Fiscal Rangers

Far Reach Ranch 2500 home development has first public meeting

A huge new 2500 home "Far Reach Ranch" residential and commercial development is planned in Tavares, FL and this is the first of several posts on the development proposal and approvals by the City of Tavares, FL. Residents are concerned about many issues, including traffic gridlock, school class capacity, raised taxes for existing Tavares homeowners to subsidize needed infrastructure, etc. Read more →

Leesburg Council Meeting on Growth Limiting Resolution - Citizens Denied Support for Annexation Moratorium

After a contentious Leesburg, FL City Commissioner meeting last night (Apr. 14, 2025), four of five commissioners voted against perhaps 300 citizens there to support a resolution to limit residential annexations for 1+ years. Read more →

Updated Jan 15, 2023: Jan. 9, - Lake County, FL Legislators' Delegation meeting in Leesburg - video uploaded and link added

Updated Jan 15, 2023: The video links were added for this meeting for the Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, Lake County FL Legislative Delegation, which is the four FL legislators representing Lake County, FL and they will decide on a local law about Rural Protection Areas, as well as listen to 35+ citizens, agency reps and community groups asking for support or funding for their projects or issues. Read more →

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, the Lake County Board has their monthly meeting to review planning & zoning proposals

The Lake County, FL County Board is having their monthly planning and zoning meeting to review and approve P&Z proposals, including high density developments without concern for their effects on traffic gridlock. Citizens need to take action, or you won't be able to drive to work in my opinion. Read more →

Lake County, FL contracted hauler keeps missing recycling pickups - should the County adopt a new logo of an overflowing trash can?

A garbage hauler newly contracted by the Lake County, FL government has missed at least five recycling pickup runs in my County residential area, and we discuss the issue. Read more →

Phone fraud cost Mt Dora, FL business $30,000. Read this to protect yourself.

A Mt. Dora, FL business lost $30,000 through a sophisticated phone scam where the victim shared info that allowed $30,000 to be transferred out of his checking account. Read the details and protect yourself. Read more →

Lake County, FL Republicans elect new 2023 Chair, Anthony Sabatini and other officers

Dec., 13, 2022 Tonight's Lake County, FL Republican Party met in Eustis, FL to elect new officers. Former State Rep. Anthony Sabatini was elected Chair, 1st Vice Chair was Tom Vail (recent candidate for FL House), 2nd Vice Chair was Sam Durrance, Corresponding Secty was Sue Ferrera Parent, Recording Secty was June Lang. Additionally, five District Managers were elected: 1 - ?? Benoit (Chuck?), 2 - Kris Jurski, 3 - Loretta Garretson, 4 - Alex Whicher, 5 - Apóstol Ludy López. Congratulations to all. The trend was to elect people who were active or supporting of more aggressive policy stances on election integrity, and other policies needing action by the RPOF. Vance Jochim Read more →

Century Link attempts illegal underground fiber optic cable installation in my neighborhood.

Century Link attempts illegal underground fiber optic cable installation in my neighborhood but we caught them. Read more →

Routine Yard Waste pickup in Lake County, FL areas has been delayed due to Hurricane Ian'

Here is info on why Lake County, FL yard waste haulers are not picking up routine yard waste - Oct. 13, 2022. 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 →

Florida & Lake County, FL Election Fraud expert Kris Jurski on CatchingFireNews vlog.

IT Election fraud expert Kris Jurski explains on Catching Fire News how an analysis of Florida State and Lake County, FL election data shows possible thousands in unexplained or fake votes. Kris is a member of the Lake County, FL Election Integrity & Security Committee. 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 →

Updated! Tavares City Council denied a proposed SIXTY FOOT HIGH apartment building at HWY 19 & Lane Park Cutoff

The City of Tavares, FL is planning to approve (maybe) a (A) government warehouse development that would be removed from the Tavares property tax rolls, and (B) a humongous SIXTY FOOT HIGH 165 unit apartment complex that will generate almost 1000 road trips a day when the Highway 19 is at 98% of road "volume capacity". BOTH projects would MODIFY the existing zoning and density standards for the area along Highway 19. Read more →

Tell your Tavares, FL City Council members to allow citizen input at FIRST Readings of Planning & Zoning items

