Fiscal Rangers

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 →

Lake County Candidates or Supporters Violate Campaign Sign Placement Rules

Tavares, FL June 25, 2016 by FiscalRanger Vance Jochim Illegally posted election campaign signs collected by the Tavares Code Enforcement staff are behind the Tavares Police Department. Already, election campaign season started, and two County Judge candidates, Cary Rada & Ben Boylston, or their uneducated supporters, placed signs in illegal places in Tavares and the signs were impounded and stashed behind the Tavares Police Dept. who act as code enforcement officials for the city. Typically, they either placed it on private property without permission, or they placed it in road right of ways which is a no-no. Every two years, we have an election cycle and 60 days before a primary or general election vote, campaign signs popup all over Lake County. And, every year, naive candidates or uneducated supporters place campaign signs that violate local city or County sign placement rules. Each city has their own rules, and some require deposits and then stamp the "approved" signs before placement. One year I visited the Minneola City Hall and there must have been 100 impounded campaign signs as large as 8 feet in size stashed inside a room there. You have to know where each city and county code enforcement... 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 →

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 →

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 →

Downtown Tavares parking is so bad, businesses are asking the City to fix it

Tavares, FL Apr. 3, 2015 Parking in downtown Tavares, FL is so bad that Orlando's ABC affiliate Channel 9 posted a video report. http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/tavares-residents-want-the-city-to-fix-parking/vDMyPR/ Myrt's Channel 9 report caught part of the issue, but skipped the problem where Lake County government employees are using up some of the spaces. The parking garage was justified by saying government employees would use it, but not all do, AND the entire first floor is set aside not for taxpayers, but police and disabled, and most of those spots are vacant. Why should taxpayers be expected to drive up three levels rather than employees? Finally, many spaces are taken by jury members. They should be asked to park on the upper levels and not take over the lower floors. The entire first floor, as well as parking spots on the street should have posted time limits like 2-4 hours. Otherwise, people with short, legitimate needs to visit the County, like paying a Tax Collector bill or getting a building permit can't find parking, and they are "customers" who should have priority on parking. The blue Mustang is parked on Main St. every day. This picture is of a blue Mustang that is parked out... 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 →

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 →

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 →

Tavares Should Reject Questionable "Earth Hour" for March 23

Tavares, FL - Monday, March 4, 2013 Note: The Tavares City Council meeting is this WEDNESDAY, March 6 at 4pm. We posted the wrong day in an earlier version. Note: A version of this article was also published on www.WatchDogWire.com HERE. EARTH HOUR Exposed: An open letter to the Tavares City Council regarding Wednesday, March 6th''s agenda item Tab 5. Officals of other Lake County Cities and agencies should also read this. The City of Tavares will have a City Council meeting Wednesday, March 6th, at 4pm where an agenda item (Tab 5) will ask the City Council to approve an "Earth Hour" participation on March 23. It sounds fairly benign, asking them to turn off city lights in and around government buildings for one hour (about 8:30 pm) on Saturday, March 23rd. Additionally, I looked at the calendar, and on that day, the Antique & Classic Boat Festival is in full force in Tavares and turning off city lights might be disruptive. However, the request is based upon a letter from a member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that sponsores Earth Hour, an international environmentalist group which receives funds from member donations, corporate donations AND the US Federal... Read more →

Lake County Historical Society Erupts in Spat and Accusations

Tavares, FL - Saturday, Feb. 22, 2013 (After publishing this, we received some comments from Jimmy Conner which were added at the end of this article - vj). Today’s Daily Commercial broke a story about a bubbling spat between Board members of the Lake County Historical Society, but had only part of the story. I have been informed of this story since last weekend, but was waiting for some resolution since not all facts could be confirmed. Read their story first. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/23Feb2013society There are two opposing groups on the 18 (?) member Board. One supports the Office Manager and may have launched the accusations against the President and Vice President to offset the planned investigation by the other group wanting a review of the Office Manager spending and timekeeping practices. Thursday, key members of the Board met with Court Clerk Neil Kelly because the Society is funded by County funds (about $20,000 (?)) and Kelly acts as Treasurer. The Society is funded with County funds, thus indicating a need for officials to get involved. However I called County Board member Jimmy Conner who is the County Board liaison to the Society, and he said this is an “internal dispute” and... Read more →

Tavares, FL based G&T Conveyor to be shut down, laying off up to 125 employees.

Jan 5, 2013 - Tavares, FL Apparently G&T Conveyor in Tavares, which makes conveyor belt systems for businesses like airports, is owned by a parent company, and their operations will be merged into a "sister" company with similar products in Utah. The article explains that all 125 employees will probably be laid off by late summer. My suggestion to the management team, having been in a similar merger situation, is to find a competitor and see if they will hire the entire team. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-gt-conveyor-closing-20130104,0,2512316.story vj 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 →

FiscalRangers Event Alert: Florida Republican US Senate Candidate Craig Miller to "Work" for four hours in a Tavares, FL Tire Store on THIS Monday, Sept. 26 between 11am to 3pm

