Fiscal Rangers

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 →

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 Republicans Recommend NO on Nov. 8 Ballot Initiative to "Renew" 40 year old 1 mill North Lake County Hospital District tax

The election ballot for Nov. 8, 2016 for Lake County, FL will contain a referndum item that asks voters to vote Yes or No to continue the 1 Mill North Lake County Hospital District property tax for another 10 years. The Lake County Republican Party held a forum of proponents and opponents of the ballot issue, and members voted over 2/3 to recommend a NO vote on the ballot. This article describes the issue and forum in more detail with links to the formal resolution to vote NO, the REC press release, video links, etc. Read more →

Lake County, FL - Three major conservative events this week - don't miss them

Tavares, FL Sept 26, 2016 Lake Countians: There are three important conservative events this week in Lake County, FL / Orlando. 1. Monday evening is the Presidential Debate. Don't miss it starting at 9pm. Avoid all the ads and talking heads by watching it on CSPAN on cable or over the internet. 2. Tuesday evening the Republican Party of Lake County is hosting a forum at 6pm to discuss the upcoming Nov. 8 ballot issue to approve or reject the TEN YEAR renewal of the 1 mill North Lake County Hospital District tax which collects about $10-million a year to subsidize indigent care at both Leesburg and Waternan Hospitals and five clinics. This is the first time in FORTY years that all North Lake taxpayers were allowed to vote on this thanks to a local law change by FL Rep. Larry Metz. The forum will allow the CEO's of the two hospitals to discuss the ballot issue vs Rep. Larry Metz and REC Board member Mark Fisher. I will video it for later upload to my FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube channel. Be there early to get a seat because I expect the hospitals to get many employees and patients there. 3. Wed.,... 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

VOTE - Tomorrow - Here are our FiscalRangers.com Election Recommendations

Tavares, FL (Lake County, FL) Monday, August 25, 2014 Update Aug. 26, 9am: We have corrected 3 bloopers as noted below. If you haven't voted yet, below is our reminder and fiscally conservative recommendations for Lake County, FL (no cities). Forward this to anyone who you think could use the information. But first read this NOTE: DID you get your property tax TRIM notice this week and see how high the proposed tax is? The Lake County Board is having a workshop tomorrow (Tuesday) on the pending budget and proposed 18% tax hike. If you want to give them your opinion, call, write or go to the meeting and give public input. You will have to do that at the BEGINNING of the 10am meeting (not 9am) when public input is allowed. The workshop could be 1-3 hours later. This is a workshop, and not the TWO required public hearings which are the final votes on Sept. 9 and Sept 23rd at 5pm in the County Admin building. Plan to be at BOTH meetings. Here is where you can find a copy of the proposed budget Update: 4pm: We got this superb 5 page analysis of all the alternatives to... Read more →

2013 TV Report that Obamacare may reduce need for North Lake County Hospital District tax

Tavares, FL Posted August 6, 2014 This is a 2013 Channel 9 TV report on the possibility that the North Lake County Hospital District millage tax may not be needed as Obamacare picks up care for many uninsured patients. I am posting this here for the record. As far as I know, the NLCHD Board has not launched any investigation in 2014 into the further need for the District's 1 mill tax due to Obamacare coverages. http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/affordable-care-act-could-ax-lake-county-hospital-/nbLJR/ However, the issue may be moot because a referendum for voters to approve or dis-approve to continue the 1 mill tax will be on a 2015 or 2016 referendum ballot. Vance Jochim Read more →

FiscalRangers Alert: Congratulations on qualifying for the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District

This is an older email now being posted on the blog. To: Duane Booth Vic Donahey Joyce Huey Friday was the deadline for opponents to file as candidates for the three open Board seats on the North Lake County Hospital District. None of you had opponents, so you will be on the board. Congratulations. You should be commended for joining a Board that pays nothing and is facing the task of getting voter support in 2015 or 2016 to renew the District and it's millage rate. I write a blog in Lake County on local politics, including the NLCHD. I am a taxpayer advocate and fiscal watchdog and come to all Board meetings and make videos of the meetings. I was involved in the reform movement to ensure there was a vote on the District and the reforms in HB-1299. I will be contacting you soon to get some information from you about your background and plans for the NLCHD. You probably know that their website is: http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ I assume you have been given a copy of the HB-1299 that reformed the District administration. But, I see it disappeared from the website, so here is the link: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=48551 You should... Read more →

New Board Members for the North Lake County Hospital District (FL)

These are the new and outgoing Board members for the North Lake County Hospital District This email was sent to each of them Duane Booth - NE seat 2 - replaces outgoing Jerry Brown Vic Donahey - NW seat 4 - replaces outgoing Fran Grossi Joyce Richey Huey - NW seat 6 - replaces outgoing Robert Bone Friday was the deadline for opponents to file as candidates for the three open Board seats on the North Lake County Hospital District. Three current incumbents decided not to register for re-election. None of you had opponents, so you will be on the board. (Note, three incumbents did not run for re-election, so they are being replaced by the above new candidates after the final Nov. 4 election. See the list of outgoing and replacement Board members at the bottom of this document.) Congratulations. You should be commended for joining a Board that pays nothing and is facing the task of getting voter support in 2015 or 2016 to renew the District and it's millage rate. I write a blog in Lake County on local politics, including the NLCHD. I am a taxpayer advocate and fiscal watchdog and come to all Board meetings... Read more →