The City Council of Tavares, FL does not allow citizens to provide public input on "First Readings" of agenda items on Planning & Zoning or other issues, thus they cannot provide input until the next meeting and the FINAL "Second Reading". No other city in Lake County has this restriction, so citizens should demand that public input be accepted at First Readings. 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 residents living on canals - an update and history of dredging and issues

Many canals in Lake County, FL are being mucked up due to inaction by Lake County Government or the St. John's River Water Management District or the Lake County Water Authority. Some recent bills have funded dredging and here is canal activist Linda Moss;e overview of history and issues. Read more →

Lake County, FL has no public law library when most other Florida counties have one

The Lake County, FL Board of County Commissioners needs to refund and re-implement a public Law Library for residents like most other Florida counties have. Read more →

Caveat Emptor when buying a manufactured or mobile home in a Florida park where you pay lot rent

Owning a mobile home in Florida on leased or rented lots is dangerous and we describe some reasons why. The industry and the Florida legislators need to take action against mobile home park owners who are bullies and harass and threaten mobile home owners so they give up and leave so the park owner can take over the home and sell or rent it for a profit. Read more →

How Lake County, FL elected officials are flimflamming property taxpayers

A commentary in the Orlando Sentinel blasted most local City Councils and the County Board for trying to say they reduced property tax millage rates, but since they did not reduce them to the rollback rate, total actual taxes will go up significantly once those officials vote in September to NOT approve rollback rates. Confusing? Yes, so read my article and the linked commentary by Lauren Ritchie. 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 →

Questionable Voting Ballots received in the Mail? What to do.

Florida voters are now receiving their primary voting ballots in the mail for the August 18 primary vote. Some ballots might be wrong, altered or duplicated, and we tell you what to do. Read more →

Our video interview with Keith Farner, re-election candidate for Lake County Water Authority (LCWA)

Keith Farner is running for re-election for the Board of the Lake County, FL Water Authority (LCWA). This is our overview and link to our interview video. Read more →

Florida's FWC announces plan to treat two Lake County, FL lakes for aquatic weed control

Florida state staff announced treatment for invasive water plants on Lake Yale and Little Lake Harris in Lake County, FL. We include their official announcement and treatment maps. Read more →

FiscalRangers Blog Creates Job Hunting Tips page for Lake County, FL for those laid off due to Wuhan Virus.

We have created a detailed list of job hunting action steps on a PAGE (see right column) or HERE to reduce costs and replace income lost if you were laid off due to the Wuhan Chinese Virus. This is focused on Lake County, FL but the advice may apply to other areas. We also plan to create LIVE job hunting discussions on Facebook Live on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at 7pm at our FiscalRangers GROUP page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FiscalRangers/ I suggest you visit the Facebook group and join it, and sign up for notifications. We have no idea how long the virus restrictions last or when the economy will recover, so if you were laid off, you need to take action now. That is based upon my experience being laid off several times during California recessions. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com [email protected] Read more →

Lake County, FL listed as one of 10 Florida Counties to suffer most downturn due to Chinese Virus

An Orlando Weekly article cites a study saying Lake County, FL is one of the 10 Florida Counties that may suffer the most bankruptcies from the Covid-19 crisis. Read more →

Lake County, FL Business Owners suffering economically from the virus caused downturn

The Lake County, FL economic development staff issued a press release on initiatives they are working on to help local businesses. READ it here: https://www.lakecountyfl.gov/news_releases/news_release.aspx?id=3555 "The Lake County Agency for Economic Prosperity wants to make local businesses aware of the resources available to help mitigate the economic impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)." Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Planned Statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune described by Artist Nilda Comas at Lake County Historical Society Feb. 6, 2020.

The artist, Nilda Comas, creating an 8 foot marble statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune for the National Statuary Hall in Washington DC gave a presentation on the statue creation and design process at the Lake County, FL Historical Society on Feb. 6, 2020 in Tavares, FL. Links to a short video and more pictures are included. Read more →

Residents living on Lake County, FL Canals - read this about funding for needed canal dredging

Residents on private canals in Lake County, FL need to read this. A new funding process is being considered by the Lake County Board to allow residents to tax themselves over 10 years to fund needed dredging of their canals. 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 →

Florida Standards (Common Core) Listening Tour skips Lake, Orange, Sumter, Polk & Marion County! WHY?

