Fiscal Rangers

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 →

Fiscal Rangers blog author to Host Lake County Roundtable Radio Show Wednesday

Tavares, FL - July 11, 2011 - Vance Jochim, author of this FiscalRangers.com blog will be the host for Ralph Smith's Lake County Roundtable weekly radio program this Wednesday at WLBE AM 790 at 11am to noon. WLBE is on Radio Road in Leesburg near the Lake Shopping Center. Ralph is on a road trip to the rockies, and I will be hosting the program, and naturally, focus on local Lake County government issues. Topics to be decided, and I will post them here sometime tomorrow, Tuesday. vj Read more →

YOU MUST ATTEND the 2nd Court Hearing on the Constitutionality of the North Lake County Hospital District

Tavares, FL - Jul. 10, 2010 - Almost 18 months ago, local taxpayer reformer Marilyn Bainter filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the formation of the North Lake County Hospital District. Currently, the District collects about $10-million in property taxes and splits it between the two big local hospitals, Waterman and Leesburg, without any rules on how the funds are to be spent, and no real accountability on where it actually is spent. The next hearing is quickly coming up on Monday, July 18th at 1:30 pm in the Lake County Courthouse in Judge Singletary's courtroom. Come and hear the arguments - if the District is found to have violated the Florida Constitution, I am assuming it will be shut down until a public vote takes place (if at all). The hearing is in the Judicial Center. This is the building under construction. For your convenience, you can park in the parking garage and take the shuttle over to the courthouse. In a nutshell, the Constitution says that special tax districts that collect taxes must be approved by taxpayers in a public vote. However, the current tax district was formed by a merger of two separate districts, and... Read more →

Are Ethics of Elected Officials and Government Improving in Lake County?

Tavares, FL - July 7, 2011 - Ethics may slowly be improving in Lake County... So there was this high level official in the State of New York who forced internal staff to issue a $100,000 grant to a firm that had hired his wife as a consultant. But, he got caught, and was fired after the IG started their investigation. And, we have read about Orlando officials on a Board steering large service contracts to their own firms. Gee, it reminds me of a local Lake County official who I was told funneled campaign funds to a firm that employed his wife. But, knowing Florida, maybe it is legal here? Or, the rumors I hear about another elected official who got a house or land for much less than the owner paid for it? Perhaps for ruling on important issues? Of course, that could only be a rumor from political opponents... Or, the elected official who works full time for another government agency, but still takes time off for election campaigning and elected duties. Taking time off from your own business is one thing, but doing it while an apparent full time government employee is another thing. We don't... Read more →

FiscalRangers.com Weekly Alert on Local Lake County Government Activities

Tavares, FL - Monday, June 13, 2011 - This was sent out yesterday by email, but I have included some important revisions: - Tuesday School District Board 1PM "Retreat" CANCELED: I was notified this morning that the School Board retreat on Tuesday afternoon was CANCELED since the funeral for Tod Howard's son is Tuesday. However, last night it was still on the School Board website, and is still there this Monday morning. - Former Florida Senator Carey Baker will be speaking at the Wednesday evening Tea Party meeting, not Alan Hays. Hays postponed his appearance last week. Baker currently does not have a political office, but rumors are he is running for a local County Constitutional office. - I revised the wording in the discussion of overhead on the Lake County Fire Assessment District discussion in the County section below to clarify it. - The numbering is off due to this blog software not converting properly. Sorry 'bout that. vj Lake County School District Board a. Condolences to School District Board Member Tod Howard and his wife Ginger for the loss of their son in a car accident last week. See article HERE. Last week, the Board approved a new... Read more →

Lake County Commissioners Decide to Invoice Hospital Districts for $237,000

Tavares, FL - June 9, 2011 - Lake County, FL Commissioners are pursuing collections for $237,000 in required Medicaid expenses from two local Lake county Hospital Tax Districts. Commissioners discovered the existence of a regulation never used that allows the County to invoice local Hospital Districts for required Medicaid payments. So, as this article indicates, they are pursuing collection of about $237,000 which will help offset budget shortfalls. This action has been attacked by another local blog which screams that the Commissioners are "defunding" Medicaid. That is ridiculous. The invoicing was pushed through by County Commissioners Jimmy Conner, Leslie Campione and Sean Parks, who properly took fiscal action to control County costs. All they are doing is following a previously unused Florida regulation that allows Counties to invoice local Hospital Districts for a share of Medicaid expenses previously paid by the County. This releases the budgeted money for other County spending priorities. That invoicing is a good fiscal practice, especially when the approximate $10-million in property tax revenues given to the North Lake County Hospital District are provided, as the article says, "without strings". The real issue is that the existing County Chairperson, Jennifer Hill, and the County Attorney, Sandy... Read more →

New "Promise Healthcare" Hospital Planned for the Villages

Here is an article about a new 40-bed hospital planned for the Villages for acute-care long term patients. The interesting thing is that this $22-million facility will rely on Medicare patients, which means they WILL MAKE MONEY in the Villages and with Medicare as the main revenue source. In contrast, what is it about Leesburg Regional Medical Center that they claim they CANNOT make money and must continue to be subsidized by North Lake County taxpayers to the tune of $5-million or more a year? I don't know yet it they are also non-profit. If they are a "for profit" hospital, they will also be paying all the taxes that Leesburg, a non-profit, does not. vj http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/060311newhospital Read more →

We Visit the First Tallahassee Meeting of Governor Scott's Hospital District Tax Reform Commission

Tavares, FL - May 29, 2011 - You might call it Vance and Stan and Marilyn's "Excellent Adventure" driving up to Tallahassee on Thursday for the first meeting on Friday, May 27th of the Florida State Commission to Review Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts (FSCRTFHD ?). We will refer to it as the Commission or HDC (Hospital District Commission). The Commission was established by Gov. Scott in an Executive Order. (Updated below on May 31 to add clarifying text and indicate audio recordings have been posted to the official website) Most website links we found are listed below in the text, or a links section at the bottom. Note: Due to the holiday weekend, only one news article has been published on this meeting as of Sunday. I will add updates to this page after more appear. They will be in the LINKS section at the bottom of this page. Summary: You can read a news article HERE about the Commission meeting, with quotes both from Lake County's Marilyn Bainter, a member of the North Lake Hospital District, and Vance Jochim, writer of this blog. Bainter and Jochim were the ONLY parties providing public input at the end of the meeting.... Read more →

