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 →

Why Tavares, FL Taxpayers Don't get all the details on City Council decisions

The City of Tavares, Florida's City Council met yesterday, April 7, 2021. We describe how they are leaving important details related to Council decisions out of the online agenda packet, and they need to provide that online in the future. This is one of several Tavares practices that result in lower transparency than other Lake County, FL cities. Read more →

Tavares, FL Residents & Taxpayers: City Council already plans to increase taxes for 2021-2022

The Tavares, FL City Council discussed "Broad Budget Priorities" for the upcoming 2021-2022 budget cycle, and three of them won't go to the rollback rate, indicating taxes will most likely go up again. 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 →

Will your local City or County agency be hit with ransomware like Baltimore, costing $18-million?

Will your local city or county government agency get hit with ransomware like Baltimore, MD and then their School District a year later? Read this and pass it on to your local government council or board to educate them and ask for a public hearing on whether they are vulnerable or not. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council to finally start making videos of meetings

Tavares, FL City Council to finally start making videos of meetings 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 →

Tavares, FL August 19, 2020 City Council Meeting: Shootings, Annexations, Traffic, Pickleball, Budgets

The Tavares, FL City Council had their August 19, 2020 meeting and we posted a video link and comments on the agenda items, which included shootings, crime, annexations, city budget, and a Pickleball Court. Read more →

Trump Team 2020 Bus stops at Lake County, FL Republican HQ - Aug. 11, 2020

Watch the Trump Team 2020 bus arrive at the Lake County, FL Republican HQ and the dignitaries speak! Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Meeting Feb. 5, 2020 - Prescribed Burn, Economic Development, Budget priorities

The Tavares, FL City Council discussed budget priorities, a planned burn, and the 2020 Economic Development strategies at their Feb. 5, 2020 Council meeting. Read more →

Tavares City Council Dec. 4, 2019 Meeting - Fruitland Park activist pitches banning plastic straws, Eustis Folk Fest moves to Tavares

Tavares, FL City Council - We just uploaded our video of the Dec. 4, 2019 meeting and provided an overview of the meeting in the video description on YouTube. Topics included banning of plastic straws, a new public input policy, and approval for the Lake County Folk Music Festival to move from Eustis to Tavares next year. AND, a local Fruitland Park plastic straw activist provided excitement during several public input sessions. https://youtu.be/-77Iov0D7e8 Spoiler alert - results of the meeting: - The City Council voted to deny the request to ban plastic straws, fearing plastic cups would be next, and the cost of enforcement might be too high. The city depends on drawing customers for entertainment events, and plastic cups are used by them while walking around the city. (And, some Council members receive contributions from local restaurants and developers.) - The public input policy was expanded to include requirements from a recent state law, but public input still will be limited to 3-minutes at the discretion of the Mayor. - The leaders of the annual Folk Music Festival requested to move to Tavares from Eustis (after 22 years) because Tavares has more venues and restaurants for folk music groups... Read more →

Will Tavares, FL City Council deny plastic straws like they did to Confederate Statues?

Will plastic straws, as well as Confederate Statues be prohibited in Tavares by the City Council? Plastic straws are on tomorrow's Wednesday 4pm agenda (tab 10) for the Tavares City Council to discuss. What is interesting is that the request was made by a NON-resident and why would they put it on the agenda when they previously rejected a request by an actual City Council member to put an issue on the agenda. Is this another Democrat Saul Alinsky crisis (like denial of the Confederate Statue) to inflame voters? Will we have to be carrying our own stainless steel straws whenever visiting Tavares? Which City Council member actually approved this request by a non-resident? Read more →

My recommendations to the new Tavares, FL City Council at today's meeting

The new City Council and new Mayor and Vice Mayor are seated at today's (Nov. 19, 2019) City Council meeting, so here are my policy, budget and transparency improvement recommendations for 2020 that I am submitting. Read more →

Three Homeless Migrants strew trash on Tavares area streets

Three undocumented migrants, aka black bears, are tipping over Tavares area trash cans and strewing trash everywhere. Efforts to encourage their migration to Eustis or the Ocala Forest have failed so far. Read more →

Our Review of the Oct. 30, 2019 Tavares, FL Comprehensive Plan 2040 Workshop - lots of Agenda 21 stuff!

The latest workshop of the Tavares, FL Comprehensive Plan 2040 Committee was held on Oct. 30, 2019.  This overview is based upon my fiscal conservative, reduced taxation philosophy.  We provide a link to a video of the meeting, the agenda, relevant documents, the Powerpoint and our opinion on the bias in the meeting. Tavares area property owners beware. Read more →

Video of the Tavares, FL City Council Candidate Forum on Oct. 17, 2019. Two districts, six candidates who will be on the Nov. 5, 2019, ballot for Tavares elections.

