Fiscal Rangers

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 →

Trump Kills Obama Socialistic Housing Redistribution Program - AFFH - YIPPEE!!

Tavares, FL Jan. 5, 2018 by Vance Jochim Hooray! Trump dumped the implementation deadlines of the Obama anti-property rights 2015 regulation AFFH (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing). AFFH required every city and county accepting Federal CDBG grants to do a detailed study of ALL residential areas then develop a plan to move poor people to wealthier neighborhoods to adjust "disparities" in income levels. This was also a huge revenue generator for Obama favored community consultants who would do the massive, required studies. HERE is the New York Times long article. HERE is a similar article in a paper that does not require online subscriptions. Here is an earlier 2016 background video on AFFH from critic John Anthony: https://youtu.be/mSYjqXffjFY Both news sources mostly complain from a liberal standpoint, and don't quote from critics of the program, so I have included my list of critics like Fox News, John Anthony, Rush Limbaugh, the National Review and other sources at the bottom of this document, including a link where Trump said in 2016 that he would discontinue AFFH. I also wrote earlier articlea on the dangers of AFFH HERE: http://www.fiscalrangers.com/affh/ The implementation of this rule was forced on Counties and Cities like Lake County,... 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 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 →

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 →

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 →

Tonight's 6pm Meeting of the Lake County, FL School Board District has some issues you should know about, and the Board should discuss in public

Tonight's 6pm meeting of the Lake County, FL School District Board includes an agenda with several consent items that should be "pulled" for public justification by the School Board. There are also discussion items with the most important being the approval of the contract and start date for the new Superintendent of Schools, Diane Kornegay. Read more →

Voting Fraud Update: US Agency that certifies voting machines was hacked, Russian selling their logins

US Agency responsible for certifying voting machines is hacked and staff login credentials are offered for online sale by Russian hacker. Just another example of the loose systems used for US voting. Read more →

Important new Scientific chemical element discovered - Governmentium aka the "Critical Morass"

Tavares, FL 32778 Dec. 18, 2017 This improtant scientific news is from Cathy Holden on Facebook: Subject: New Chemical Discovered The heaviest chemical element yet known to science A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium". Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons,75 deputy neutrons, and 111 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of governmentium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization causes some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads... 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 →

Voters Challenging Elections Processes More Often - Tampa Bay Times

Tavares, FL Oct. 30, 2016 The Tampa Bay Times posted an article about how local voters are challenging vote integrity and questioning processes more than before. The concern was enough in Hillsborough County that last week Hillsborough County Elections Supervisor Craig Latimer printed " a flier titled "Let's talk about safe and secure elections" for staff and volunteers to give out at voting sites. It includes a list of 10 safeguards his office employs to ensure that only eligible voters cast a ballot and that they only get to do it once." I think all this questioning is a good thing. Here in Lake County, the Republicans have undearthed several absentee and sample ballot screwups forcing the County Elections Supt. Emogene Stegall to answer them. She still hasn't answered my last email questions about incorrect absentee ballots sent to residents of one community. If you have not voted yet, be sure to inspect your ballot to ensure you got the proper one with the candidates you expect to see on it. If you encounter any disparities, let me and the Lake County Republicans know about it so a possible larger problem is not buried. PS: Unlike the Lake County Elections... 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 →

Lake County Scoop: County Commissioner Leslie Campione discloses plan for school impact fee waivers

A new plan for school impact fee waivers was presented to the Lake County FL School Board today by Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione. Read more →

Weekly FiscalRangers Update: Election Hijinks, Drug Smuggling, Supt. of Schools Search & More

Here is the FiscalRangers.com weekly update of local government and political issues in Lake County, FL. Read more →

Here is a $90-million REASON to vote out Lake County, FL Commission Incumbents - they ignored discussing a new $90-million liability

Here is a reason to vote out all three incumbent Lake County Commissioners on the August 30 ballot, and vote for Lake County Commission Candidates Wendy Breeden, Josh Blake and Tim Loucks (or Mike Levine) by August 30, 2016. Lake County staff and elected Board members are whining about lack of funds to pay for roads. But we describe how current Board incumbents ignored a new NINETY MILLION DOLLAR liability for retired employee pension and retiree health insurance benefits. We describe how more money would be available for roads, but instead, County staff and incumbent Board members are allocating increased pension costs first in the budget rather than reduce retiree or employee health insurance coverage to match rates spent by private sector employers. This is one of many reasons to vote out all incumbents and vote in new blood for County Commissioners like Wendy Breeden, Tim Loucks and Josh Blake. Read more →

North Lake County, FL Candidate Hob Nob Results - Leesburg, FL

Here are the results of over 700 straw poll votes for Lake County local, State and Federal elections taken at the Leesburg, FL Hob Nob. 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, FL Commissioner Leslie Campione Opinion on Jimmy Conner's Re-election Claims.