Daily Commercial article on legitimacy of North Lake County Hospital District Tax

Written by Brad Buck, the article disclosed the tax reform efforts of Marilyn Bainter to improve oversight and constitutional legitimacy of the tax. You can read the article HERE. We noticed that all three pictures in the Daily Commercial were of recipients of care, or salaries from the hospitals, and there were no pictures of taxpayers in foreclosure who maybe could use the taxes now given to two local hospitals without any rules at all on how the funds are to be spent. Other than quotes from Bainter, no other supporters of tax reform were quoted. The tax generates about $10-million split between local Leesburg and Waterman hospitals, and the article did not disclose that both hospitals are PRIVATE non-profit corporations which have reported significant profits recently or in the past. It also did not discuss that non-profit hospitals are SUPPOSED to absorb expenses for indigent care in return for escaping all taxes waived for non-profits. Thus, the hospitals are getting duplicate benefits: They do not have to pay property and other taxes because they are non-profits and must absorb indigent care costs, but then they get payments from the Hospital tax AGAIN for the indigent expenses. And, we should... Read more →

Update on Florida Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts

We have written about challenges to the local North Lake County Hospital District for the last two years. But, a new challenge about their value came up recently when Governor Rick Scott published an Executive Order 11-63 which is HERE, and it created the Florida Commission on Review of Taxpayer Funded Hospital Districts. HERE is the official press release from Scott's office on the Commission. HERE is a longer article on the Commission from HealthNews Florida. The Governor appointed the head of Florida Taxwatch (website HERE) to be the head of the Commission and one reason may be that they published a report in 2009 (which is HERE) that was titled "Florida’s Fragmented Hospital Taxing District System in Need of Reexamination". I read the Executive Order, and it lists 8 members of the Commission, and lists 7 tasks for the Commission to accomplish. However,five of the tasks are specifically targeted to "government operated" hospitals which do not exist in Lake county. All the hospitals in Lake County, including the two that benefit from the funds collected by the North Lake County Hospital District are private corporations, and not run by government. Apparently, there are some other Florida counties that DO... Read more →

Understanding Local Corporate Welfare & Identifying True Fiscal Conservatives

Tavares, FL - April 13, 2011 - Today, I gave a presentation at the Lake Federation Republican Women's Club in Tavares. It was on these two topics: - Understanding Corporate Welfare and Local Lake County Examples - Identifying Behaviors of True Fiscal Conservatives (vs liberals or Republicans in Name Only). Attached is the Powerpoint slide presentation. It has over 20 specific fiscal conservative actions that I recommend for elected officials to show they actually are fiscal conservatives. Download 2011-04-13 LFRWC Preso Enjoy. Vance Jochim FiscalRangers AT Comcast DOT net Read more →

Lauren Ritchie Publishes New Column over HIGH wages of Waterman Hospital Management

Orlando Sentinel's Lauren Ritchie published another article related to the North Lake County Hospital District, and focused on the extreme compensation received by management at Waterman Hospital and how they still wanted about $5-million of taxpayer funds when they reported "profits" of $18-million. Read it if you want to understand why reform is needed over the Hospital District. The picture is in reference to the insatiable appetite of the Hospital District for using local taxpayer money without any oversight or clear justification. A referendum is needed to let the public vote whether to continue the North Lake County Hospital District and let them continue taking about $10-million in taxpayer funds and splitting it between Leesburg Regional Medical Center and Waterman Hospital without any specific rules on how the funds or spent, or methods to ensure they are only spent according to the rules (which don't exist now). http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-lauren-ritchie-hospital-adminis20110408,0,2283450.column Please FORWARD this to any friend who might find it interesting and wants to monitor local Lake County government fiscal issues. This is the local watchdog news you won't ever see in the Daily Commercial or Orlando Sentinel (except Lauren's column, sometimes). JOIN our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/FiscalRangers . EMAIL us with... Read more →

Once Again, the North Lake Hospital District Constitutionality Lawsuit Hearing was Postponed

Notice - The court hearing that was to be held this week for the Constitutionality lawsuit against the North Lake County Hospital District was postponed by Judge Singletary during a phone conference today. Apparently the 14 or so attorneys for the hospitals and the District Board defense could not get their act together AGAIN and asked for a postponement to this "summer". This trial has been going on over a year and this is about the 5th postponement. Or, they just figured they wanted to bill more hours before losing the case. You don't think it was because they read Lauren Ritchie's columns on the District and the news that Governor Scott has launched an investigation of special Hospital Tax Districts, do you?? You choose which excuse sounds best. Read more →

Orlando Sentinel Editorial on Need to Review Justification of Hospital Districts

Tavares, FL - April 2, 2011 - Yesterday the Orlando Sentinel published a strong editorial supporting Governor Rick Scott's plan to review the justification for Hospital Tax Districts. It followed three columns by columnist Lauren Ritchie regarding poor oversight and accountability for funds collected via property taxes for the Hospital Districts. I have been covering the local North Lake County Hospital District since 2008. They collect about $10-million and split it between two local large hospitals, Waterman (part of the Adventist Chain), and Leesburg Regional Medical Center. The regulations that established the Hospital District and taxing authority are being challenged in court due to changes made without following Constitutional requirements. The regulations have absolutely NO clear rules on where the funds can be spent, so the Hospitals can actually lump the funds into their general fund and buy pink flamingos for the front lawn if they want. Even very small charitable foundations have better rules and procedures than the Hospital District regulations subject to Florida State oversight (there are NO OVERSIGHT requirements because some of the local Lake County legislators take contributions from Health and Hospital related sources). I was a corporate internal auditor and anti-corruption investigator for many years... Read more →