Six Tavares, FL City Council candidates are running for two separate District seats in the Nov. 5, 2019 election. This is a 75 minute video of a candidate forum with all six candidates held on Oct. 17 and organized by the Tavares Chamber of Commerce. Read more →

Confederate Statue Removal? Some states are outlawing it and other cities are leaving them

Democrats, in order to stir up racial division, have launched protests to remove Confederate statues across the country. However, instead of protests and either removing or keeping a statue, a third alternative, "Contextualizing" has evolved and this article describes how it is being implemented to address issues rather than the Democrat objective of stirring hate by destroying history. Read more →

Tavares, FL Residents - City Debt will soon be over $70-million ( or up to $23,000 per family of four)

The City of Tavares, FL has a debt that will be over $70-million or over $100-million if a referendum to approve a new $27-million Performing Arts Center is approved on the Nov. Ballot. So elections have consequences and we tell you more about the debt burden and who to vote for on the Nov. ballot. Read more →

Promised improvements to intersection of HWY 19 & Dead River Road in Tavares are canceled

The Developer, D.R. Horton, of a proposed 200 unit development on Dead River Road in Tavares, FL, has canceled the development plans and their planned improvements to the intersection of HWY 19 and Dead River Road. Thus hoped for intersection improvements are canceled. 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 →

Tavares City Council Sept. 4, 2019 meeting video uploaded, including budget and millage approvals

We have uploaded our video of the Sept. 4, 2019 Tavares, FL City Council meeting, including the first required hearing to set the new millage rate and $74-million budget. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council plans to discuss hiking budget and increasing the millage rate beyond the rollback rate - Friday, Sept. 6

The City Council of Tavares, FL is having their City Council meeting tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 and they will discuss proposed millage and budget figures. If they continue, should they rename the city Spendalot City or Camelot? Residents need to attend the 4pm meeting and provide input. Read more →

The new Lake County 2019/2020 Property Tax TRIM Notices are Out - and you need to analyze them

The 2019-20 Lake County, FL property tax TRIM notices are out. We provide an example and some analysis, and tips how to analyze YOUR rates to understand if hidden increases are included. Read more →

Update #2: Tavares, FL City Council meeting on Aug. 21, 2019 & "Primitive Camping" in a City Park?

The Tavares, FL City Council may approve "primitive camping" in a city park at an August, 21, 2019 City Council meeting that some believe will attract homeless people. Other negative issues are also discussed. Read more →

Tavares, FL property owners should attend this budget workshop, or open your wallet for higher taxes

Tavares, FL residents need to read this about pending millage rate tax hikes at a City Council workshop on July 24, 2019 at 4pm. These issues of escalating taxes are affecting ALL city and county residents in Lake County and the rest of Florida. If you don't act now, then hold out your wallet for tax day. Read more →

Tavares, FL Comprehensive Plan 2040 Committee Workshop (Second of many)

The City of Tavares, FL is going through a two year process to develop a new, state required 20 year Comprehensive Plan for 2020-2040. This is the second workshop held by the Comprehensive Plan 2040 Committee which was open to the public. The first meeting was on May 7, 2019. This overview contains a link to the meeting video by Vance Jochim, and images of potential objectives collected at the event plus a pdf copy of the Powerpoint used at the meeting. Read more →

Angry Tavares, FL BayTree Residents Demand answers from City about proposed development next door

The over-55 retirement community, BayTree, in Tavares, FL has erupted in anger over a plan to demolish an old golf course surrounding many homes and add many new, smaller homes on the old golf course land. We provide a video to our overview of the issue plus an April 29, 2019 meeting between residents and the Tavares, FL City Manager, Attorney and Director of Planning. Read more →

A Florida homeowner's guide for coping with surprise real estate developments next door.

Florida homeowners may be blindsided by developer requests for questionable projects next to them like the proposed 4-story rental apartment complex on the shores of Lake Saunders near Tavares, FL next to the single story, single family residences. So we created a 36 minute Florida Homeowners guide to the land development process to understand how to make your voice heard or oppose outlandish land use developments. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council April 3, 2019 Meeting & the Great Debate over Dumpster Enclosure Rules. See our video.