Orlando Channel 9 TV Interviews FiscalRangers about 1 Mill Hospital Tax

Tavares, FL - Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 Orlando Channel 9's Berndt Petersen interviews FiscalRangers as well as local pundit Ralph Smith and Hospital District Chair Catherine Hanson about the 1 mill tax for the North Lake County Hospital Tax District. It generates about $8-million in tax revenue allocated to two local hospitals and five clinics to pay for indigent care. We all figure that if Obamacare gets implemented, it should replace the need for this rare tax, since most Florida counties do not have it, and even Sumter County voted one down. http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/affordable-care-act-could-ax-lake-county-hospital-/nbLJR/ Vance Jochim Read more →

North Lake County Hospital To Meet Tonight to Finalize 1 Mill Rate & Budget

Tavares, FL - Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013 You don't have to go, but you can get the agenda and details here: http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ The meeting is at 5:30 pm at the Lake County Admin. building at 315 W. Main St. in Tavares. The Board already had the required first of two meetings to set the new annual property tax millage rate and budget for 2014. This is the second meeting tonight. As they have for the last 40 years, the Board rubber stamped the maxiumum rate of 1 mill, and a budget of about $9-million. The Board will also allocate the budgeted proceeds among 5 clinics and the two large hospitals in North Lake County, Waterman & LRMC. Finally, Gov. Rick Scott announced the appointment of a 29 year old, Elizabeth Kallop, who just moved to Florida in March as his choice to fill a vacancy on the Board that makes decisions on $9-million of North Lake County taxpayer funds. He ignored another LOCAL long time resident and well known volunteer, Norm Knighton, who was supported in writing by the Chair of the Lake County Republicans and several other local citizens. In my opinion, there was some back door dealings and... Read more →

Recap of Yesterday's North Lake County Hospital District (FL) Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Jan. 25, 2013 The Annual Meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District (FL) was last night. See the video: http://youtu.be/F5gLnQwi4uk The agenda is below, with our comments in yellow, and you can see prior minutes and some documents at their official website at: www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org . You can see ALL posts about this Hospital District on this blog HERE. NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE NORTH LAKE COUNTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT ON JANUARY 24, 2013 LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ROOM 5:15 P.M. Pursuant to House Bill 1299, Laws of Florida, the Chair of the Trustees of the North Lake County Hospital District calls an Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees to transpire on January 24, 2013 at 5:15 p.m. in the Lake County Board of County Commissioners Room, 315 W. Main Street, Tavares, Florida. General matters of the business to be considered are as follows: AGENDA 1.Call to Order 2.Roll Call 3.Presentation and approval of minutes of the meeting of the special meeting held on December 17, 2012 <<< These minutes are on the District website 4.Financial report - audit presentation <<<< These should be on their website soon. 5.Presentation... Read more →

Highlights of Tomorrow's North Lake County Hospital District Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Wed., Jan. 23, 2013 Tomorrow, the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District is having their annual meeting in the Lake County Round Administration building on Main St. in Tavares at 5:15pm. People interested in how they spend their $8-million + in property tax collections should attend, as well as representatives of any qualified medical clinics that want to learn how they can qualify for indigent care reimbursements. The "pig" logo represents the current practice of allocating most of the District's funds to two more costly local hospitals and not other qualified clinics that provide indigent care. Their website contains this notice (below) AND a copy of the prior Dec. 17, 2012 meeting minutes is on that same webpage which you can download. http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ The website also has an updated contacts section and now all five Board members have background information (no pictures!) The same agenda from the website is below. The Board will not provide any attachments BEFORE the meeting, so we don’t know exactly what will be discussed. Issues on the Agenda - Notice that they are planning to discuss “proposed changes to House Bill 1299” which is the legislation passed last year that... Read more →

Highlights of Tomorrow's North Lake County Hospital District Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - Wed., Jan. 23, 2013 Tomorrow, the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District is having their annual meeting in the Lake County Round Administration building on Main St. in Tavares at 5:15pm. People interested in how they spend their $8-million + in property tax collections should attend, as well as representatives of any qualified medical clinics that want to learn how they can qualify for indigent care reimbursements. The "pig" logo represents the current practice of allocating most of the District's funds to two more costly local hospitals and not other qualified clinics that provide indigent care. Their website contains this notice (below) AND a copy of the prior Dec. 17, 2012 meeting minutes is on that same webpage which you can download. http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ The website also has an updated contacts section and now all five Board members have background information (no pictures!) The same agenda from the website is below. The Board will not provide any attachments BEFORE the meeting, so we don’t know exactly what will be discussed. Issues on the Agenda - Notice that they are planning to discuss “proposed changes to House Bill 1299” which is the legislation passed last year that... Read more →