North Lake Hospital District on the Defensive Again - Our Recap of all the Recent Articles

by Vance Jochim Updated April 2 to include Orlando Sentinel editorial link. Updated March 31 & Apr. 1 to add link to Lauren Ritchie's March 30 & Apr. 1 columns... Tavares, FL - March 28, 2011 - Just in the last week, the Board Members of the North Lake County Hospital District (NLCHD) must be questioning the logic in being on the Board or the legitimacy of the District. Here are several news articles and posting about NLCHD in the last two weeks. A major issue is that some news sources, including the Orlando Sentinel, didn't understand a recent Executive Order from Governor Scott regarding "Hospital Districts" when it only partly may apply to Lake County Hospital Districts. (Read below). Be sure to read the comments to the online articles, which give a good flavor of the issues. - You can read our March 3rd blog posting on the NLCHD if you want an overview of the issues, with links to older articles. READ it HERE. - We published an article on March 23rd on how the Lake County government has ignored a regulation that would let them invoice the local North Lake County Hospital District for reimbursement for Medicaid... Read more →

Channel 9 Orlando TV Interviews us about $2.7-million Lake County Medicaid Costs

Got Facebook? If so, go to our FiscalRangers Facebook page and LIKE us AND add us as a favorite link! http://www.facebook.com/FiscalRangers Channel 9 WFTV reporter Bernt Petersen interviewed me for this March 18th story regarding the possibility that Lake County can bill North Lake County Hospital District for a "proportionate share" of County Medicaid expenses. The online video interview, however, missed part of what I said, and tried to say taxpayers were getting double billed. I don't think so (see below), but the current County costs at their clinics for Medicaid patients might be billable to the Hospital District, which would allow the budgeted $2.7-million to be spent on other priorities. Staff seemed reluctant to admit that was a possibility, but Leslie Campione, Jimmy Conner and Sean Parks pushed for better information, which was furnished later (see memos at the bottom of this document), and a full report will be given at a future Board meeting. Here is a link to the Channel 9 video, but read my more detailed information below, because I don't agree with their statement that "Residents are Being Double Taxed". The basic issue is that at a recent Lake County Board meeting, the Commissioners, led... Read more →

Channel 9 TV Report on North Lake County Hospital District

March 3, 2011 - Tavares, FL - Yesterday, reporter Berndt Petersen's TV report on the North Lake County Hospital District was aired. He included interviews from this author, Vance Jochim, and Marilyn Bainter. (Note: The link to an online video is not available yet - when it is, I will publish it HERE, or a link to my recording of the video). Currently, the North Lake County Hospital District collects a fixed one mill rate tax on property, which generates about $10-million) and gives it to three local hospitals - Waterman (45%), Leesburg (45%) and a 10% share to You can find more of an overview on the District at: http://northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.com/ and at http://webworks.typepad.com/lakecountyfiscalrangers/north-lake-county-hospital-district/ The TV report was fairly short, and basically gave two sides to the story, but no real barn busting conclusion supporting reform of the District. Berndt did mention his estimate of $100-million going to the hospitals over the years, and the concern of Marilyn and myself that there were NO RULES on how the funds were spent. He left out my comment that the Hospitals could be spending their approximately $5-million per year in tax revenue on pink flamingos for the lawns, and there were no... Read more →

Guest Editorial on North Lake County Hospital District - "Follow the Money"

Tavares, FL Jan. 27, 2011 - Tonight was one of the three annual meetings of the North Lake County Hospital District. Three new Board members (out of six) were in attendance. However, this morning, a local blog, Right Side of the Lake, posted an UNSIGNED editorial blasting local activist Marilyn Bainter, who has led efforts to gain accountability and constitutional legitimacy for the Hospital District. Below is an editorial opinion sent out by the Chairman of the North Lake County Tea Party, Dave VonGunten - Tomorrow, I will provide a second posting on what happened at tonight's Hospital District Board meeting, but read this editorial: vj ================================================== North Lake TEA Party Patriots Sent out by David VonGunten at David VonGunten ([email protected]) North Lake County Hospital Tax You have probably read the "Right Side of The Lake" attack article on Marilyn Bainter. This is not the first such attack, but it is the first that the TEA Party has been mentioned. I feel compelled write a response. Here are the facts as I see them. Always follow the money First, who is the "Right Side of The Lake"? It is written and published by Don Magruder, manager of RoMac Lumber. Follow... Read more →

Tavares, FL Court Hearing on Lawsuit Against North Lake County Hospital District Extended

Tavares, FL - Jan 21, 2011 - Update 3: Yesterday was the first public court hearing before the court Judge in Lake County regarding Marilyn & Stan Bainter's Lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of the regulations establishing the North Lake County Hospital District and their legal right to collect 1 mill in property taxes from North Lake residents for the last 20 years. After 3 hours of presentations from Bainter's attorney and from THREE of four attorneys representing three hospitals and also the Board, the Judge and the attorneys agreed to schedule another afternoon session. That will be 1-3 months in the future and we will post that date here. The Judge has made several suggestions that any "order" he issues after hearing all the arguments will probably be appealed by the losing side, so he is making sure all the details are covered. The courtroom was about filled. Channel 9 was there with a camera, and reporter Bernt Petersen, and reporter Steven Hudack was there from the Orlando Sentinel. There were probably about 100 people present, including senior management from Waterman, Leesburg and Lifeline Hospitals, plus over half were from Bainter supporters (i.e. taxpayers and Tea Party members, members of... Read more →

When will Lake County, Cities & School District Integrate Purchasing Efforts?