We reported on the April 3, 2019 meeting of the Tavares, FL City Council, plus a link to our video of the meeting. See the description for topics and links. Highlights were gripes about not allowing public input on upcoming development proposal hearings, update on the Tavares Performing Arts Center and the Great Dumpster Enclosure Debate. 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 →

The GREAT annual Sunnyland Antique & Classic Boat show in Tavares, FL is over and we posted 200+ pictures

Tavares, FL March 25, 2019 Pictures by Vance Jochim of FiscalRangers.com You can see all the pictures of the March 22-24, 2019 event organized by the Sunnyland Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Association at this Facebook album link: Read more →

60 Local Government Employees based in Tavares, FL Earned $100k or more in 2017 per OpenTheBooks.org database

A government spending watchdog, OpenTheBooks.org, tracks wasteful government programs and also tracks local, state and Federal employee wages over $100k. We examined their reports for local cities in the Lake County area, and found 60 employees working in the Tavares, FL area for government that earned over $100k. OpenTheBooks.org also launched an initiative to encourage the Congress to launch a "War on Waste" by listing wasteful, stupid Federal programs and asking the government to publish budget details for transparency, and then eliminate the uncovered, wasteful programs. Read more →

Publix Map of Shelf Inventories for store in Tavares, FL

To make Publix shopping easier, I created a floor map of goods and their aisle locations to use for shopping. This Excel version is for the Tavares, FL Publix at HWY 19 and CR 561. Download it, and create your own version for your local grocery store and shopping preferences. 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 →

Lake County, FL Bad Roads - Increased Impact Fees on Tomorrow's County Board Agenda

Traffic and road conditions are getting worse in Lake County. We talk about some of the issues, and how some more funding may be on the way if the Lake County Board starts the process to increase road impact fees on new construction. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Meeting VIDEO - Mar. 7, 2018 - More admin screwups postpone Shirley Shores Annexation AGAIN

Tavares, FL Mar. 11, 2018 I uploaded a video to YouTube of the Tavares, FL City Council meeting held on March 7, 2018 which is HERE: https://youtu.be/AWMAe7TYQC0. The agenda location is on the 2nd slide. Length is 1 hr, 17 min. The short link to THIS blog page is: https://tinyurl.com/TavaresFLMarch7 I have decided to write some comments about the actions seen in this meeting video which are below. Tab 7 - Annexation and Rezoning related to Shirley Shores Road / Hidden River Lakes proposed 222 acre development. THIS WAS POSTPONED DUE TO IMPROPER NOTIFICATION OF THE PUBLIC BY THE DEVELOPER'S REPRESENTATIVES. See overview starting at 3:55 on the video then more later. Probably at least 60 neighbors were there for this issue and for the 3rd or 4th time, the procedures were botched, so the issue was postponed to a future meeting. Apparently the developer representatives must follow certain steps and the city staff does not ensure they are followed, then the opposition attorney raises the issue and ONCE AGAIN, the issue is postponed. I am flabbergasted the City staff has no sanctions or fines to apply when zoning/land use change requesters don't follow the rules. So everyone will have... Read more →

Fish Kill in boating canal behind my house in Tavares, FL

The recent cold weather caused a fish kill in this canal off Lake Dora, Tavares, FL 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 →

FiscalRangers.com Alert: FEMA and SBA opening a Hurricane IRMA assistance office in Tavares, FL (Lake County, FL) starting tomorrow, Oct. 19 for 4 days.

Tavares, FL Wed. Oct 18, 2017 Update: Here is the official press release describing the FEMA assistance office. The article below was corrected to describe the office as an assistance, NOT claims center. Breaking news: FEMA is opening a Hurricane IRMA damage assistance shop, along with SBA in Lake County, FL at the Agriculture Center in Tavares on HWY 19 and Woodlea Road. It starts with a "soft Opening" tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 19 at 1pm to the evening, then open four more days to provide Hurricane IRMA disaster recovery assistance. This was announced at the Tavares City Council meeting about an hour ago (Wed. Oct. 18, 5:30 pm). I have no other details, so I imagine it will be in the newspapers tomorrow, so if you have damage, plan to determine how they can help. VERIFY this by watching for other notices. http://lake.ifas.ufl.edu/ Look for details as I get them at FiscalRangers.com I will go by there tomorrow to get an update - it is only about 3 blocks from my house. "Some of the services available include federal disaster assistance, low-interest loans for homeowners and businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration and crisis counseling." "For more information, call... Read more →

Updated: Two City Meetings today in Lake County, FL Illustrate dangers of building homes in rural areas that could be annexed by cities.

