Fiscal Rangers

Leesburg, FL Residents: Two upcoming meetings you need to know about

Two Leesburg, FL City Council meetings are coming up (Dec. 30, 2021 & Jan. 3, 2022) without any details on their purpose. Both may include discussions relatedd to rampant development annexations by the City Council of Leesburg without regard to traffic gridlock that may result. As of Dec. 27, 2021, there is no online agenda for the Jan. 3rd meeting, and the Dec. 30 agenda only says each side will give presentations. Read more →

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

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

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

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

Update #2: Tavares, FL City Council meeting on Aug. 21, 2019 & "Primitive Camping" in a City Park?

The Tavares, FL City Council may approve "primitive camping" in a city park at an August, 21, 2019 City Council meeting that some believe will attract homeless people. Other negative issues are also discussed. Read more →

Lake County, FL County Commissioner Leslie Campione Provides Facts About Proposed H-2A FarmWorker Dormitory near Eustis, FL

Here is an analysis by Lake County, FL County Commissioner Leslie Campione on the proposed 50 room FarmWorker H2A housing dormitory on a 5-acre lot in an agricultural area north of Eustis, FL.  Neighbors have protested this contentious issue which will come to the Lake County, FL Board on May 21 for a decision. Read more →

Angry Tavares, FL BayTree Residents Demand answers from City about proposed development next door

The over-55 retirement community, BayTree, in Tavares, FL has erupted in anger over a plan to demolish an old golf course surrounding many homes and add many new, smaller homes on the old golf course land. We provide a video to our overview of the issue plus an April 29, 2019 meeting between residents and the Tavares, FL City Manager, Attorney and Director of Planning. Read more →

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

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

A Florida homeowner's guide for coping with surprise real estate developments next door.

Florida homeowners may be blindsided by developer requests for questionable projects next to them like the proposed 4-story rental apartment complex on the shores of Lake Saunders near Tavares, FL next to the single story, single family residences. So we created a 36 minute Florida Homeowners guide to the land development process to understand how to make your voice heard or oppose outlandish land use developments. Read more →

Clermont, FL City Council votes to spend taxpayer funds to appeal a legal decision they lost.

The Clermont City Council lost a legal action to allow a charter school to build on a five acre lot with terrible traffic issues and neighbor complaints. Neither city staff or the Lake County School District wanted the project approved. Now the City attorney convinced the clearly vague Council to approve an expensive appeal of the legal decision. Neighbor opposition leader Dani Page made a video of that meeting which you can watch. The saga continues at taxpayer expense. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council Meeting VIDEO - Mar. 7, 2018 - More admin screwups postpone Shirley Shores Annexation AGAIN

Tavares, FL Mar. 11, 2018 I uploaded a video to YouTube of the Tavares, FL City Council meeting held on March 7, 2018 which is HERE: https://youtu.be/AWMAe7TYQC0. The agenda location is on the 2nd slide. Length is 1 hr, 17 min. The short link to THIS blog page is: https://tinyurl.com/TavaresFLMarch7 I have decided to write some comments about the actions seen in this meeting video which are below. Tab 7 - Annexation and Rezoning related to Shirley Shores Road / Hidden River Lakes proposed 222 acre development. THIS WAS POSTPONED DUE TO IMPROPER NOTIFICATION OF THE PUBLIC BY THE DEVELOPER'S REPRESENTATIVES. See overview starting at 3:55 on the video then more later. Probably at least 60 neighbors were there for this issue and for the 3rd or 4th time, the procedures were botched, so the issue was postponed to a future meeting. Apparently the developer representatives must follow certain steps and the city staff does not ensure they are followed, then the opposition attorney raises the issue and ONCE AGAIN, the issue is postponed. I am flabbergasted the City staff has no sanctions or fines to apply when zoning/land use change requesters don't follow the rules. So everyone will have... Read more →

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

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

Is Eustis Greedy or Smart to Annex Resistant Retirement Communities?