Tavares, Lake County, FL: The picture at left shows a typical paperwork based purchasing process - and we ask: do we in Lake County need to repeat that convoluted process with duplicative and separate systems (and several may be manual, not computerized) in each Lake County government Agency? Why don't they all share a single, internet based purchasing system running in the "internet cloud"? Why don't they consolidate County wide purchases to achieve economies of scale like corporations do on a daily basis? Local government purchasing departments have an annual fair for vendors to talk to representatives from the purchasing departments of many local Lake County agencies. I have attended the last two. I registered as a vendor (consulting) at the first fair, but never heard anything for about a year, but now I get a notice about once every two months for a request for proposal that is not relevant. The "leaders" of the purchasing fair created a "Pooled Purchasing" website called "Procurement Offices of LAKE" (POOL) within the Lake County website at http://pool.lakecountyfl.gov/ , and it is listed on the County's "Doing Business in Lake County" website. BUT, if you look at it, it hasn't been updated at... Read more →

Blog Continues Support of Lake County Hospital District Spending While Ignoring Need for Oversight

Note: This article not only includes comments about the blog mentioned, but a list of all the fiscal accountability problems of the North Lake County Hospital District caused by the current Board majority, who we think should all resign, and our recommendations for improvement. vj The local Lake County blog, Right Side of the Lake, written by Don Magruder and assorted ghost writers (they never sign them) continued its support of the current majority of the Board of Trustees of the North Lake Hospital District who have taken NO ACTION to improve financial oversight of spending. The Board minority, consisting of Marilyn Bainter and newly elected Fran Grossi, want more oversight on how the funds are spent, and in some cases, have become so frustrated with the lack of oversight they have called for elimination of the tax. Since the current Pro-spending Board majority ( aka the No-Accountability Gang - there are four of them, just like the James Younger gang had four members in the nearby photo) has refused to create a website with public records on the spending, etc. WE have created this website to explain the issues: http://northlakecountyhospitaldistrict.com/ . There is also a Facebook page at FixLakeTaxes... Read more →

Local Blog Supports Continued Hospital Tax without Oversight vs Our Recommended Candidates

The writers of the local Lake County (FL) blog, Right Side of the Lake, just came out with an eblast supporting three candidates for the North Lake County Hospital District Board who are all Hospital supporters and want to continue the 1-mill tax without any specific improvements. In contrast, I have written of my support of three alternate local Tea Party members who are running for the Board, and they are listed below. You can get more details at www.NorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict.com or at the Faceblook page "FixLakeTaxes". Below is what I posted on the Right Side blog in response to their "left sided" article: So, for the first time, Right Side endorses people who all want the hospital tax to continue without any specific improvements in oversight or accountability. Here are reasons why I want Frances Grossi, Walter Dobruck, Jr. and Richard Riker to be elected to the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District: - Both hospitals that split about $10.5 million in 1 mill property taxes this year are "non-profits" yet they have shown millions in investments, assets and funding of facades, spending on huge ads in local papers to sell high value medical services, etc. Part of... Read more →

Lauren Ritchie, Orlando Sentinel columnist, Advises Voters on North Lake Hospital District Candidates

Finally, one of the major newspapers for Lake County realized that there are many problems with the North Lake Hospital Tax District and how they collect over $10-million and give it to two local NON_PROFIT hospitals without any real requirements on how the funds are to be spent. Orlando Sentinel Lake section columnist Lauren Ritchie listed a number of problems with the current tax, and recommended that candidates supported by Marilyn Bainter get the public's vote. The picture is of a booth setup by Marilyn Bainter (seen holding a sign) at a North Lake Tea Party event to publicize the oversight problems with the Hospital District The candidates that should be voted in are Frances Grossi, Walt Dobruk, and Richard Riker. See the Lauren Ritchie article HERE: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-lauren-ritchie-hospital-distric20101024,0,177103.column You can CLICK HERE to see all the prior articles WE have written on the Hospital District. You can also visit the candidate's website at www.NorthLakeCountyHospitalDistrict.com . vj Read more →

Fiscal Rangers Voting Recommendations for Nov. 2nd Elections for Lake County, FL

Updated Nov. 5 - All our recommended candidates, even Mike Yost, were elected EXCEPT for two of the watchdog candidates for the North Lake Hospital Tax District, Richard Riker and Walt Dobruck. And, stupid voters didn't understand Amendments 5&6 and how they will give the liberal courts power over deciding gerrymandering of political boundaries, and Amendment 8 failed. AND, all the judges were retained, but maybe they got the message. Well, maybe next time! vj Revised and expanded - Wednesday, Oct. 27 - (added more info on FL 5th District Judges, School Board races and Lake County Water Authority races). As we get additional details, we will add them to this document. This document will remain at the top of the blog until after Nov. 2 elections, but scroll down to look for other issues posted after this page was written. vj Here are our recommendations for your votes for the Nov. 2nd ballot, whether you mail it in, vote early, or wait and vote at a precinct polling location on Nov. 2. I recommend you use your sample ballot and fill it in while reading this. You can find your Lake County voting precinct HERE. We do not have... Read more →

Updated: Our Overview & Solutions for the Lake County Hospital Tax District Which Will Give Away $10-million in tax funds without Oversight

Update Friday, Sept. 17: As we forecast in the article below, the five men on the Board of the Lake County Hospital Tax District voted against lone opponent Marilyn Bainter to continue collecting a 1 mill property tax and giving it to the two local hospitals without any requirements on how the approximately $10.1 million would be spent. See below for the Background: Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010 - Tonight, Tuesday the second public hearing for the Board of the Lake County Hospital District will take place. Even though many citizens will provide public input, like they did at last week's meeting, on reasons why the tax should not be continued, I expect the five hospital supported members of the Board will vote against sixth member, Marilyn Bainter, and vote to continue a 1 mill tax on your property (residential and commercial) for another year. That tax, using current North Lake County property valuations, will generate approximately $10-million in tax collections, which will be roughly split into two buckets of money and given to the two local hospitals, Leesburg, and Waterman, without any oversight requirements, or any specific, targeted spending areas that can be verified. Prior meetings have resulted in both... Read more →

Alert: Please attend Thursday's Board Meeting of the North Lake county Hospital District