Our Take of Yesterday's Lake County Legislators' Delegation Forum & Video Posted

Leesburg, FL - Jan 5, 2012 Yesterday, Jan. 4th, Lake County's three Florida Representatives ( Larry Metz, Bryan Nelson & Marlene O'Toole) and two Senators (Alan Hays & Dorothy Hukill) held their annual "Lake County Legislators' Delegation" meeting to listen to "pitches" from over 20 people from different government and other agencies asking for funds, legislation changes or other Florida State Support for their issues. The publicity for the meeting was so bad that hardly any members of the public attended. Details on meeting locations were confused with three different sites being described by different people. Agendas were stacked at the side and there was no table to greet attendees or get their names to send out follow up documents. I only found out about the meeting in the morning and had to cancel a dental appointment to attend. Hardly any members of the public or press attended. The only member of the press there was from Lake Sentinel. The picture shows you what I mean - this was halfway through the meeting after first speakers all left. If taxpayers and conservative groups don't attend these types of meetings and make their positions known, don't cry when nothing is done.... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Board Subverts Intent of HB-1299 & Still Awards 95% of Business to three Hospitals

Tavares, FL - Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 Last week, on Sept. 13, the first of two required Board meetings were held for the North Lake County Hospital District to discuss and approve their budget and millage rates. We wrote a posting on Sept. 12, the day before that meeting listing weaknesses in their plans and website. The Board is in the middle of also creating the administrative process to implement Florida legislation HB-1299 which was passed earlier this year to improve oversight and accountability over the approximate $8-million in property taxes they a receive. One feature of HB-1299 was to remove NAMES of any specific providers to receive the funds in order to establish an approval process for lower cost clinics to provide indigent care to residents in the District. This was in contrast to the previous 30+ years when three specific hospitals received an allocation of all available funds without any cost constraints or oversight or spending rules. In the two prior meetings to Sept 13, the Board Chair, Ken Carpenter, refused to allow any public input, while they let staff from the three local hospitals provide lots of input and written documents and speakers on how to spend... Read more →

Updated: North Lake Hospital District Board Meeting Tomorrow (Thursday) to Set Millage Rates

Tavares, FL - Wed., Sept 12, 2012 - Update Sept. 14 - As expected the NLCHD Board approved continuation of the 1 mill tax. Most other taxpayer advocates left the meeting before public input, and only three people, including myself, gave public input. The second required public hearing for final approval of their budget and millage rates is next Thursday, Sept 20th, at 5:15 pm at the County Admin building in Tavares. They also implemented several adminstrative steps to implement HB-1299. Watch for an upcoming article, plus we will post videos of the entire meeting to our YouTube account. The Board agreed to implement many of the website deficiencies we describe below. Attendance of taxpayers probably isn't needed, since 4 of the 6 Board members favor the hospitals and will approve a full 1 mill rate regardless of public input. Here is our original Sept. 12 article: Readers who are concerned about the spending of taxpayer funds by the North Lake Hospital District are encouraged to attend tomorrow's Board meeting: When: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, 5:15 pm (allow time to park due to traffic circle construction) Update: 8:25 pm Wed - A recipient of our email pointed out the TRIM... Read more →

Public Input Refused at Board Meeting of North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - July 24, 2012 Board Meeting of North Lake County Hosp Dist - August 23, 2012 - 2 hours - held in Tavares, FL Last night, the Board held their meeting and our two hour video below shows the discussions. Board Chairman Ken Carpenter refused for the second month in a row to allow public input. Time was taken for issues related to establishing procedures to implement HR-1299 which drastically improved oversight on about $8-million in tax funds given to the District which then will use it to reimburse local clinics and hospitals for indigent care. Note: The picture is from a prior meeting. See their homepage for minutes, agendas: http://www.northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.org/home/ See our two hour video of the meeting here: http://youtu.be/NCXEYnkHrKY Here is the detailed agenda: Download Agenda tax dist Final 8-23-12 Here is a one page request from a non-profit Eustis "St. Luke's" clinic to be approved for receiving reimbursement: Download St Lukes Proposal for NLCHD Tax Funds 82312 I will add my overview of the last two meetings by this Sunday Aug 26th. vj Read more →

Richard Riker on the Mayhem Created by recent Board Meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - Tavares, FL Guest column from Richard Riker on the recent July 10th meeting of the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District. I added the images. ============================================================ It was July 10th 2012, at 5:30 in the county commission chambers in what is referred to as the round court house in Taveres Fl. that the most recent meeting of the North Lake Hospital Special Taxing Board occurred. As agreed in the previous meeting Commissioner Marilyn Bainter, the only member of the board who volunteered to help in any way, arranged for a representative of the WellFlorida Council to speak to the board in order to initiate a dialogue that could result in that group doing a similar study, as they did in '93, of the health needs of Lake County. The presentation was well worth listening to, but it seems the board chairman Ken Carpenter thought it was well worth ignoring because he jumped right in where he left off at the last meeting. Like Chicken Little who ran around worrying that “the sky is falling” Commissioner Carpenter continued to run around, if only symbolically, worrying “how do we find an auditor”. He examined this... Read more →

Lake County Deadline to File for County Offices Expires and Last Minute Surprises Occur