Eustis, FL May 16, 2017 Staff leaders from Eustis, Mount Dora and Lake County met in Eustis on May 15, 2017 to discuss a Eustis ISBA (Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement) proposal to greatly expand their city by annexing several retirement communities east of Mount Dora that don't want to be annexed (or pay higher Eustis property taxes). A full video of this two hour meeting is HERE. There was standing room only with sparks flying when County residents gave public input. The County and Mount Dora got the revised proposal late from Eustis, so would not make any decisions because their attorneys did not have time to analyze it. As it was, the apparent direction from the County Board to the County Manager David Heath is they did not think it appropriate. The Eustis City Manager Ron Neibert was the proponent of the expansion to annex communities about 8 miles outside of Eustis. The Mount Dora Manager mostly watched the County and Eustis Managers verbally exchange comments. No decision was made, and the proposal will go to a joint meeting of all three Boards in a public meeting to discuss further. It was interesting, however, that a number of the... Read more →

Homeowners Need to Understand how County & City Inaction may reduce their property values

Lake County, FL Homeowners & Realtors: If you own a house on 1/4 acre or more in a zoned neighborhood, a new Obama Federal program (AFFH - Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing) may require your County or City in 1-5 years to build HUD defined lower income, high density housing in your community, ignoring any zoning you count on to protect the value of your home. The Lake County, FL Board and many cities have ignored the implications included in new requirements for HUD grants they get for housing. Read more →

Lake County and Cities Ignore warnings about Federal HUD AFFH program, but Colorado City Doesn't

The Obama Administration's HUD rolled out new AFFH rules in 2015 that reduce local control of zoning and reduce property rights. The AFFH (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing) rules are new conditions for cities and counties to get HUD and CDBG grants. By accepting the conditions, city and county officials are agreeing to expensive AFFH rules where Federal rules would override local zoning and planning decisions. A town in Colorado has just rejected renewal of the HUD CDBG grants due to the AFFH rules, and they explain why in a letter to HUD. Read all about it and more about AFFH dangers in this FiscalRangers.com blog report. Read more →

Oregon Federal Landgrab over years leads to 150 militia taking over Oregon Wildlife Refuge Building

January 3, 2016 Tavares, FL Property Rights Issue - Another Feds landgrab - This is happening right now in a remote Oregon area, and the mainstream media may not be telling you the story. Neither print newspaper that service Lake County, FL told you about this growing Federal overreach issue in Oregon, but 150 militia folks have taken over a Federal Wildlife Refuge building to protest the arrest and imprisonment of two property owners. Read all the BEST details here - the amazing history of how the Federal government forced out or impoverished many ranchers and now they are fighting back. The Clive Bundy family, who stood up to the Feds attempt to seize land in Nevada are there and this seems to be another property rights issue. Read the details here from conservative sources, not the main stream media. Here is the NBC News video on this. Here is the Washington Post article. Watch for more news on this. Will this be another Waco tragedy led by Obama? Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com Read more →

How to Use Common Law Grand Juries to Investigate Government Officials

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

Florida Property Rights Update by Dan Peterson, JMI Center for Property Rights

Tavares, FL Nov. 4, 2015 Our Video of a Property Rights update by Dan Peterson, Director of the Center for Property Rights of the James Madison Institute presented at the North Lake Tea Party meeting on Nov. 4, 2015 in Tavares, FL (Lake County). https://youtu.be/FfPp5imcPTs Read more →

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

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

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

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

Lake County Residential Zoning needs drastic improvement to retain home values

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

Results of Sept. 12-13, 2014 Florida Tea Party Network Conference in Clermont on Common Core & Other Subjects- videos, files

The Florida Tea Party Network (TTPN) held a two day conference in Clermont, FL in Lake County on Sept. 12-13, 2014. Subject covered included Common Core, National Security, and other conservative issues. About 125 people attended. This page will be updated with links to speaker videos, Powerpoints, an overview outline of speaker issues, etc. by Sunday, Sept. 21. Read more →

Should a Peat Harvesting Project North of Lake Eustis be Approved or Killed by Environmentalists??