This Thursday (Sept. 16, 2010) at 5pm is the second of two required public hearings for the Board to listen to public input before voting to: 1) Approve a property tax millage rate of either ZERO or ONE % . For forty years, they have been rubberstamping a request to set the millage rate at 1%. 2) Approve a budget which this year is around $10-million. See our recent, earlier post for agenda docs, etc. As we have posted on this website before, the Board has NO stated requirements for spending the approximatly $10-million that is split between the two large local hospitals, Waterman and Leesburg. There also is no requirement for an "audit trail" of how the funds are spent, so the hospitals put the funds in their general checking accounts and can spend it on just about anything, like high salaries, but tell us it was spent on something else. BE there this Thursday evening for a tailgate party starting at 4pm in the 8 story County parking lot, then go to the meeting around 4:45pm to get a seat, and provide public input as you see fit about issues such as: 1) the tax is not warranted... Read more →

New Facebook Page, FixLakeTaxes, Focused on North Lake County Hospital District Board Elections

A new Facebook page, FixLakeTaxes, has been setup to provide information on the three taxpayer watchdog advocates running for the Board of Trustees of the North Lake County Hospital Tax District. The District collects about $11-million in property taxes every year and splits it between two local hospitals without any required direct trail of spending, or requirements on how the funds should be spent. The three candidates, Walt Dobruck, Frances Grossi, and Richard Riker, are running a campaign organized by local tax watchdog Marilyn Bainter to replace three incumbents and three other new candidates all endorsed by the hospitals, who do not not want any oversight or accountability for how they spend the money. If you have property in North Lake County, the Hospital Tax shows up as "NL Hosp Dist" on your property tax "Trim Notice" and probably costs you $100 or more (1 mill). If you want to receive information on the lack of spending controls and efforts by Walt, Frances and Rick to improve oversight, then join their Facebook page. So, if you are a facebook user, search and find "FixLakeTaxes" and "Like" them to get updates on meetings, details, etc. Sent a notice to all your... Read more →

More on "Non-Profit" hospitals that are not...

Here is a letter to the editor in the Orlando Sentinel about their recent article on how local "non-profit" hospitals are NOT really non-profit, but are being run like profit oriented organizations. We post this because in Lake County, two "non-profit" hospitals, Waterman & Leesburg, act the same way, but still want to continue taxing local residents 1 mill of tax for vague, undefined uses at the hospitals. A total of about $11-million of tax funds are split between the two hospitals for a vague "continued Hospital Services" objective. Favorite quote: "We keep hearing how our tax revenues have declined sharply, and how our police, firefighter and teacher jobs are in jeopardy. Our local officials need to realize that Florida Hospital and all the other nonprofits are running their businesses like a profit entity. They should be paying business taxes like all the other businesses do. " The letter writer makes the point that they should be paying business tax. We also think the Hospital tax should be dropped in Lake County, or at least beefed up substantially with defined performance requirements (called deliverables in contracts) and specific audit trail requirements. vj Nonprofits that act like businesses should pay tax... Read more →

New Government Method to Solve Budget Woes - Rollback Salaries

Until now, governments either laid off workers or gave them furloughs to reduce costs, but now, as major economic indicators drop, some are shifting to salary rollbacks. I mean, if property dropped in value, local salaries in business have dropped to 2000 levels, doesn't that mean government workers are overpaid in the current economy and should also be rolled back? And maybe the same tactic for other institutions like Hospitals? This is the next step to consider - salary rollbacks - to balance government budgets, and bring them in line with the private sector that has to pay taxes. vj from the NY Times HERE August 3, 2010 More Workers Face Pay Cuts, Not Furloughs By STEVEN GREENHOUSE The furloughs that popped up during the recession are being replaced by a highly unusual tactic: actual cuts in pay. Local and state governments, as well as some companies, are squeezing their employees to work the same amount for less money in cost-saving measures that are often described as a last-ditch effort to avoid layoffs. A new report on Tuesday showed a slight dip in overall wages and salaries in June, caused partly by employees working fewer hours. Though average hourly pay... Read more →

Re North Lake County Hospital Tax District (FL): Are Hospitals REALLY Non-Profits?

We have periodically posted articles about the issue of why Lake County taxpayers should still be required, after 40 years, to be taxed to give about $11-million to the two major, local Hospitals, including Florida Hospital Waterman, owned by Adventist Health System. You can see all our articles on the North Lake County Hospital District by clicking HERE. One of the arguments for stopping the tax is that both "non-profit" hospitals are now making serious profits, spending millions on optional marketing programs, and why should taxpayers continue to be subsidizing them when they are not really "non-profits" anymore. Well, today the Orlando Sentinel had a front page article asking a similar question "Are nonprofit hospitals truly not for profit?" You can find it HERE, or below. Favorite quote: But in the high-dollar world of health care, what does it mean to be a nonprofit hospital that makes big profits? "If you go back 100 years, these were charity hospitals. They took care of the poor," said Frank Sloan, a professor of health-care economics at Duke University. "But as health care has grown, they've become commercial. Now these nonprofits are in a big business." And, here is another quote: In 2008,... Read more →

Marilyn Bainter & Friends Run Booth to Fight Hospital Tax

At the recent North Lake County (FL) Tea party tax day protest in Eustis's Ferran Park on the 15th, Marilyn Bainter and fellow activists setup a booth to provide information on fighting the "illegal" Hospital Tax collected by the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District. The 1 mill property tax (on your house or property tax bill) totals about $11-million and is given to two hospitals. Earlier this year, Bainter (see picture at left) filed a lawsuit against the Board and the Hospitals, claiming the law was unconstitutional. (Look in the right column and click the category for "North lake County Hospital Tax" to see many articles. Catherine Earheart prepares a sign to wear... Below is Ralph Smith getting an explanation of the anti-Hospital tax placard worn by Catherine Earhart. Read more →

New Health Care Plan Signals Demise of Hospital Taxing Districts Like in North Lake County

Discounting all the other reasons to modify or discontinue the North Lake County Hospital District, the new ObamaCare Health Plan may be the final straw for the Tax District, which taxes all property for 1 mill to pay for "continued Hospital Care". As readers of this blog know, we and local activists have pointed out that the law that established the tax district contained no specific requirements, or accountability for how $11-million or more in tax funds were spent by the two local hospitals that received the funds. Below is an article describing the reasons for the elimination of the need for such Districts. vj 850M in play from health districts By Leon Fooksman and Tim Collie 4/9/2010 © Health News Florida The passage of a new federal health law expected to cover most of the uninsured raises an intriguing question: What will happen to the $850 million raised every year by local taxing districts around Florida to support care of the uninsured? At the very least, some health care experts say, taxpayers should expect a sizeable chunk of that money back beginning in 2014, when the federal government will provide avenues to coverage to the vast majority of Florida’s... Read more →

