake County unincorporated section within a city like Tavares (called an enclave) might have to wait longer for a more distant COUNTY fire rescue rescue truck to respond to a house fire even if the CITY has a fire house much closer to them. I have been at County Board meetings and the City of Tavares when these were discussed, but the County does not appear to want to work with cities... Read more →

HUD's New Rule May Result in Low Income Minorities Moving into White Neighborhoods to Achieve Affirmative Fair Housing

HUD is about to roll out a new "RULE" known as AFFH or "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" that drastically changes property rights and liberty by how they implement affordable housing in ALL communities. You won't like it, and your County officials are contributing to it by taking HUD grant funds. It basically does studies of ethnic minority percentages by neighborhoods (not just cities) and then because your city or county is taking HUD Federal grants, they mandate the County and cities have a plan to MOVE minorities to more prosperous communities. Read more →

Two Videos of Congressman Dan Webster in Lake County, FL

Tavares, FL - Aug. 23, 2013 Congressman Dan Webster was in Lake County, FL for two or more "town hall" meetings and I made videos of BOTH of them - the links are below. I attended one in Mt. Dora on Monday, and then another yesterday in Leesburg. The first was wild and crazy with upset Republicans and Democrats asking tough questions. Webster avoided direct conflict by requiring several people ask their questions, then he provided selective responses. However the Leesburg event was a calm and cool presentation to the Leesburg Chamber of Commerce where no questions were allowed. So, if you watch both of these videos I made, you will see a range of emotions and methods of discussing them. My observation is many Republicans are angry and want him to act tougher on issues, which he doesn't do. His Leesburg presentation does offer some ideas of his back room methods to get some change, but it isn't on the big stuff and no one was allowed to ask questions at the Leesburg event. Watch both videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkApCorNemo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2ya5MedlFQ 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 →

Invasion of Leesburg FL by Smart Meters Meeting & Our Video

Tavares, FL - Wed., July 22, 2012 Updated Jul 23 to add link to video of 8/22 presentation to citizens on Smart Meters. Update comments based on the 8/22 meeting are below in italics like this sentence. Smart Meters are invading Leesburg, but the City and apparently the Daily Commercial don't want you to know they are "Smart Meters". According to today's Daily Commercial article at the link below, a city representative will "offer tips" on using the "new meters" at 7pm at the Magnolia room at Lake Sumter Community College. The "new meters" are really "Smart Meters" which have been castigated all over the internet for safety and privacy invasion reasons. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/082212beatpeak UPDATE: Here is our video of the Aug. 23 Presentation to Leesburg residents by City Manager Jay Evans about the Smart Meters - 1 hr 28 min. Evans answered most issues described below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL6UlrwLjBg There was no discussion in the article on how much the conversion to Smart Meters will cost the city, Federal taxpayers or the Leesburg utility customers. (However, on the video, the City Manager explained they got a $10-million Federal grant, and have generated savings to pay for the other $10-million of the cost,... Read more →

Lessons for Lake County? Georgia City of 100,000 Outsources EVERYthing and is NOT broke.

Tavares, FL - May 21, 2012 by Vance Jochim Here is a great video from the Florida Tea party network about Sandy Springs, GA, population 100,000 (bigger than the Villages), which started outsourcing all their programs in 2005 after incorporating as a new city in Fulton County, GA, and now has NO debt. Watch the EIGHT minute video first, then return for my comments. The video was created by Reason.org which is a Libertarian think tank in California. Then ask your Lake County officials why they are not examining outsourcing services, and why unincorporated Sorrento - Mt. Plymouth is not incorporating as a city and outsourcing services? http://theteapartynetwork.org/2012/05/a-great-vision-of-municipal-government/ This city was initially a large unincorporated area in Fulton County, GA, and was taxed by the County for funds spent elsewherein the County. The County rarely paved or repaired roads. Democrats controlled the legislature and prevented Sandy Springs from incorporating as a city until 2005 when Republicans took control and allowed the City of Sandy Springs to be established. So, this was all done since 2005. "Companies are better than managing projects than government, and one contractor provided services for $25-million vs $50-million if run by the county government." Sandy Springs... Read more →