Tuesday, June 8, 2012 - Tavares, FL by Vance Jochim - FiscalRangers.com UPDATED 7pm with info on Bill Smalley & Ralph Smith, who filed so late they were not on the candidate list I was given by the Elections staff at noon. Today at noon was the filing deadline for Lake County elections for positions like Sheriff, Constitutional Officers and some County and School Board Positions. The only new candidates filing by the deadline were for Board position openings on the North Lake County Hospital District. Additionally, County Property Appraiser Candidate Pam Lee changed her candidacy to a Write In Candidate, which means she will not be listed on the ballot but people can write her name in as a candidate. Lee was unable to get enough signed petitions or fees to file and be listed on the ballot, so she is a write in candidate. As of this writing, the updated, final list has only been posted in the Excel format on this page: http://elections.lakecountyfl.gov/candidate_information/index.asp Incumbents that are safe, where no one filed to run against them include: - Welton Cadwell - County Commissioner - Bob McKee - County Tax Collector - Neil Kelly - Clerk of the Circuit... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Update on Lake County School Board & Tomorrow's Lake County Board Meeting

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2012 (This is a duplicate of an email sent out today to our FiscalRangers.com email list.) First, an overview of an issue at today’s Lake County School Board meeting which might save taxpayers $400,000, and then read items I have selected from the agenda for tomorrow’s Lake County Board meeting, and finally “other news” about local candidate forum events and an upcoming meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District. In my opinion, the item under Lake County's Agenda (belows) tab 24 needs Board attention. Once again, the Board is asked to approve the annual CDBG Federal grant programs, and little details are provided for early analysis, and we point out some issues from last year’s CDBG discussions. Lake County School Board today – Cutting FREE transportation to Orange County Charter School Could Save $400,000 - At today's Board meeting, the School District staff requested Board approval to turn off paying for transportation to Princeton school in Orange County for about 32 autistic kids in order to save about $400,000. They want the kids to go to Lake County facilities and services, which were not available 7 years ago when the students were sent out... Read more →

National Website Monitors "State Integrity" and Ranks States - Florida is a C-

Tavares, FL - March 20, 2012 I found a new website that is run by a number pf public integrity types of organizations, and they rank all the States by several categories and rank their "Corruption Risk". Here is Florida's page, which shows abysmal rankings in most categories, and an average C- in Corruption Risk . Even with that ranking, they are 18th out of all the states, which shows how much worse other states are. http://www.stateintegrity.org/florida I noticed that they ranked "Internal Audit" as one of the only "A" categories, so I posted this comment: As a former corporate internal audit director, Certified Internal Auditor and anti-corruption adviser, I was amazed to see you give Florida an A for internal audit. I write a blog on local Lake County, FL government agency fiscal fiascos and mis-management at www.FiscalRangers.com . After five years of monitoring issues here, I do not believe there is ANY oversight on about 2000 local government agencies comparable to what I saw in Fortune 500 firms, the County of Los Angeles or even the Federal government. They may do nice, clean "financial audits" but the Inspector General has no authority to initiate performance or internal audits... Read more →

Action Alert Sent to FiscalRangers.com List regarding North Lake County Hospital District

This was sent by email today: Action Alert for FiscalRangers.com fiscal conservative readers in Lake County Regarding just passed Lake County Local bill HB-1299 (aka S-2016) Everyone: Please take action to notify the two Senators below by phone and email to ensure that Florida Senate Bill 2016 is ADDED to the voting schedule for the Senate and voted on by the entire Senate as part of the local laws vote. Some Senators may try to “pull” the bill from the Senate voting schedule so it never gets before the Senate to vote on it. Lake County local bill HB-1299 was just approved unanimously by the entire Florida House ( 116 to 0) after going through three committees. It is the bill that was supported by five of the six members of the Lake County legislator delegation. It now will go with other local bills to the Florida Senate for a vote. The bill, written by local Lake County Rep. Larry Metz, revises 40 year old Florida legislation and provides significantly better accountability, spending rules, oversight requirements and other features to ensure there is a true public purpose for about $8-10-million in property taxes collected from North Lake property owners. That... Read more →

Gov. Scott Issues Executive Order to "Examine" all 1600 Florida Special Districts

YAHOO!!!! We found today that Florida Gov. Scott has issued an Executive Order 12-10 "Review of Special Districts" which assigns his Office of Policy & Budget (OPB) to perform an “examination” of ALL 1600 Florida special districts. The Executive Order is HERE. FiscalRangers.com will publish another article later this week on just this Executive Order after I interview some people. HERE is the press release on this OPB assignment. The press release and the EO are similar to the earlier one establishing a Commission to Review Hospital Districts. Last year I sent that commission numerous emails and articles about oversight weaknesses in not only Hospital Districts but other Florida Districts. They just recently issued their final report of recommendations, including a number I agree with. As our readers know, FiscalRangers.com has published numerous articles on weaknesses and problems in the various types of special districts, including CRA’s, But, this is not a Commission to STUDY the issue, but a task order to the OPB to start a program to “Examine” ALL 1600 districts in Florida for performance, etc. The objectives are in the EO and shortened versions are in the press release. These are not the routine CPA type financial... Read more →

Final Report for Florida State Commission to Review Hospital Districts

Tallahassee, FL - Jan. 3, 2012 - In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott established a commission to review taxpayer funded Hospital Districts. After many meetings and interim reports, the final report was issued today, as described in the notice below from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The notice mentions that a version with links to pages will be distributed later this week, and when I receive it, I will post it on this page. Later this week I will post my comments, since some of the recommendations can affect the North Lake County Hospital District. vj ============================================================ The final report of the Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts is now available on the Commission website. The first link below goes to the main webpage for the Commission, and the second link goes directly to the report. Click on the main page at the link “Final Report”: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/fctfh.shtml . Jump straight to the report at this link: http://ahca.myflorida.com/mchq/FCTFH/pdf/122911Meeting/FinalReportRF2.pdf This week we are preparing an edition of the report that has embedded web links in it. It should be available by the end of the week. Jeff Gregg, Executive Director Florida Commission on Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts Florida Agency... Read more →