Online Maps of South & North Lake County Hospital Districts (Florida) are Available

Basically, any area in Lake County that is SOUTH of Astatula or Howey in the Hills is in the South Lake Hospital District, and the area North is in the North Lake County Hospital District. The link to the Lake County maps of the North & South Lake County Hospital Districts is HERE: http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/pdfs/gis/maps/HospitalDistricts_22x34.pdf vj Read more →

Why Don't the Chambers of Commerce Host Panels of Elected Officials to Answer Questions from the Public?

Here is an idea for an event that each of the local Lake County chambers could hold. It is an open meeting hosted by the Chambers to have the public ask direct questions of elected officials (as opposed to candidates). Right now, there is nothing like this in Lake County, but the one below is held by the Chamber of Commerce in Fountain Valley, CA where I used to live. They do it just for State and Federal officials, but I think the local one should include elected officials from County Government, the School Board and local cities. So what if it goes 3 hours - I think they would get a big crowd. Since Welton Cadwell hardly ever lets the public provide public input at County Commissioner meetings, maybe this type of meeting may provide an alternate version of transparency. How about it, Chambers? OR, what about the TEA Party or the local Republican Executive Committee (they are planning several for current candidates, but not incumbents who are not up for re-election) vj In the Local section of the OC Register, in the “Our Towns – Central” column, you find the following announcement. This is a fun annual event.... Read more →

Online Court Documents for Lawsuit Against North Lake Hospital District

As we posted earlier, local Lake County, FL residents Marilyn Bainter and Stan Bainter filed a lawsuit against the Board of the North Lake Hospital District claiming it should not exist since it had not followed the Florida Constitution. Currently, the Florida law is followed by the Board which collects about $11-million per year and distributes it to two local hospitals, Florida Hospital - Waterman, and Leesburg Regional Medical Center (LRMC), and the lawsuit basically says that over time, the District Board did not follow requirements of the State Constitution, thus it is not legal, thus the tax is not legal, which will be decided by the Court. This is the LINK to the Lake County online court records where you can follow the status of the filings, etc. http://lakecountyclerk.org/online_court_records_detail.asp?case_id=14456629 You can see a list of all postings related to the NLHD, and explanations of all the issues, by clicking the category "North Lake Hospital District" in the column at the right of this page, including ones that contain attached copies of the actual lawsuit. Currently, no court date has been established, and we presume the above online page will show any such date in the future when scheduled. vj Read more →

Orlando Sentinel - Lawsuit Filed Saying North Lake County Hospital District is Unconstitutional

January 28, 2010 - Tavares, FL - This article is more about the lawsuit filed by Marilyn Bainter that was discussed in recent postings. Our earlier response to the Daily Commercial version also applies here. The lawsuit provides evidence that the current Hospital Tax District is unconstitutional according to the filing attorney hired by Marilyn. Readers can see a list of all postings on this blog regarding the Hospital District HERE, including the announcement of the lawsuit and the full text of the lawsuit posted earlier this month. They can also read the lengthy background details written in the first quarter of 2009 HERE. The reporter quoted Phil Braun as saying Marilyn should have talked to them. That has been going on at the three prior Board meetings last year, and our initial posting on this lawsuit contains not only the minutes of two meetings held last quarter with substantial public input, but my description of all the efforts taken by Marilyn's supporters to provide better accountability over the uses of funds and modification of the legislation to allow the Board to set the tax millage rate anywhere between 0 and 1 mill, rather than the current mandatory 1 mill... Read more →

Daily Commercial Defends North Lake County Hospital District Lack of Accountability

The Daily Commercial today published a brief article about the recent lawsuit filed against the Board of the North Lake County Hospital District. They also published an editorial that basically said the lawsuit should be dropped, and voters should wait for Board elections the change issues. The article and the editorial are at the bottom of this document using the link below. HERE is where you can find a list of our blog postings on the North Lake County Hospital District Here is my response which I posted on their website today: The Daily Commercial seems to think that it is ok for the existing Board of the North Lake County Hospital Tax District to continue a process of paying $11-million in tax funds to three local hospitals without ANY restrictions or guidelines on exactly how the funds are to be spent, and without defining how to measure success for the spending. Instead, the current "law" that is followed is vague and the Board basically gives the $11-million to the Hospital leadership and says "we trust you to spend the money on something that is good...". Egads - would they do that if they spent $11-million of their own funds... Read more →

Fiscal Rangers Overview of Lawsuit Filed Regarding North Lake County Hospital District Legitimacy!!

Yesterday we told you about the lawsuit filed by local taxpayer activist and Board member Marilyn Bainter (and her husband, former State Representative Stan Bainter) of the North Lake County Hospital Tax District against the District as well as related parties such as the tax collector (who is responsible for verifying the legality of the law before collecting the tax.) The lawsuit, prepared by an experienced Florida State Constitutional attorney, basically says the tax district is NOT based upon proper legal processes, thus the District and the tax are not legal. (Note: We have attached the entire 94 page legal summons, plus minutes of the last two Board meetings at the bottom of this blog posting). The "law" enacting the District has been in place for at least 40 years, and has been modified several times. The law takes 1 mill in taxes (i.e. 1/1000 or $100 for every $100,000) and splits the collected $11-million into 50% portions and pays it to the two major hospitals in North Lake County, Waterman and Leesburg, without ANY verifiable requirements other than the funds be spent on "continued hospital services". Additionally, each hospital then gives 5% of their total to Lifestream Behavioral Center,... Read more →

Lake & Other Florida County Hospital Property Taxes Criticized in Orlando Channel 9 Report