Lauren Ritchie Skewers Leesburg Stealth Program to Blow $30-million Plus on Smart Meters

Tavares, FL - Nov 20, 2011 Leesburg City's attempts to blow through tax money on a smart meter boondoggle has been covered several times in Lauren Ritchie's columns. It seems it is easy to be the City Commissioners to consider such programs - so be warned - it could happen to you: Read Lauren's article from today's paper AND read all the comments first HERE. Here is my comment posted on the website, including "bonus" comments not on the OS site: Lauren is right. (egads...)! Leesburg City Manager Jay Evans seems to be practicing methods to ramrod staff supported spending or policy programs through elected official boards much like socialists teach city planners to do for "green" programs really designed to remove property rights. He seems to use the "Delphi" fake consensus technique of holding meetings with no formal votes and one sided facts to get "public support". He hides or downplays or delays the true costs (or any costs), allows last minute contract modifications to increase benefits to the contractor, fails to go for public bids again after making significant changes in the contracts, provides one sided back door information to apparently lazy elected officials using emotional pleas. Another... Read more →

Leesburg Better Watch out for those Smart Meters

Leesburg is planning to install a whole mess of "smart" electric meters in local residences. Without comment, I suggest you pass this article on to their leaders. Aren't we tired of sales people and lobbyists pushing expensive services and projects on to elected officials and staff without adequate research. Things like Motorola Radio Systems, Waste processing plants, Repairing railroad tracks, free medical centers for ONLY local School District government employees, smart meters, etc. Here it is: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/a-dumb-way-to-introduce-smart-meters/article2001596/ And, read the comments! vj Read more →

When will Lake County, Cities & School District Integrate Purchasing Efforts?

Tavares, Lake County, FL: The picture at left shows a typical paperwork based purchasing process - and we ask: do we in Lake County need to repeat that convoluted process with duplicative and separate systems (and several may be manual, not computerized) in each Lake County government Agency? Why don't they all share a single, internet based purchasing system running in the "internet cloud"? Why don't they consolidate County wide purchases to achieve economies of scale like corporations do on a daily basis? Local government purchasing departments have an annual fair for vendors to talk to representatives from the purchasing departments of many local Lake County agencies. I have attended the last two. I registered as a vendor (consulting) at the first fair, but never heard anything for about a year, but now I get a notice about once every two months for a request for proposal that is not relevant. The "leaders" of the purchasing fair created a "Pooled Purchasing" website called "Procurement Offices of LAKE" (POOL) within the Lake County website at http://pool.lakecountyfl.gov/ , and it is listed on the County's "Doing Business in Lake County" website. BUT, if you look at it, it hasn't been updated at... Read more →

Notes from Ralph Smith's Lake County Radio Show today - Jan 20 - Mt. Dora Pension Issues & Leesburg Veteran's Memorial

Tavares/Eustis, Florida - Wed., Jan. 20, 2010: Ralphs local show in on AM790 WLBE each Wed at 11am to noon, and he covers mostly conservative political issues. The current website for WLBE, which also provides online recordings of shows, is at www.WLBE.org . Todays show: Guests are from Mt. Dora City Commission and from the Leesburg Veteran's Memorial - Great news - the Republican won the Senate seat race in Massachusetts to replace Edward Kennedy, which changes the ratio of Dems to Republicans in the Senate from 60 / 40 to 59 / 41, which eliminates the ability of the Dems to ram laws through the Senate without involving any Republicans in the issue. First Half Hour - Guest was Mt. Dora Councilman Jim Eppich Note: If you are concerned about excessive government spending, I recommend you listen to the first 20 minutes of this show by going to the AM790 WLBE website "past shows" and listening to the recording for Jan. 20 at 11am. AT THIS WLBE website (which does NOT show up in Google searches). - Ralph introduced Mount Dora Councilman Jim Eppich who won in a tightly contested race. He is a CPA and former CFO of... Read more →