Tavares, FL June 20, 2014 - Updated Monday, June 23, 2014 - contains opinion and added documents. The short link to this page is: http://tinyurl.com/o5wr84e A Peat Harvesting project known as the Goose Prairie Peat Harvesting Project (300 out of 600 acres north of Lake Eustis by HWY 44) is in process of getting approval from the Lake County Board and is scheduled to be discussed at the Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Lake County Board meeting. It is listed on the agenda under tab 23 for Planning & Zoning issues. Unfortunately, you have to download the entire 1176 page "Packet" file to find the 300 pages on the Goose Prairie proposal. Half those pages are pro and con emails and letters to Board members. I think liberals have hijacked this issue to use it as a fund raiser for environmental issues. The Opponents are led by the former head of the Lake County Democrats, Nancy Hurlburt. They have used half truths and diversion tactics to frighten nearby residents when County staff appear to have addressed all resident concerns. I have attended a community hearing and a presentation at the Lake County Water Authority, and I believe this proposal to harvest... Read more →

Agenda 21 Update - Karen Schoen Video & Other Lake County Agenda 21 News

This is an update on Agenda 21 news related to Florida and Lake County, Florida. Includes new video of Agenda 21 expert Karen Schoen on how the United Nations derived and Bill Clinton funded Agenda 21 assaults property rights & owners and a bit about the Lake County Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Basically, Agenda 21 uses the cover story of environmental problems to reduce Constitutional freedoms and property rights in the US so big government can gain control. It is all documented and a 50 year "stealth" plan. Read this and watch the videos to learn how to take action now. Read more →

Property Rights Reduced by Lake County, FL Centrally Planned Land Development

Lake County, Florida's Board of Commissioners is considering a New Urbanism "South Lake Sector Plan" development where government planners will damage property rights and decide which land owners get increased value for development rights versus losing property owners who will be locked into Agricultural or Environmentalist demanded Conservation areas of much lower value for the future. Read more →

Florida Septic Tank Bill SB-1576 Update - A Badly written bill approved by first committee

Tavares, FL March 21, 2014 Tallahassee Update - Springs Protection Bill SB-1576 Update regarding septic tanks Scroll down to see a report from Dan Peterson of the Coaliton for Property Rights on what happened yesterday to Florida Senate Bill SB-1576 that requires septic tanks be connected to sewer systems when near Category 1 Springs like Alexander Springs. You can see my earlier article on this here: http://tinyurl.com/nja88bd I am told the “science” used is junk science, and the first Committee, run by Senator Dean who filed the bill, approved it. So now it moves to the Agriculture Committee. So, contact Dan Peterson at [email protected] if you want updates on the bill. Also, I tried to READ the bill, and it is horrendously written and hard to understand. Senator Dean and others must have gone to the Nancy Pelosi school of writing Obamacare bills, because it seems intentionally to be poorly written so no one will know what is in it. I used to audit contracts and grants up to $600-million in size and most were written clearly, but why does the public and legislature accept such writing atrocities. When Ronald Reagan was President, I remember two of his cabinet members... Read more →

Florida Septic Tank Owners Under Liberal Con Artist Assault Again - You must ACT to keep yours

Environmentalists are trying to assault septic tank owners with more junk science. They have filed a questionable Florida Senate Bill SB 1576 which needs to be stopped in its tracks. Once again, they don't provide facts to justify an assault on property rights or septic tanks. All their arguments are emotional. Read more →

Property Rights Alert: Florida Bill filed to reduce local governments setting excess land use permitting requirements

Tavares, FL Sunday, Mar. 2, 2014 Land Grabbing is the use of land use planning restrictions to reduce the value of owned land. Property Rights Alert - Of course, the Florida bill HB-1077 (2014) was just filed, and it may or may not go anywhere. The environmentalists, who want excess regulations to get environmental preserves FOR FREE, will fight it, but property rights groups will favor it. http://www.thefloridacurrent.com/article.cfm?id=36631840 It would be interesting to know if the Lake County South Sector Plan would be affected since County staff, not a property owners association consultant, is now doing the planning for it under the “guidance” of Commissioner Sean Parks, who helped write the Lake County Land Use Comprehensive Plan and spearheaded the Sector Plan proposal. The South Sector plan defines lots of open space, high density housing and only some commercial development areas. Once the Lake County Board approves the sector plan by April, it becomes part of the Lake County land use plan and it is a taking of property values of the property owners in the 16,000 acre area who are not favored and did not get allocated high value residential and commercial land use rights. And, what about the... Read more →

Virginia Farmer's Fighting Property Rights Opponents over Right to Sell Locally Grown Food