Channel 9 in Orlando just produced a TV report on the "unfairness" of Hospital Tax Districts , including those in Lake County. You can read below what we say first, or you can go right HERE to Channel 9 to see their video report, THEN come back here and read our comments! Favorite quote from the TV Report: "Out of nearly 300 hospitals in Florida, only 14 take taxes straight from residents’ pockets; two are in Lake County and three are in Volusia County." They just put it on the backs of the taxpayers. That's not fair and it’s not right," David Sava said." In Lake County, I have periodically reported on this blog about the lack of accountability and lack of justification for the 1 mill property tax paid by North Lake county (FL) property owners (residential and commercial). If you look in the categories section at the right, and click on "North Lake Hospital District" or HERE, you will find a list of our blog posts, including much information from local activist AND Board member of the District, Marilyn Bainter. In our most recent postings on the North Lake County Hospital District taxes, I focused on the complete... Read more →

New FiscalRangers.com Page on Lake County, Florida's 2010 Elections

Tavares, FL - The 2010 Lake County, Florida State and Federal Election cycle is ramping up, so I created a separate page to track the incumbents, candidates, issues and media sources. It is titled "Elections 2010 for Lake County, FL" and is in the "Pages" section in the right hand column, or you can reach it with THIS LINK. I will be adding details on the candidates as it comes, and will later rank the candidates and make recommendations regarding their support of fiscal conservatism and initiatives they have taken to improve efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government operations. I plan to create a vetting process with interviews to also extract background on fiscal skills of incumbents and candidates. A candidate who does not even know how the budget works for the agency they are running for will receive an F. Vance Jochim Chief Fiscal Watchdog... [email protected] Read more →

What Does Bernie Madoff & the North Lake County Hospital District Have in Common

Answer: Neither the District Board or Madoff's Regulator, the SEC, exercised any oversight on how collected funds were spent. Were the funds spent to benefit taxpayers or Madoff's clients - no oversight existed to ensure exactly how collected funds were spent. My comments on this follow Marilyn Bainter's recent op ed article in Sunday's Lake section of the Orlando Sentinel. Marilyn Bainter, a member of the North Lake (FL) Hospital District Board, submitted an Opinion Article to the Orlando Sentinel's Lake section and it was published yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 1 in the Lake Section "My Word" page (which was NOT published on their website). However, Marilyn sent me the text of the article and it is below. Read her editorial about problems with the Florida State regulations mandating the 1 mill tax ( it costs you $100 for every $100,000 in property valuation ) on all North Lake property owners, then my following comments. Here is Marilyn's editorial: MY WORD By Marilyn Bainter Independent hospital districts were created many years ago to fund health care for the poor and the needy. Also, many years ago, non-profit status was awarded to hospitals that agreed to provide that care. That meant hospitals... Read more →

Election for Florida State Agriculture Commissioner Heats Up Right in Lake County

The Orlando Sentinel blogger, Lauren Ritchie, posted a blog describing how one candidate for FL State Ag Commissioner, Congressman Adam Putnam, made a speech at a local Republican Women's Federation lunch (I was there), and also announced endorsements from three GOP groups. The article basically said the meeting and announcement was a slam to his opponent, local Lake County resident Carey Baker, who is currently a State Senator. READ her blog here (also added at the bottom of this posting). Also read the comments, which contained some more issues related to Baker. I wrote this response to Ritchie's column on her blog, but the Orlando Sentinel gave the following message, and would not accept my response: So, here is my response - I decided to stop waffling and come out against Baker - he doesn't do anything that supports local taxpayers...unless they are gun owners or have "Bull's Balls" hanging from their trailer hitch. Baker has also angered the volunteers who were trying to get more oversight and voter approval for the North Lake County Hospital tax district that costs local property owners 1-mill in taxes without ANY specific conditions on how the funds are to be spent by the... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District Update - Legislator's Deny Referendum Request

Tavares, FL - Oct. 1, 2009 - Yesterday was the annual Legislator's Delegation meeting of the Florida State Legislators from Lake County. Held at Lake Sumter Community College, the purpose is to hear from various constituent groups requesting various actions. For "local" issues, the delegation can initiate "local laws" that could be successful. The big, first subject I am writing about here ( I will add a separate posting on the other subjects later) was the proposal from Marilyn Bainter, an elected Board member of the North Lake County Hospital (Tax) District, who requested the Delegation initiate a local law to eliminate the current law establishing the Hospital District and 1 Mill tax. That law gives about $12-million in property taxes to two local hospitals, and she wants to replace it with a referendum to let voters decide if the tax should be continued. Marilyn Bainter spoke for 15 minutes and 6 other tax opponents (including me) spoke for 3 minutes each. The Hospital representatives also received 15 minutes, and then there were about 15 more of them each speaking for 3 minutes. Senator Paula Dockery did not show up. Also out sick was Rep. Stephen Precourt. Thus, attending the... Read more →

Marily Bainter Response to Daily Commerical Op Ed supporting Hospital Tax

Our earlier post on the North lake Hospital District included a link to the Daily Commercial's op ed column supporting the continuation of the hospital tax. That is even though the law establishing the Hospital Tax District in North lake County had NO conditions on how the funds were to be spent, and NO specifications for oversight procedures, and NO requirements for the Hospitals to provide specific audit trails of how the funds were to be spent. The Daily Commercial wants the tax to continue because the Hospital management said they need the money. I need the money also. I want to open a Dairy Queen to improve local health by providing subsidized ice cream using healthy milk to low income people. But, I want the same wording in my agreement - no specific requirements on how the funds are to be spent, so I can spend it on relatives, transfer funds to other operations or pay myself a REALLY BIG deferred compensation payment (like a pension). Kudos however to the Daily Commercial for actually printing Marilyn's response. Original Editorial from Daily Commercial, Sept 23 Below is Marilyn's Response Hospital tax will hurt businesses Hospital tax will hurt businesses- by... Read more →