Brief Overview of North Lake County Hospital District Reform Efforts

Jan 1, 2012 - Tavares, FL - Here is a brief "year end" summary from the Orlando Sentinel about Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill regarding the North Lake County Hospital District. vj http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-district-20120101,0,2244430.story Read more →

Governor's Hospital District Review Commission Publishes DRAFT Report of Recommendations

Tavaras, FL - Dec. 20, 2011 - Florida Governor Scott's Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts just published their almost final report draft. This affects Lake County, because we have two hospital districts, the North Lake County Hospital District, and the South Lake County Hospital District. This blog has published numerous articles on local efforts to reform the North Lake County Hospital District. The Draft report, 30 pages long, includes several objectives that had been included in Rep. Larry Metz's reform bill recently approved by the six member Lake County Legislators Delegation (5 to 1). The Commission recommendations included: - Qualified hospital district board members should be appointed who "do not have conflicts of interest" (like also being on the Hospital Boards which receive tax funds via the Hospital District). - Board members should have "financial expertise and experience operating successful. larger businesses (i.e. not a filling station owner who likes hospitals). - Special hospital districts (like our North Lake one) should become "indigent health care districts based upon local priorities". (It doesn't say, but implied is NOT to subsidize Medicare or other expenses of the hospitals). - Millage rates should be adjustable (not fixed like North Lake)... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Tax Reform - another report of Legislators' Vote

Tavares, FL - Dec. 10, 2011 - We previously reported on the results of the Lake County Legislator's delegation vote to approve a reform bill affecting the North Lake County Hospital District. However, we just found this Daily Commercial article on the meeting at the beginning of this month, so we include it here for the record. Our earlier reports were from our observations and articles in the Orlando Sentinel. This article is fairly balanced, with viewpoints from both sides of the issue. As our readers know, we have always favored reforms of the Hospital District. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/120211hospitalbill Read the comments. vj Read more →

Glorious Update on North Lake County Hospital District & Rep. Metz Reform Discussions -

Tavares, FL - Sun., Dec. 4, 2011 - It is a grand and glorious week in Lake County, Florida. This was sent out earlier today to our full email list: TO: Members of Gov. Scott’s Commission to review Hospital Districts BCC: To other recipients of FiscalRangers.com emails From: Vance Jochim, FiscalRangers.com HOORAY – five of the six legislators at this week’s hearings voted to APPROVE Rep. Larry Metz’s reforms (after some minor amendments that took two hours of discussion) to the existing legislation that created the North Lake County Hospital District. HERE is reporter Steve Hudak’s Orlando Sentinel article published yesterday on the results. HERE is Orlando Sentinel’s columnist Lauren Ritchie’s column published today on how State Senator Alan Hays botched his credibility by constantly trying to water down Metz’s bill. Everyone receiving this email should have received earlier emails with the Metz proposed bill, the 3-page summary and my review of the summary. If you did not get them, let me know. I do not have the pending revised version that includes the amendments approved at the recent meeting (yet). The bill, once revised, will go to the house for a bill number. Once that is assigned, I will... Read more →

Update on North Lake County Hospital District & Rep. Metz Reform Discussions

Tavares, FL - Nov. 29, 2011 - Below is an article from today's Orlando Sentinel by Steve Hudak giving an update on the issues and tomorrow's meeting. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-district-appeal-20111129,0,6986031.story Constitutionality Lawsuit: As the article mentions, local tax reform activist Marilyn Bainter has had her attorney file an appeal of a recent decision from the court regarding her lawsuit that the North Lake County Hospital District is not Constitutional. Some say the judge ruled in favor of the Hospitals because the Judge is a LOCAL judge and made a "rationalized" decision benefitting the local Hospitals and Leesburg establishment. That decision might not be supported by an appeals court outside this area. This appeals process would be out of the area, and may take two years, so don't expect much activity until then. NO Pink Flamingos The "NO Pink Flamingos" logo represents that fact that the current regulations authorizing the existence of the North Lake County Hospital District has NO SPENDING RULES, thus the District collects about $10-million of tax funds, and splits it amon the two large local hospitals, which can legally spend it on anything, even pink flamingos for the lawn. Tomorrow's Meeting: Below are my comments regarding tomorrow's meeting of... Read more →