Lake County, FL County Commissioner Leslie Campione wrote an opinion article about how "fellow" Board member Jimmy Conner is spouting half truths about a local sand mine in order to frighten people into voting for him. Read it to understand why many residents are supporting his opponent, Wendy Breeden. Read more →

Pictures & videos of Lake County, FL Republican candidates assembled for Flag Day and speeches

Many Republican candidates for elected office showed up Saturday, June 25, 2016 to make speeches and talk to voters during the Flag Day celebration held by the Lake County Republicans in Tavares, FL. We posted pictures and videos will soon be uploaded to YouTube. Read more →

Video of Candidate Forum for Lake County, FL Board of County Commissioners

The video of the full candidate forum held on June 16, 2016 in Tavares, FL is now on our FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube channel HERE. Read more →

Summary of Actions by Lake County Board of Commissioners at the June 21, 2016 Meeting

This is an overview of the June 21, 2016 meeting of the Lake County, FL Board of County Commissioners. 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 →

Breaking: Jimmy "Chainsaw" Conner, Lake County Commissioner, resigns to run for Elections Supervisor

Lake County, Florida's County Commissioner Jimmy Conner is resigning and running for Lake County Elections Supervisor. Here are all the details. Read all the article before posting comments. Read more →

Lake County, FL Sheriff Borders drops out of re-election race

Lake County, FL Sheriff Gary Borders has dropped out of his re-election race. 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 →

Lake County, FL Candidate Meet & Greet Notice: Feb. 18 in Tavares

The North Lake County Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women’s Club is hosting a local candidate election meet and greet event on Feb. 18 at 6:30 pm in Tavares, FL for ALL new and re-election partisan and non-partisan candidates for any party or office in Lake County. The event is open to all voters. Read more →

Just Retired Lake County Public Services Director files papers to run against Incumbent Lake County Board member Jimmy Conner

Lake County, FL Politics: Just Retired Lake County Public Services Director Wendy Breeden files papers to run against Incumbent Lake County Board member Jimmy Conner. Read more →

Lake County, FL Legislators Delegation Summit - Dec. 9, 2015, Leesburg, FL

Every year the five Lake County, Florida Legislators hold their annual Lake County Legislators' Summit to hear three minutes of public input from local agencies and citizens. Yesterday, Dec. 9, 2015, they held the annual meeting for three hours with 53 speakers. They use the input to set their priorities for the upcoming Florida legislation session that starts in January, 2016. Read more →

How to Use Common Law Grand Juries to Investigate Government Officials

Who knew there is a method defined in the US Constitution and descended from the the British Magna Carta on how citizen activists can convene a Common Law Grand Jury (CLGJ) to investigate local Governent corruption. A well known conservative talk show host and author, Jason W. Hoyt, visited Lake County, FL recently and explained how to setup a CLGJ. Read more →

Satanist applies to give invocation at Lake County, FL Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations

Satanists apply to give invocation at Lake County, FL County Board meeting, citing Supreme Court Decision, and my recommendations to deal with it. Read more →

German Town tells Schoolgirls to "Cover Up" so as not to upset Muslims

Tavares, FL Sept 27, 2015 A German town is telling school age girls to "cover up" so as not to upset Muslim refugees located next to their school. Will this happen in the US and Lake County, FL? One problem with allowing Muslim refugees or immigrants into a town ( or like Lake County) is their fundamentalist "culture" will cause conflicts with American culture. In this article, a German town told all the schools to forbid girls from wearing revealing clothes or bare arms due to refugees being located nearby. They expect conflict like is happening in the UK and other locations in Europe where a small number of Muslims can disrupt communities by demanding accomodations to THEIR culture. Muslims move to other countries but usually refuse to adapt to the local country culture. An example is demanding that women be completely covered up. So, if you read about some of the 85,000 Muslim refugees being re-located in the US by the Obama administration into your neighborhood, this is what you can expect. http://newobserveronline.com/german-girls-must-cover-arms-and-legs-to-appease-syrian-refugees/ Read more →

North Lake County FL Hospital District Board approves 1-mill property tax and budget of $9.3-million

The North Lake County Hospital District Board met for the second required public hearing on Sept. 24, 2015 to determine the new fiscal year millage rate and related budget which were set at 1 mill and an expenditure budget of $9-million for fiscal year 2015-2016. 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 →

EPA announces new over reaching Land Grab rules to reduce property rights even more!!!

