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 →

Mascotte, FL implements property tax rollback rate, but VALUATIONS went UP 25%

AAAGH!! Mascotte, FL City Council members, in Lake County, voted for the full millage rate rollback for property taxes. I was going to give them kudos for doing so. Then I read the details in their budget introduction. The property appraiser VALUATIONS leaped by 25%, thus the rollback was minuscule vs the TAX INCREASE that will be faced by Mascotte residents due to the very high valuations. So, they should have reduced their millage MORE than the rollback rate like Minneola did. Why aren't more Lake County taxpayers getting angry at all the local governments like cities and the County and School Board raking in the extra dollars due to high valuations, and some giving out 3% raises and not setting at least a rollback rate in this Pandemic economy? All the subsidies end by December, and then evictions and foreclosures will show just how out of touch the elected officials are. Taxpaying voters need to throw out incumbents if they voted to support anything other than rollback rates. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Concerned about Water Quality in Lake County, FL's 1200 named lakes? Read this.

Get some info on water quality of lakes in Lake County, FL. The Lake County Water Authority had a meeting and among other things discussed reasons for Algal blooms in Lake Minneola. Read more →

Minneola City Council Oct. 1, 2019 Meeting Transparency is lacking due to poor online agenda!

Tonight's Oct. 1, 2019 Minneola, FL City Council meeting is not very transparent because they only posted a 4 page agenda online, have no meeting videos, and don't tell citizens that you have to email the City Clerk and specifically ask for a link to scattered documents (not in one pdf) supporting agenda items. That is not very transparent. Is this agenda method intentional to obfuscate what is happening at meetings? 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Are the Minneola, FL City Council AND Local Land Developers Trying to Rip Off Local Taxpayers?

Tavares, FL - Monday, March 25,2013 Commentary by Vance Jochim, www.FiscalRangers.com - Updates are added, mostly at the bottom, as we get them. This is written from the standpoint of being a taxpayer advocate, and also questioning why a city should be allowed to divert County property tax revenue to their own projects. Lake County, FL property owners and City of Minneola property owners better hold on to their wallet because in my opinion, a tax grab is being planned to subsidize four major real estate developers in the Minneola area. Basically, they are pushing through a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) which siphons property taxes from the development area future property taxes to re-pay the State of Florida $15-million of a $30-million Florida Turnpike Interchange in Minneola. The Interchange is expected to increase the ability of land owners and developers to sell 8,000 homes in Minneola with 23,000 residents. However, ALL County taxpayers will be expected to provide normal County services like Animal Services, Libraries etc. to those new homeowners while 5-mills of County property taxes are used to pay their bonds instead of going to the Lake County General Fund for normal government services to County (not City) residents.... Read more →