Bi-Weekly Report to the North Lake Tea Party on Local Government

Tavares, FL - Nov. 16, 2001 - Twice a month I give an update to the North Lake County Tea Party which meets on the first & third Wednesday evenings at 7pm at the Tavares Civic Center, 100 E. Caroline St., Tavares. Check their website to verify details: http://www.northlaketeaparty.com/ So, here is my update, and I may add more after tonight's meeting. Lake County Government & Board of Commissioners (see meeting agendas HERE) - Poor Meeting Transparency Continues: Chair Jennifer Hill continues to indicate she doesn't like public input and is hiding issues from the public. She controls the agendas and meeting rules like allowing public input. Out of an average of four public meetings on Tuesday mornings each month, TWO never allow public input, but yet there are business issues decided and the public is NOT allowed to provide input. Those are any meeting billed as a "Workshop" or the "Zoning Meeting", yet you will always find political and business decisions on the agendas and decisions made. The worst example was LAST week, on Nov. 8th, when the workshop had five items on the agenda that used vague, nebulous terms and no explanatory attachments on the website agenda. I... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Features Matrix of Existing & Proposed Regulation Reforms

Tavares, FL - Nov. 6, 2011 - We have written previously about Rep. Larry Metz's proposed reforms for the regulations governing the existence and operations of the North Lake County Hospital District. Well, here is a side by side comparison matrix of issues related to the existing and the proposed regulations. It is very clear. Metz will be presenting this tomorrow to Gov. Scott's Commission to Review Hospital Districts, AND on this Wed. at 5pm at the Lake County Round Admin building in Tavares. After you read it, you will understand why reform is needed and Metz's bill "fills the bill". We often say the existing regulations are so loose on spending rules that they could buy pink lawn flamingos with the money LEGALLY. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7LFf94Dawq1OGY0MDFiMTEtODU1ZC00NzdkLThmZWEtZDY2N2I5MTIxYTM0&hl=en_US vj Read more →

Illinois Revokes Hospital Property Tax Exemptions & Congress Asks Why not the same for Federal exemptions?

Tavares, FL - Nov. 6, 2011 - The Illinois State government just revoked property tax exemptions for some hospitals there because they were not providing enough indigent care. This New York Times article describes the question why the Federal government is lax and also not doing the same thing regarding Federal tax exemptions. We had reported in the past about a GAO audit report HERE that questioned the continued tax exempt status of non-profit hospitals that were not providing enough in offsetting indigent care required as a condition of being a non-profit. Gee, maybe the local two hospitals in Lake County might be shaking over this issue? Ya think? Maybe if the Feds saw the AHCA report that shows the local hospitals do not have much indigent care? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/business/congress-asks-irs-about-oversight-of-nonprofit-hospitals.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 vj ===================================================== Here is the article text: October 31, 2011 Congress Questions the I.R.S. About Delays in Its Oversight of Nonprofit Hospitals By STEPHANIE STROM In August, the Illinois Department of Revenue moved to revoke the property tax exemptions enjoyed by three major nonprofit hospitals after a court ruling determined that a fourth hospital in the state did not provide enough charity care to justify the tax benefit. Those hospitals, however,... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Rebuttal to Biased Eustis Chamber Email Regarding Hospital District Reforms

(Note: This is slightly revised from our origianl email response to clean up some typos, etc). We might add more information soon. Tavares, FL - Nov. 4, 2011 - This is my reply to emails today from the Eustis Chamber of Commerce to their members where you sent out a biased flyer from the President of Waterman Hospital regarding his efforts to KILL upcoming proposed taxpayer reforms for the North Lake County Hospital District. You included a biased petition in the original email, and then after receiving complaints, won’t send out another viewpoint until Monday after uninformed readers might react to the biased email. On Nov. 9th, at 5pm, in the Lake County round administration building, the Lake County Legislators Delegation will hear arguments for and against implementation of proposed tax reforms from Rep. Larry Metz. You sent out an email that is biased towards only one viewpoint. If you are going to send out BIASED political information, you should include BOTH sides in the SAME email, and not split them up. I resent your sending out a PRO Hospital corporate welfare notice that is against the best interests of North Lake taxpayers and your Chamber members. Who is preparing... Read more →

Sentinel Editorial Questions Validity of North Lake County Hospital District tax continuing

Tavares, FL - Oct. 27, 2011 - Hip, Hip, Hooray - The Orlando Sentinel came out with an editorial today questioning the need for taxpayer subsidized Hospital Tax Districts like the North Lake County Hospital District. Right now, execs from the hospitals are going to local service clubs, Chamber of Commerces, etc. to plead NO SUPPORT for Rep. Metz's proposal to reform the existing regulations AND require a voter referendum because they want local legislators to give them another 50 years of FREE tax funds without oversight. Read it... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-hospital-taxing-districts-102711-20111026,0,5822120.story I disagree, however, with the Sentinel in saying to WAIT until Governor Scott's Commission issues their report in January. The new logo for those challenging the Hospital Tax is the pink flamingo with the "NO" circle because current regulations allow the local hospitals to spend tax funds on anything without specific oversight, even pink flamingos for the lawn. Instead, on Nov. 9th, the Lake County Legislator's Delegation forum will meet to hear arguments for and against Rep. Metz's proposed law, and they should then support it and move the process forwared, since it takes months to get a law through the FL legislative process. If Scott decides to abolish or... Read more →

Lake County Judge issues Decision in Constitutionality Lawsuit Against North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - Friday, Oct. 14, 2011 - 9pm - Lake County Judge G. Richard Singeltary issued his expected decision tonight and it was in favor of the Hospital District and rejected Marilyn Bainter's challenge of the Constitutionality of the District existence. Read the Orlando Sentinel's article from Steve Hudak article HERE, which is our source. Read our email article sent out by our Constant Contact email service HERE. More details and content of the actual written decision will be published by the Sentinel on Monday, Oct. 17th when quotes can be obtained by various involved parties. We will also publish our update and analysis of the printed court decision in this blog on Monday. Marilyn Bainter has said she will review the decision with her attorney and decide whether to appeal or not. We do not know when that decision will be met, but will post it here when received. Vance Jochim Read more →