The Florida Dept. of Education is conducting a review of the Common Core based Florida Education Standards. They are having a listening tour in parts of Florida, but skipping Lake, Orange, Polk, Sumter & Marion Counties. Why? We provide links to information and the press release but have no answer why they are skipping those counties. But we include links where parents can go online and review the second draft of proposed new standards and submit comments. 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 →

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 →

Lake County, FL County Commissioner Wendy Breeden visits the Republican Office for coffee and comments

The Lake County, FL Republicans held a coffee meeting today at the REC Tavares, FL HQ with Lake County Commissioner Wendy Breeden who shared secrets about the County Government. Read more →

Wandry 1919 Mansion in Eustis, FL saved from demolition by Eustis City Council Decision

A 1919 Mansion in Eustis, FL known as the Wandry Mansion, was slated for demolition but the Eustis City Council voted to agree with the local Historic Preservation Board to DENY removing the mansion's historic designation so it could be demolished. Thus the owner will have to renovate or sell it as is. We have links to over 100 pictures we took at a 2016 open house, plus recent articles on the house. Read more →

MedMen Medical Marijuana Pot Growers in Eustis, FL Anger Neighbors Over Excessive Industrial Noise

MedMen Medical Marijuana Pot Growers in Eustis, FL Anger Neighbors Over Excessive Industrial Noise 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 →

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 →

Will Eustis, FL become Lake County, FL's first Sanctuary City? Left leaning City Council members could do it!

Tavares, FL Oct. 26, 2018 A shorter version of this opinion commentary by Vance Jochim was also posted on CityGrader.com. Updated Oct. 27, 2018 with more facts. The opinions in this commentary are all my own, based upon observations at meetings and my research. Will Eustis, FL, controlled by liberal or RINO (Republican in Name Only) City Council members, become the first Sanctuary City in Lake County, FL? As an active Republican and fiscal watchdog blogger in Lake County, FL, I rate this City a C due to the Democrat or liberal sympathizers on the City Council. I live in nearby Tavares and the contrast of "vision" is quite strong. The City staff are quite competent, and the historic ambiance is great, but the elected leaders with a liberal bias are not helpful. I am a watchdog blogger in Lake County, and have been monitoring Eustis politics for years. They keep electing liberal or do nothing Council members under the cover of "non-partisan" elections, leading to disputes with residents. Under the right circumstances, they could become Lake County's first Sanctuary City. City Elections for City Council candidates are now in progress for the Nov. 6, 2018 elections. The positions are... 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 →

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 →

Video of Lake County, FL Elections Canvassing Board "Audit" of vote machine counts vs manual count

The Lake County, FL Elections Canvassing Board performed an audit on Nov. 21, 2016 to compare a sample of paper ballot counts to machine generated totals. This is an overview of the process and a link to the video of the 3+ hour process. This includes some observations about loopholes in the "audit" process. 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 →

Follow up on our visit to Target regarding their gender neutral bathroom policy

Local Lake County, FL citizens visited a Target store in Mt. Dora, FL to discuss Target's new transgender policy that "welcomes" them to use whichever bathroom "they identify with". Two newspapers and an Orlando area TV station covered the event. Angry moms were there, concerned that other males could pretend to be transgenders to enter the women's rest room to take pictures or worse. Target staff were blase about the issue, and did not indicate they would take any steps to ensure only actual transgenders were using the women's bathrooms. Read more →

Board Meeting of North Lake County Hospital District (FL NLCHD) Jan. 21, 2016

The Board of the North Lake County Hospital District met on Jan. 21, 2016 in Tavares, FL to hold a routine meeting. Several routine reports were presented but not discussed. I will attach or link them here when received. They also discussed the wording for the Nov. ballot measure to renew this tax. This Board supervises the implementation of a 1 mill property tax collected of home and business owners in North Lake County, FL. It generates about $8-million in taxes split between two hospitals and several clinics to offset the cost of un-reimbursed indigent care (where the patients cannot pay for medical services.) 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 →