Small farmers' rights to sell locally grown food without county government regulations and fines are being assailed in Virginia State. A small farmer was fined for having a party for kids and feeding them homegrown food and for advertising pumpkin carvings. Now the small farmer's are fighting back over their property rights and ability to grow and sell vegetables, etc. One of their more sane ideas is that if the County is mad about selling food that was not inspected by the government, then just require a label saying the food was not "government inspected" similar to warnings on cigarette packs. "RICHMOND, Va. — Fauquier County farmer Martha Boneta is hailing a bill that would give property owners a legal club to pummel overreaching government officials. Boneta knows the stakes. In a widely reported showdown that sparked pitchfork protests in the community, Fauquier officials cited Boneta for selling homemade products on her farm. The county threatened her with $5,000-per-day fines for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls, and for advertising pumpkin carvings." Read it here, and the abuse of local county's in overregulating the sale of home grown food. http://watchdog.org/124758/farm-property-rights/ vj Read more →

How Environmentalists Abuse Private Property Rights and Get Funding via Backroom Legal Settlements

Tavares, FL - Dec. 28, 2013 Environmentalists have been abusing private property rights for years by enacting laws like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that requires the Federal Government to enforce ludicrous regulations to "protect endangered species". Then they use a method called "sue and settle" to SUE the Federal Government because the restrictive laws are not being implemented in various locations. That is how they force the Feds to settle in backroom deals to get more funding for their causes. It also is why you hear periodically where a Federal government agency, like the Fish & Wildlife Service, slams the door on some poor property owner so he can't use the land or sell it due to the existence of some endangered lizard. Liberals use the ESA just to halt development This article is a very clear description from a US Senator of this abusive practice. Read it and understand what could happen to you if you own land that the environmentalists don't want developed. Always remember that liberals and environmentalists are behind this fund raising scam. Most of the articles below explain that many lawsuits are filed so environmentalist attorneys win, but little is done by them or... Read more →

HUD's New Rule May Result in Low Income Minorities Moving into White Neighborhoods to Achieve Affirmative Fair Housing

HUD is about to roll out a new "RULE" known as AFFH or "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" that drastically changes property rights and liberty by how they implement affordable housing in ALL communities. You won't like it, and your County officials are contributing to it by taking HUD grant funds. It basically does studies of ethnic minority percentages by neighborhoods (not just cities) and then because your city or county is taking HUD Federal grants, they mandate the County and cities have a plan to MOVE minorities to more prosperous communities. Read more →

How the Pilgrims Converted from Socialism to Property Ownership & Grew the USA

I received this Thanksgiving article below from Dan Peterson at the Orlando Coalition for Property Rights - www.proprights.com . Read this and discuss with your families during Turkey day. It is a short story how the original Pilgrims started out in 1607 as a socialistic commune, and everything was shared. Many stopped working and were taking from those that worked, thus fewer had motivation and they were dying off from starvation. So, their INVESTORS came to the US and introduced Property Rights by giving every Pilgrim family some land, which changed their entire outlook towards work, and saved the day and resulted in American being one of the richest nations. Most other countries do NOT have property rights laws like the US. A major result of property rights is owners can borrow against the value of land and invest in creating or growing businesses. That is how America became a rich country, not through socialism. Read about it below, and there are links to other similar stories about the Pilgrims Vance Jochim ============================================================= How property rights saved the pilgrims - from Dan Peterson at Coalition for Property Rights What do property rights have to do with Thanksgiving? The year was... Read more →

Will the Liberal MainStream Media be DUMPED Soon?

Tavares, FL - May 7, 2013 by Vance Jochim FiscalRangers.com In the field of boxing, they used to say that white boxing fans were always looking for the "great white hope", meaning a white boxer who could beat the many black boxers. Similarly, in the field of politics, conservatives keep seeking conservative, not liberal news outlets besides Fox News and Glen Beck online. Now, it might happen and the Ronald Reagan of Newspaper publishers might take over and purge a major liberal newspaper chain of liberal writers and install conservative reporters and editors. You Betcha. The well know conservative billionaires, the Koch Brothers, are contemplating the purchase of the Tribune Corp. newspapers, including the Orlando Sentinel, the rabidly liberal Lost Angeles Times and several other papers. That company just came out of bankruptcy recently and their papers are on the market to be sold. Columnist Cal Thomas gives us a glimpse of the possible Conservative Publishing Valhalla here: http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=3978 According to Thomas, Los Angeles staff were asked if they would quit if the paper was bought by the Koch Brothers, and HALF of them said yes. Christmas might be early for us conservatives. Imagine what would happen to the nearby... Read more →