Miami-Dade Inspector General Rebukes Jackson Health System for Failed Contractor Procedures

Once again, another Florida Hospital, Jackson Health Systems, screwed up again. According to their local County Inspector General, they awarded sole source contracts for "emergency venitlation and air conditioning" work to a contract without competitive bids. They awarded $1.7-million in contracts to CT Mechanical, which then submitted vague lump sum invoices and failed to get building permits on 17 projects. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/14/2454079/inspector-general-criticizes-jackson.html This all happened while they already had two local businesses approved for the work. The Jackson Health Systems staff claimed the work was only awarded to CT Mechanical because Jackson was so poor in paying vendors that few would do the work for them. Anyway, this shows that a Inspector General is what is needed to unveil these types of practices, and Lake County does NOT have one. Since our own North Lake County Hospital District gives $9-12 million to three local hospitals without any spending rules or internal audits (they have financial audits, which are different), the hospitals could be doing the same thing and the taxpayers would not have a clue. Watch this blog for updates on the North Lake County Hospital District. And, probably more on Jackson Health, since they seem to have a screwup about... Read more →

Excessive Salaries of North Lake Hospitals Compared to Orlando Expressway Authority

Tavares, FL - Oct. 8, 2011 - Actually, we aren't comparing the salaries, but discussing the relevancy of high salaries paid to managers running the two local Hospitals, Leesburg and Waterman, when taxpayers are asked to subsidize their non-profit PRIVATE corporations with $8-12-million of taxpayer funds. The North Lake County Hospital District extracts $8-12 million per year from local property owners for corporate welfare payments to the Hospitals, but there are no salary caps until the hospitals give up the 40 year subsidies. Only two hospitals(a third gets a small share) receive the hospital, while all other local clinics that provide similar services have no ability to apply for or receive payments, which is anti-competitive. Efforts are underway by Florida state Rep. Larry Metz to revamp the regulations for the District to define spending rules, remove the "entitlement" feature of only giving the money to two hospitals (which they claim is for indigent care, but no rules specify that) rather than all clinics providing such services, and also require the first ever referendum and voter approval on the tax for many taxpayers. We have advocated that the Board members of the District, and the Florida regulations establishing the District should... Read more →

Orlando Sentinel Columnist Encourages Taxpayer Action on Un-ending Hospital Tax District

This is a good overview in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel by Lauren Ritchie of last week's Lake County Legislators' Delegation forum discussions related to the North Lake County Hospital District. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-hospital-taxing-district-proposal-20111001,0,7611357.story It has taken 3+years by local tax reformers to get the word out about this tax, where many taxed property owners never got to vote on it in over 20-40 years. Since 1964, the Florida Consistitution requires taxes be approved by voters, and it is time that voters get to listen to all issues, and vote on this tax. The local Hospitals who have been receiving this corporate welfare for 40 years naturally don't want you to vote on it, since the current law shovels your tax money into a bucket (about $8.9-million this year) and splits it into two cash buckets given to the Hospitals without any clear rules on how they spend the funds. Also, the law NAMES two specific hospitals to get the funds, rather than have a process run by the County Health Dept to vett and pay for specific services like indigent or poor health care and reimburse ANY clinic providing desired services for the indigent. This all needs to be changed. Metz even includes... Read more →

Call to Action: Please Attend Tomorrow's (Wed) 1pm ANNUAL Meeting of Lake County Legislators

Tavares, FL - Sept. 27, 2011 - Readers of FiscalRangers.com are encouraged to attend tomorrow's (Wed) 1pm ANNUAL meeting of the Lake County Legislator's Delegation forum at Lake Sumter Community College Here is the meeting agenda. Unlike last year, where part of the meeting was held in the evening so the public could attend, this one is all during the day from 1-5pm. Download 2011-09-28 Legil Del AGENDA This agenda was only sent out today. Van Zant's office didn't return phone calls or the requested minutes, and could not tell us which building the meeting was in. UPDATE: I was told by an attendee that "The meeting is in the Fine Arts Auditorium in front of the gym." However, we obtained the minutes of January's meeting, and they are ATTACHED. It is a long Word document. Download 2011-01-05 FLORIDA DELEGATION MEETING MINUTES Thus, we assume the meeting is in the AUDITORIUM of the Lake Sumter Community College campus and is at 1pm. Please arrive early to ensure you find the right building (not the conference center). We will try to post some signs. Enter the campus on the west side by Cracker Barrel restaurant on Hwy 441. AGENDA LAKE COUNTY... Read more →

West Palm Beach Health Care District so badly managed, it was put under control of County Inspector General