The EPA has issued a new land grab rule that reduces property rights even more. Read this to find out how. Read more →

Video of Lake County, FL debate over Nov. Referendum to Renew $800-million "penny sales tax" for another 15 years

The Lake County North Lake Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women's Club hosted a panel debate on whether to renew the "penny sales tax" for another 15 years, which would collect about $800-million from consumers. Below is the link to the video. Read more →

Be SURE to attend tomorrow's debate on renewing the Lake County Penny Sales Tax in November

Lake County Florida voters are asked to vote no on the "penny sales tax renewal" issue on the Nov. 2015 ballot. This article includes links to pro videos and info on why the tax should be voted down until certain conditions are inserted into the ballot language. There is also a flyer and info for a panel on August 20, 2015 in Tavares to discuss the ballot issue with two for, and two against the referendum. Read more →

Invocations in Public Meetings - Will they disappear due to a new court ruling?

A North Carolina County Board this week followed a new court ruling prohibiting "Christian only" invocations and allowed a Muslim to give the invocation. Then the Chair walked out and the remaining four Commissioners voted to replace invocations with a "moment of silence". Can this happen in Lake County, FL government agencies? Read more →

FiscalRangers Alert: Lake County Board to approve CDBG grant Tuesday morning that requires compliance with Obama's HUD AFFH program to shift poor residents into wealthier existing communities

The Lake County Board of Commissioners meeting agenda for Tuesday, August 4, 2015 contains a consent agenda item to approve a Federal CDBG grant plan. That plan contains a condition to comply with AFFH or Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing which can result in damage to existing property values of full neighborhoods. The Board should pull the agenda item and schedule it for a full staff presentation at a public workshop with public input to understand all the negative implications. The CDBG grant should be rejected due to the requirement for AFFH implementation. Read more →

Lake County, FL Inspector General Bob Melton speaks at North Lake County Tea Party

July 24, 2015 Tavares, FL The Inspector General for Lake County, FL, Bob Melton, was the featured speaker at a meeting of the North Lake Tea Party on July 14, 2015. He works for the Lake County Court Clerk, and can do performance audits of the Lake County Government, but not the Constitutional Officers unless they request an audit. They have never done so. But this talk focuses on his department abilities, and provides insights into the function of Guardianships and what he has seen when working at other Counties. Here is a link to the video of his 45 minute talk: https://youtu.be/jzrh2R8zw14 Here is his Powerpoint shown in his video: Download Role of the IG in Government Guardianships FINAL Here is the Inspector General's webpage on the Lake County Court Clerk website, including many performance audits of Lake County Government functions. Opinion In my view as an experienced Internal Audit Manager, Melton's group issues some very good audit reports on inefficiencies and needed performance improvements in County Departments. He just needs authority to initiate similar performance audits of all the Constitutional Officers and other local agencies like Cities or the North Lake Hospital District or the Lake County Water... Read more →

Lake County surprise assessments could increase your tax bill tremendously

July 10, 2015 Tavares, FL This Daily Commercial article by Livi Stanford explains why you want to resist buying homes that are not on paved roads or may be subject to future assessments for public works projects. A neighborhood in Lake County has 10 homes that were on a dirt road. Some of the owners petitioned the County to pave the road and levy a property assessment on each home. Since a majority of the owners wanted the road, the County Board approved the road paving, with an assessed fee of $1800 per home per year for 10 years. But three of the owners (who objected to the paving) say they could not afford the tax, however the Board this week re-approved the assessment without providing any more relief to the resistant home owners. So always find out if a home you plan to buy may be subject later to some type of assessment for road paving, light poles, sanitation pipelines, septic tank replacements, etc. Vance Jochim Read more →

Tax Wars Start - County plans for renewing "penny sales tax" take hits from Right Side of the Lake Blog

Tavares, FL June 13, 2015 The Lake County Board, School Board and 14 local cities all want you to approve a 15 year renewal of the expiring 15 year penny sales tax. The issue will be on the November ballot, costing $440,000 (or I heard $900,000 at the Board meeting) to hold the election just for this issue. Today, like Vesuvius erupting, the old Right Side of the Lake blog, written by Don Magruder, erupted with many reasons to vote NO on the tax. Several of the reasons are correct. However, the School District and the Cities would be hurting if they each lost their 33%, or about $10-million per year for each of them. I also believe the vote should take place in 2016 during the regular election, and not in a special election costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. My Opinion - followed by link to Right Side of the Lake blog article My first argument against the sales tax renewal is that the school board (Rosanne Brandeburg), at least one city (Eustis) and possibly some County Board members are planning to SELL the future tax revenues in bonds to enrich attorneys, bond salesmen, construction firms and leave... Read more →