Tavares, FL Sept 20, 2017 Post meeting updates for both meetings were added at the end of each section at 8pm on Sept. 20, 2017. Can any Lake County, FL resident who built a "dream home" in rural or lakefront Lake County feel safe from being annexed by a nearby city with higher taxes and high density planned development over their back fence? Today are two meetings affecting future living styles of retirees in rural Lake County residences. Two different cities are trying to annex different land areas that County rural residents don't want to happen. They don't want the taxes, or they don't want the planned nearby development that conflicts with the existing land uses. (Note: I will post updates on these meetings below each section after they take place today.) 1. The Tavares City Council meets today, Sept. 20, 2017 at 4pm to review and approve two ordinances that would result in annexation of 222 acres on Shirley Shores Road of rural lands near Deer Island on the south shore of Lake Dora. The second ordinance would change the County defined "rural transition" land use to city land use densities of 3 units per acre compared to existing... Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Meeting & Video - World Peace, Xmas Lights, Golf course subsidies & more - Aug. 2, 2017

Tavares, FL Aug. 2, 2017 Here is our full video of the August 2, 2017 Tavares, FL City Council Meeting Compared to the insane meetings recently at Mt. Dora (firing the City Attorney), Groveland (tried to fire the suspended Finance Director but reached an impasse), and Eustis (3 Council Amigos trying to investigate the residency of a fellow Councilman), the Tavares City Council implemented sanity, world peace, new Warner Bros. Christmas Train events, fancy Christmas lights and initiated an ordinance to allow mini-pigs. The City Police Chief, Stony Lubins, swore in three new police department members, and parents and friends went nuts taking pictures. The Council voted down a proposal to buy and maintain a fallow golf course at Bay Tree Estates, saving existing taxpayers from a most likely boondoggle. Staff created a WELL researched guide on the dubious future of golf courses and the City Council listened. The City Council also denied a request from the now rundown Baytree golf course owner, who can't find a buyer, to waive cutting the overgrown grass. Baytree residents complained of bugs, high grass and enroaching water mocassins. An ordinance to allow mini-pigs in yards moved through the first reading. Next time, public... Read more →

Week of July 31, 2017 - Lots of Political News and Plans

This is a recap of all the upcoming political events in Lake County the week of July 31, 2017. Read more →

Two new videos on Tavares, FL uploaded - Jan 18, 2017 City Council meeting, and Jan 19 Downtown Visioning meeting

Two videos on Tavares, FL meetings were uploaded to our YouTube channel and here are the links. Read more →

Tavares, FL Candidate Forum for City Council Candidates on Nov. 8 ballot - view the full video

Tavares, FL Oct. 28, 2016 Tavares, FL City Residents who are Registered Voters: Candidates for Seats 1,3 & 5 of the Tavares, FL City Council The Tavares, FL Chamber of Commerce, led by Executive Officer J. Scott Berry, held a Tavares City Council candidate forum on Oct. 26 for candidates for three City Council Seats that will be on the Nov. 8th ballot. Moderator was Vonda Parker. We made a video of the entire event, without edits or comments, which is HERE. Candidate names are in the video description. Observations: All three seats up for elections have incumbents running for re-election, and they have challengers. I have attended many Tavares City Council meetings in the last year and know the incumbents. There are some good candidates running, however, some may be there because a rumored slate was initiate by a local landowner. I was not impressed with the challenger's knowledge of issues. Most seem to have jumped in "for change" or they were asked to run. Thus when questions came up, they were naive, or just speculated "I will certainly look at that..." when responding. The only candidate that seemed to do her factual homework was Malanie Vachon but she... Read more →

Updated FiscalRangers.com Conservative Voting Recommendations for Lake County, FL voters

Here are my recommendations for candidates and issues on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot for Lake County, FL voters. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Sept. 7 meeting video uploaded, and HUGE Budget Increase to be approved tomorrow, Sept. 21

Tavares, FL residents can now see our videos of City Council meetings, and we provide links and discuss the upcoming approval for a huge increase in the city budget. 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 →

New Video: Republican Candidate Forum for FL Senate Dist. 12 in Lake, Sumter & Marion Counties

This is background and a link to a video of a Republican Candidate forum for Florida Senate District 12, held in Tavares, FL on August 3, 2016. The event was sponsored by the Lake County Republican Party, the North Lake Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Woman's Club. Video by Vance Jochim from the Lake County fiscal watchdog blog www.FiscalRangers.com . The candidate forums held by these groups are renowned for tough questions on conservative issues. Read more →

Lake County, FL Republican Sheriff Candidates Vie for support at Candidate Forum

Last week, on July 21, 2016, three Republican candidates for Lake County Sheriff answered more than 20 questions in a public forum. Here are details with links to pictures and a video of the event. Read more →

Tavares, FL Mayor suspended by FL Gov. Rick Scott due to arrest for insurance fraud

Tavares, FL July 14, 2016 Florida Governor Rick Scott suspended Tavares, FL Mayor Robert Wolfe after latest arrest for insurance fraud. I live in the County area served by the Tavares water system and go to some City Council meetings. The new interim Mayor is City Council member Lori Pfister who owns a restaurant and bar in downtown Tavares. The string of arrests and altercations by Wolfe and his wife have filled the local news for months, and apparently Gov. Scott agreed with Tavares City Council member Lisa Johnson that Wolfe should not be the Mayor. Read more →