Note: See also our update below on Leesburg Commission resolution related to local Hospital District. Tavares, FL - Sept. 27, 2011 - If you think Lake County has problems with lack of oversight over a measly $8-million given to our local North Lake County Hospital District, read about the one in West Palm Beach. That is the Florida county that had so many government scandals the voters pushed through a new Inspector General Dept. Then, the Board members of their local Hospital District screwed up so much that three members are quitting and they cut a deal to put the management of the District (which apparently owns or runs local health care facilities, unlike ours, which does not) under the direction of the new Inspector General. Read here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/health-district-oks-inspector-general-pact-spending-on-1881602.html Leesburg City Commission votes 4-1 for resolution to Support Tax Payments by Hospital District to Leesburg Meanwhile, our local "Right Side of the Lake" blog, based in Leesburg, is lobbying the Leesburg City Council to pass a resolution supporting continued funding to our own North Lake County Hospital District, even though they don't have ANY rules on how about $8-million given to three local hospitals is spent. Read that info HERE:... Read more →

Orlando Sentinel Publishes Update on Constitutionality Lawsuit against North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - Sept. 14, 2011 - This morning, Sept. 14th, the Orlando Sentinel published reporter Steve Hudak's update on the taxpayer lawsuit against the North Lake County Hospital District, claiming it is unconstitutional (Florida Constitution). After two court hearings, Judge G. Richard Singletary will soon issue his decision. Tax reformer Marilyn Bainter filed the lawsuit because many residents never got to vote on the tax. You can monitor issues regarding the Hospital Tax District at these websites: http://northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.com/ - Implemented by the tax reformers. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FixNorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict - for reformers Click HERE to see all FiscalRangers.com articles on this Tax District, including links to Orlando Sentinel and other articles. vj Read more →

Call to Action: Attend the Wednesday evening Meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District!

Update: This morning, Sept. 14, the Orlando Sentinel published THIS article by Steve Hudak on the Constitutionality lawsuit mentioned below. Tavares, FL - Sept. 13, 2012 - Yup, Wednesday night, Sept. 14th, at 6pm in the round Lake County Administration Building in Tavares, is the second required meeting for the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District to vote to give away $8-million of property tax funds without any rules on how the funds are to be spent, and where many affected taxpayers never actually got to vote on the tax. Currently there is a lawsuit challenging the Florida Constitutionality of the District, and there is an investigation of the District by the Lake County Legislator's delegation, plus a investigation of all Florida Hospital Tax Districts by a Committee initiated by Florida Governor Rick Scott. Last Wednesday was the first of two required meetings where the Board must approve to collect (through the County taxpayer) 1 mill of property taxes, or to vote to not collect ANY mills (0 mill rate). The Hospital advocate controlled Board has NEVER voted NO mills, and always voted for another annual 1 mill tax. We encourage you to attend the meeting. Most likely... Read more →

Fiscal Rangers Alert: Political & Government Events This Week in Lake County, FL

Tavares, FL - Sept. 11, 2011 - Here are upcoming events this week and calls for action (especially for the SECOND Hospital District meeting this Wednesday evening). Yes, I know it is late notice for School District meetings today, so next time, check out their agendas yourself on their website!! Monday, Sept. 12: Lake County School District - THREE meetings today - find them at the School Board website HERE - scroll down to see the "Calendar Events" but ALSO click at the TOP of the left column on "Board Docs" to get the detailed agendas and attachments. The Calendar and Board Docs are two separate systems, and they may not be consistent. 2:00 pm today: School District Workshop at the LCSD HQ on HWY 441 (The Calendar says 2:30 and no agenda will open, but the Board Docs agenda says 2pm - they rarely reconcile these to be consistent) They will be reviewing Charter School applications for two proposed charter schools (you can actually see and download the applications from the Board Docs agenda section), an update on the Florida Virtual (online) School program, a budget review (the final approval is tonight at 5:30 pm), a Reorg of the... Read more →

Official Lake County Map of the Boundaries of the North & South Lake County Hospital Districts

There are really two Hospital Tax Districts in Lake county, but this blog has focused on issues related only to the North Lake County Hospital District. For the record, here is the official map of the District boundaries: http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/pdfs/gis/maps/HospitalDistricts_22x34.pdf vj Read more →

Facebook Page for North Lake County Hospital District Revamped and Updated

It has a new shortcut name: https://www.facebook.com/FixNorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict Please go to it on Facebook and LIKE it to get news on the North Lake County Hospital District. Or search on the official name “FixLakeTaxes”. There is a separate Facebook page NorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict which was setup by the Hospital supporters, so that is NOT ours and it has little info. I have rewritten the info section, and posted some news. I will post news related to the Hospital District here first, then either on the FiscalRangers.com blog and/or the separate website www.NorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict.com . If you have District related news, you can post it, but I will remove non-relevant postings that are not supportive of our tax reform mission as stated in the “Info” section. I will also create “notes” with added info as I get it. Richard Riker and myself are administrators for the page. vj Read more →

Webpage for Required Annual Reports of North Lake County Hospital District

We have often mentioned that the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District has refused to create a website or make it easy to get required reports. So, we created a website www.NorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict.com to post the documents that the BOARD should have posted. Here is a a new link we found, which is on the Florida State Auditor General's website, and they not only show all their audit reports online, but they post links to required reports that are filed with the AG's office, and these are the annual NLCHD reports: http://www.myflorida.com/audgen/pages/specialdistricts_efile%20pages/north%20lake%20county%20hospital%20district.htm Read more →