Tavares, FL – Sept. 24, 2012 - One of the four Republican candidates for Florida US Senator, Craig Miller, will be in Lake County, Florida THIS Monday, Sept. 26th, to “work” for four hours at a local Tire Dealer in Tavares, FL. Miller calls these events “Miller on Main Street” where he works in REAL jobs for four hours to get feedback from citizens. The picture shows an earlier event when Miller worked in a local gunshop, A.W. Peterson Gun Shop in Mount Dora Miller and the other Republican candidates are running to replace incumbent Democratic Florida US Senator Bill Nelson. The public, press and local officials are invited to visit the shop to meet Miller, have him check their tires (or more…) and lobby for issues. Miller’s campaign website is http://miller2012.com/ . Here is his webpage on his “Miller on Main Street” workday program. Miller has been visiting different businesses in Florida and this one in Tavares, Lake Tire & Auto, is owned by local radio personality and conservative political pundit Ralph Smith. Smith has a radio program on WLBE AM 790 on conservative political issues and arranged the visit during this week’s Presidency 5 campain conference in Orlando.... Read more →

FiscalRangers Alert: City of Tavares, FL to Install 12 foot Mermaid Sculpture in Lake Dora

Tavares, FL - August 11, 2011 - Tavares city officials announced today a new "Art in the Lake" program which will feature a new 12 foot high sculpture called the "Grand Mermaid" in Lake Dora in the front of Al's Landing Restaurant. We floated a new $3-million bond issue, so we thought, instead of using it for sidewalks or train tracks, why not? says an official. Kayaker's will use it as a boundary in new Kayak races between Mt. Dora and Tavares. "We will show up those &*&^(%$# Dragon Boats..." said one Kayaker. A city spokesperson said "We need a UNIQUE, singular image for the City, and Seaplanes aren't it. We need an image that only one city would dare to have - a mermaid in the water." The sculpture, currently residing in Hamburg, Germany, will be shipped via Taiwan and then to Tavares during a city officials' "business development" trip which will only cost taxpayers $143,000. Last year, they visited Taiwan, but have a more ambitious program this year. Of course, none of this might be true, or Lauren Richie would have already written an expose on it, but knowing the Tavares city officials who like to work on... Read more →

Channel 9 TV Quotes FiscalRangers in Report on Impact Fee Waivers by Lake County Governments

Tavares, FL - July 20, 2009 - Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Here is a Channel 9 report by Bernt Petersen on the issue of the value of waiving impact fees by local Lake County Governments. They got me questioning the value of the waivers, and they have quotes from local officials and staff supporting the waivers. http://www.wftv.com/news/28601741/detail.html What this all comes down to is whether you believe developers of new homes and business buildings should contribute impact fees EARLY towards the roads, schools and other infrastructure growth needs caused by that construction. Or should there be no impact fees attached to new construction, and ALL existing taxpayers keep getting taxed via sales taxes, property taxes and fuel taxes to pay for additional infrastructure needed by residents of the newly constructed buildings. Keep in mind that "new Infrastructure" is not the same as maintenance costs on existing roads, etc. which SHOULD be paid by property taxes, fuel taxes and sales taxes. Developers don't want to pay for any of those upfront costs, they want you to pay for it. Read it and post a comment. The video clip would not work on my computer, but the text is there... 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 →

Roadside Snipe Signs & Political Sign Capers Abound in Lake County, and our Cheerleader Solution

Aren't you tired of all the advertising signs on roadsides? We have some sign caper stories and a proposed solution involving CHEERLEADERS. City or County ordnances define what is legal regarding business signs, and what is not, but it seems more and more businesses, and even politicians, are ignoring the rules. There are usually separate ordnances defining when political signs can be posted and where. We will describe the two types of signs, and some capers going on, and maybe a possible solution involving CHEERLEADERS (which increases our readership also! We could not find pictures of local Cheerleader car washes). 1 Commercial business signs - posted illegally Lake County towns like Tavares are infested with "snipe" roadside signs... you see them sprout like mushrooms on corners, medians and anyplace where drivers might see them. They are placed there by businesses that would rather trash the roadsides with signs selling printing, medicine, real estate, or signups to private kids sports programs. My understanding is that such signs are illegal if placed in roadside medians, which are usually defined as the space between roads (median strips), or in the grass between sidewalks and curbs. On some highways, like State roads, the state... Read more →

Updated: City of Tavares to Fire Three Employees for Hacking Emails of top staff

UPDATED 5PM: I added a couple of war stories about a similar experience I saw while in Baghdad, Iraq. Is this too good, or what. It seems the IT Director and the network administrator at the City of Tavares hacked into management's emails and read them. Then, the department assistant used the information to send out anonymous emails slamming the city. Recently, there were articles in the press about the Tavares, City Manager, John Drury, requesting a salary increase, and apparently the articles were based on the anonymous emails sent out. Somewhere, someone got suspicious and the Administration hired a consultant to track down who was using the inside info, and they... got em in a 41 page report. Government workers need to watch out for, and RESPECT email privacy rights, and kudos to City Administrator John Drury for tracking down the culprits. However, keep in mind that in Florida, emails are subject to sunshine open records laws, and anyone could have filed an open records request to get all emails from specific people, and would have gotten them. However, there are rules to redact or edit out certain subjects, and salary discussions could have been one of them. Thus,... Read more →