Fiscal Rangers

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 →

FL House District 31 Race Heats up - see our Republican updates here - Mt. Dora, FL and nearby

This is our post on the Florida House District 31 elections for 2020, with links to videos, candidate info, etc. District 31 is in the Mt. Dora area in Lake County, FL. 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 →

Mount Dora, FL City Council Meeting Overview - June 4, 2019

The City of Mount Dora, FL City Council held a meeting on June 4, 2019, and we wrote this overview of the meeting issues, plus provide a link to a full video of the 77-minute meeting. 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 →

Yippee! Lake County, FL & Three Cities try to increase efficiency by measuring performance metrics

Florida is home to the largest consortium of cities and counties tracking performance benchmarks, called the Florida Benchmarking Consortium. The Lake County government, plus three cities, Mt. Dora, Tavares and Clermont joined FBC last year (2017). The first annual FBC report showing performance measures for more than 30 members was just published in Dec., 2017 for fiscal year 2015-16 and they are in it. We review the overall program here, and will cover specific results in a future article. Read more →

Observations About Nov. 7, 2017 City Council Elections in Lake County, FL

Five cities in Lake County, FL are having contested elections for City Council members today, election day, Nov. 7, 2017. We reviewed candidate's contribution and campaign filing documents to identify clear Democrats running for these "non-partisan" positions and made some observations. Read more →

Is Eustis Greedy or Smart to Annex Resistant Retirement Communities?

Eustis, FL May 16, 2017 Staff leaders from Eustis, Mount Dora and Lake County met in Eustis on May 15, 2017 to discuss a Eustis ISBA (Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement) proposal to greatly expand their city by annexing several retirement communities east of Mount Dora that don't want to be annexed (or pay higher Eustis property taxes). A full video of this two hour meeting is HERE. There was standing room only with sparks flying when County residents gave public input. The County and Mount Dora got the revised proposal late from Eustis, so would not make any decisions because their attorneys did not have time to analyze it. As it was, the apparent direction from the County Board to the County Manager David Heath is they did not think it appropriate. The Eustis City Manager Ron Neibert was the proponent of the expansion to annex communities about 8 miles outside of Eustis. The Mount Dora Manager mostly watched the County and Eustis Managers verbally exchange comments. No decision was made, and the proposal will go to a joint meeting of all three Boards in a public meeting to discuss further. It was interesting, however, that a number of the... 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 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 →

TODAY at 4pm in Mt. Dora, FL - Male Blogger and Male Radio Show host to visit Mt. Dora, FL Target to enter women's restroom due to Target's new politically correct gender neutral bathroom policy reported by angry mom

Mt. Dora, FL Thursday, April 21, 2016 Updated at 3pm (see below) A Lake County, FL mom, angry at the new Target policy of gender neutral bathrooms, spoke with “Amy” the store manager and posted on Facebook with concern about the safety of her 18 year old daughter if using the bathrooms. The mom, Lori Pitner, is well known in Lake County conservative circles. Lake County radio talk show host Ralph Smith (WLBE 790AM) and local fiscal watchdog blogger Vance Jochim (FiscalRangers.com) will visit the Target on Highway 441 in Mt. Dora, Florida at 4pm to use the ladies restroom since they are always confused about their gender. “We are going to test the new gender confused bathrooms at Target, and maybe pick up some cool aqua colored bath towels at the same time…” said the daring duo. “Ralph is married, but at 71, I am single and looking to exchange cooking tips with single women over 50, “said Jochim, “and this seems a good way to do it without husky straight males interrupting us.” “We are doing this to support single and married moms of daughters everywhere”, said Jochim. Smith might bring his dog buttercup also, well known to... 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 →

CRA Update - California Shut them Down, Broward County FL stops funding them, and what will Lake County Do?

Tavares, FL April 1, 2014 No, this is not an actual book, but it could be... In 2011, California Gov. Jerry Brown shut down all CRAs and took their funds. Now they are trying to create new ways in California to replace the CRA’s (Community Redevelopment Agencies) which were never approved by voters, and nothing seems to work yet. http://www.publicceo.com/2014/03/will-california-ever-replace-the-hole-left-by-its-redevelopment-agencies/ Meanwhile, here in Lake County, FL, it will be interesting to see what happens with CRA’s in Lake County. Voters never approved any of them in Lake County. Instead, they were implemented by a legal process where local cities had to prove there was "blight" and no local votes took place. Lake County takes more than $1-million from their general funds and send it to the 15+ CRA’s in Lake County. All are run by cities except the new one in Sorrento run by the Lake County Board, which has no funds due yet to that CRA. Attached here is the recently issued annual report of the Lake County run CRA in the Sorrento area: Download 2014-03-25 BCC CRA Plan - 69pgs My previous article on Broward County, FL deciding to stop contributions to CRA’s is here: http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/2014/01/broward-county-fl-decides-to-stop-contributions-to-cras.html And here... 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 →

Emergency Vehicle Delay in Volusia County Shows Weaknesses in Sheriff Run Dispatch Group

Tavares, FL (Lake County) - Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 by Vance Jochim [email protected] An emergency vehicle in Volusia County took 15 minutes to reach a guy who died before they reached him. They were dispatched by a central Sheriff run dispatching department. A trainee dispatcher somehow gave the wrong instructions to the Ambulance drivers. Apparently the problem was inability of the caller to 911 to explain what address he was at. The trainee then sent the ambulance to an address 3-miles away. This article is hitting Facebook distributions because the guy that died was a friend of a well known watchdog blogger in Volusia County. http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20131009/NEWS/131009459/1040?p=1&tc=pg This should be sent to the Lake County emergency dispatch operations managers (in cities as well). I have had a related problem with Fire dispatch in Lake County because I called to report a fire and I am on the border of Lake County and Tavares, and had to go through confirming exact addresses and being re-routed from one dispatch to another. It was only an electrical junction box fire, but the issue was quite confusing and service delayed while the dispatchers worked out who was responsible so they could sent the correct fire... 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 →

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 →

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 →