Lake County Property Values jump average of 5.8% with Groveland up 19%

Tavares, FL June 1, 2015 The Orlando Sentinel says that Lake County's property values spiked up an average over 5% and Groveland property values jumped 19%, while Leesburg stayed at 1.1%. This is a reason that the Lake County Board must roll BACK the property tax rate to the rate used TWO years ago before Jimmy Conner, Sean Parks and Welton Cadwell bumped up County property tax rates by 14+%. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Updated: Cemex suing Lake County Board, City of Clermont & 11 Other Groups

Tavares, FL May 2, 2015 May 3 Update: The Daily Commercial's Livi Stanford wrote a May 3rd article on this lawsuit after the County Attorney agreed to share the "Petition for Writ of Certiorari" legal paperwork filed by Cemex. It is too early to know responses from defendants, so now we have to wait for the lawsuit to grind through the courts or perhaps see a settlement. Cemex wants the mine approved. County Commissioners have been ordered by the legal department not to discuss the case. HERE is the legal petition that gives Cemex's reason for the lawsuit - try the above article first, then read it: Download 2015-05-30 PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI Here is the earlier Daily Commercial article about the Lake County Board's decision to reject approval of the sand mine at an earlier meeting. If you search on "Cemex" on their website you can find a series of articles. Original May 2 posting: The large construction materials firm, Cemex, was turned down by the Lake County Board recently when they applied for a permit to open a Sand Mine in an area south of Clermont. So two days ago, on April 30, 2015, Cemex filed legal... 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 →

Columnist Explains New Solutions to Poverty & Dependency

Tavares, FL March 29, 2015 Conservative columnist Cal Thomas had a great column in today's Daily Commercial. He described how Federal poverty programs rarely work, but praised a new set of case studies of overcoming adversity from the "Center for Neighborhood Enterprise", run by Bob Woodson. Woodson and US Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI - yes, that Paul Ryan who may run for President)recently embarked on a tour showing a new seven part online video seried calle "Comback. It showcases people who overcame poverty, drugs, etc on their own. Those people are labeled as "Overcomers" by Woodson. You can find the seven part video series here. "Comeback tells the inspiring, true stories of real-life Americans overcoming adversity in our nation’s cities and communities." The idea is to share what real people did to overcome their adverse conditions and raise them SELVES up to a better life. (Gee, does that sound like development of the conservative mantra of "self reliance" rather than big government dependency?) Regardless of whether you like Paul Ryan, maybe some Lake County, FL city and county officials can explore this program for local implementation? Vance Jochim www.FiscalRangers.com Read more →

Lake County Residential Zoning needs drastic improvement to retain home values

Lake County, FL allows many lax residential code weaknesses, and we show you pictures of many of them in just one residential community. Caveat Emptor when you buy a house in unincorporated Lake County. Read more →

Why aren't Florida Consitutional Officers Required to be Transparent about their Budgets?

Feb. 3, 2015 Tavares, FL - Lake County Why aren't Florida Constitutional officers required to be transparent about their budgets and have public budget hearings like the County, School Districts, cities and Hospital District? Florida requires little oversight on elected Constitutional Officers like Tax Collector, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Elections Superintendent - I have periodically asked that Constitutional Officers be required to have public hearings over their budget details and to post a DETAILED proposed and then approved budget each year. Instead, they have no requirements to do so. As an example, the Lake County Tax Collector has a 2014-2015 budget of $5.5-million, but his website only shows this very vague, one page proposed budget dated Sept., 2014. Why aren't Constitutional officers required to have public hearings, budget workshops, and post DETAILED budgets on their websites like the County and schools do? What is going for software vs facilities vs utilities vs wages vs benefits? We don't know and are never allowed to provide public input. Ask your constitutional officer AND your Florida legislator why they don't do that. http://www.laketax.com/forms/2014-2015_budget.pdf and, the Tax Collector has only ONE page in the 484 page Lake County Budget book HERE (scroll to page 384).... Read more →

Lake County, FL Animal Services has problems, but at least they aren't labeled a "death camp" like Putnam County.

Jan 26, 2015 Lake County, FL Lake County's Animal Services has had repeated problems with management and their approach to euthanasia. But this article points out that Putnam County, FL has a worse problem - they are labeled as a death camp for animals. See, we aren't the worst! http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-01-25/story/putnam-county-working-improve-death-camp-animal-control-reputation?utm_source=FAC+News+Clips+-+January+26%2C+2015&utm_campaign=FAC+News+Clips+-+January+26+2015&utm_medium=email Read more →

Will Lake County Schools implement the one world IB education program?

The Lake County School Board may initiate IB education programs if two School Board members have their way. There are pros and cons, and we will have more next week. Read more →