Wall St. Journal on Curtailing Non-Profit Hospital Tax Breaks

This July, 2009 article describes efforts by US Senators to pare back the tax breaks received by non-profit hospitals. It is relevant in lake County because, as we just posted earlier, Lake County taxpayers also are taxed 1 mill to provide even more taxpayer funding of the two local hospitals. As the article describes, it is getting harder and harder to identify the difference between for profit and non-profit hospitals. vj JULY 10, 2009 Senators Consider Curtailing Hospitals' Tax Breaks Exemptions, Historically Tied to Charity Care, Expected to Fall in an Overhaul; Industry Says It's Already Taking Hits By BARBARA MARTINEZ Senators working on health-care legislation are considering provisions to pare back the billions of dollars in tax breaks enjoyed by U.S. hospitals. More than half of the 5,482 hospitals in the U.S. are nonprofits that don't pay federal, state or local taxes, according to the American Hospital Directory. This status is rooted in the 19th century: the first U.S. hospitals almost exclusively served the poor; others paid for medical care at home. The tax exemptions were meant to help hospitals shoulder the costs of providing such free care. But in the past decade, some nonprofit hospitals have amassed big... Read more →

Hospital District Board Votes Again to Increase Property Tax by 1 Mill without Oversight or Conditions

Let's imagine your spouse came home and said your homeowner's association got a good deal on a roof replacement. They signed a maintenance agreement so EVERY YEAR they will assess 1% of every resident's salary to a roofing company "who needed it" because they could not compete with firms in 57 other counties without the yearly payment agreement. In addition, the "contract" did not have any specifics on oversight procedures, how the funds were to be spent, or what kind of documentation was required, or whether your neighborhood homeowner's association board would even look at the documentation or question where the funds were spent. AND, every year the Association Board again voted to pay the 1% without knowing exactly what the funds were spent on. Would you think that was a fair deal for your money? But that is how the local North Lake County Hospital District law and the Board behaves. In the last two weeks, the North Lake Hospital District Board held public meetings to hear input before hiking taxes by 1 mill on property owners. I call it hiking the tax, because for 45 years, the Board has rubber stamped approval to choose charging taxpayers 1 mill... Read more →

North Lake Hospital District 2nd Board Meeting Tonight - Thursday, Sept. 17th

The second Board meeting of the North Lake County (Florida) Hospital District is tonight, Thursday, at 5pm (get there early) in the Lake County Commission Offices. I haven't really publicized it because we know the Board will not listen to public input or requests for changes, so a few of us reform activists will be there, and I will post a follow up tomorrow, along with my notes on last week's meeting AND my visit to the CFO of LRMC. Basically, this Board has refused any public requests to initiate changes to the existing legislation to provide more flexibility in the tax rate that is approved each year (currently an almost automatic, rubber stamp rate of 1 mill). They have refused requests even to approve a video tape of the meetings, and they have refused even giving a second vote to discuss issues brought up by Board member Marilyn Bainter. At this time I don't have any evidence the two hospitals receiving almost $12-million in tax proceeds without conditions have acted irresponsibly. But, the Board won't take any action to act on behalf of taxpayers to research just where the funds are going and initiating specific programs to benefit taxpayers... Read more →

Arrogant Board of North Lake County Hospital District Votes to Continue 1 mill Tax

Note: Two more important meetings are coming up related to the Hospital Tax - see details at the end of this article. We also list the contact info for the Hospital Board members. Last night, after waiting 8 months, the North Lake County (FL) Hospital Taxing District Board voted 5 to 1 to continue the consistent, rubber stamp practice of approving a 1 mill property tax ( i.e $100 tax on every $100,000 property value) on North Lake property owners. The tax collections total about $11-million and they are split between the two local hospitals (LRMC & Waterman) without any deliverables or conditions other than supplying audited financial statements. Additionally, Lifestream Behavioral Center gets 5% of the funds from each hospital. For the first time in the memory of many, the 4+ hours tax hearing was held in the large County Commission Chambers with about 150+ hospital employees supporting the tax, and local property tax reform activists opposing it. In the past, the meetings were held, the tax approved in 15 minutes without most taxpayers even understanding what the tax was for. Although the 6-member Board did listen stoically to both tax opponents and tax supporters who spoke without time... Read more →

North Lake County Hospital District - update 1 - Meeting tonight & Daily Commercial Article

Update 2: We added a second article from the Orlando Sentinel at the bottom of this document. The North Lake County Hospital Tax District Board meeting is tonight at the Lake County Commission Building (the old ROUND courthouse) on Main st. in Tavares. Official start time is 5:15 pm (the article below says 5:30 pm, but don't believe it), but the hospital staffs, their investors, management and supporters of taxpayer funded free healthcare may try to fill the seats so get there early to get a seat. At the bottom of this page is an article published today in the Daily Commercial about the Hospital District. It fairly describes the issues and quotes Marilyn Bainter, a new member on the Hospital Tax District Board who has been the initiator of questioning the purpose of the District and legitimacy for the automatic 1 mill tax. The issue is that the Board will vote like they have for 40 years and approve an automatic 1 mill property tax on North lake propery owners without any investigations, dialog or power to reduce the millage rate to keep in line with actual economic indicators. The Board will consider two resolutions - one to continue,... Read more →

Plan to Attend the Sept. 10th North Lake Hospital District Board Meeting

If you are not familiar with this issue, go to the right column in the "pages" section and find the page on the North Lake County Hospital District for details. Basically, this tax district has existed for 40+ years without transparency, and automatically billed property owners on their tax bills for a 1-mill tax that is split between three hospitals. The recent annual total for the tax collected is about $12-million. There is also a separate South Lake County Hospital District. There are numerous issues and questions about where the funds are going, especially when they go to two major local hospitals that each are non-profits, but record profits over $12-million each. Update as of August 24, 2009: The next Board meeting will be Sept. 10th at the County Commission offices (round building) in Tavares on Main Street. Board Member Marilyn Bainter was successful in moving the meeting location to this bigger facility. This meeting is NOT advertised according to the Board's CPA because they consider the meeting notice date in taxpayer's "trim notice" to be sufficient notice. We will post more details here soon. We also plan to rewrite the information on the separate page in the right column... Read more →