Bravo to Citizen Fighting City Hall

This is an example of a Sebring, FL citizen fighting to stop a local city government blunder. We hope she prevails. http://www.newssun.com/Opinion/edt-011313 vj From NewsSun.com Admiration for a citizen standing up to power Some of you may be tired of reading News-Sun stories about Gingerlee Mitchelllindo's fight with the city of Sebring. She is trying to save her retention wall. We, on the other hand, not only think our coverage is warranted, we think the community should be paying attention, even getting involved. To briefly recap: Mitchelllindo's property, a small single house, is opposite the Sebring Middle School at 503 Center Ave. In 2009, with the construction of Sebring Parkway Part II, Center Avenue was reconfigured and widened for a safer entrance into the middle school and to feed into the Parkway. Properties along the affected areas were surveyed. As a result of the survey, the city judged Mitchelllindo's retaining wall encroached on the city's right-of-way by about a foot. However, when succeeding surveys were done, none of the results were exactly the same. Mitchelllindo insists when she built the wall in 1996, she stayed within the line set by the surveyor, who happened to be Buddy Whitlock. Whitlock went... Read more →

Property Rights Alert: Chinese Homeowners Refuse to Cave to Eminent Domain Takeover

In China, if a local government wants your property for new roads, stadiums, dams, etc. they can invoke eminent domain, underpay the owners for their property, and destroy whole villages to pave a new highway (that may benefit a construction firm paying bribes - we know them as public private partnerships). In this case, homeowners refused to move or sell their house due to the low payment offered. The rest of their village was demolished for a new highway and the highway was built AROUND the sole remaining house. After four years, the owners still have not caved to authorities and accepted the low payment offered. In the US, authorities implement stricter and stricter land use regulations on properties (larger buffers, restrictions on harvesting resources, etc that drive property values down) so values are low and can be bought for much less, perhaps by favored developers or sale for "conservation" interests. Gee, do you think that Agenda 21 land use restrictions were PLANNED to do this? LOOK at the pictures... http://www.designboom.com/architecture/stranded-house-in-the-middle-of-a-newly-built-road-in-china/ vj Read more →

What is a Florida Millage Tax? A Tax RATE on Private Property like Residences, Commercial Buildings, etc

Here is a great article explaining what a millage tax is, also known as a property tax in Florida. http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/10/30/what-is-a-millage-tax/ What is a Millage Tax - from Florida Political Press - Written for Seminole County (FL) property owners By Ed Ghiglieri (TIP: First, Florida residents and home or commercial property owners, get out your house's property tax TRIM Notice from your County Property Appraiser (estimates of pending millage rates and property values for the coming tax year) OR your most recent actual Property Tax Bill (from the Tax Collector). Both is better. Millage rates don't affect renters except that the tax WILL be included in the house or business building rent you pay to the owner. If the local city, county or government agency increases a millage rate, your rent will probably go up.) Recently the Seminole County School Board proposed “up to a 1 mill” increase on property taxes in Seminole County to increase the school revenues. In talking to residents, homeowners, business owners and renters of all types there is some confusion of what a millage tax is. I have been told from some people that it’s a mileage tax on your cars and it’s used for road... Read more →

Online Petition Started for Florida Property Rights & Anti-Agenda 21 Bill & We Analyze It

Tavares, FL (Lake County) - Oct. 3, 2012 (This article was first distributed to the FiscalRangers.com email list). A proposed Florida legislative bill draft is being circulated by a group fighting government property rights transgressions in Florida, and they have started an online petition to be submitted to Senator Don Gaetz. It is similar to one passed by the Alabama legislators recently which is already being enforced. Here is a June 20 article on the bill by Florida Senate President-designate Don Gaetz (“ to strongly reject United Nations Agenda 21…”) http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/don-gaetz-expect-anti-un-agenda-21-2013 Agenda 21, initiated by the UN and implemented by the American Planner’s Association, is most known for rolling out extreme restrictions on private property, which reduces uses, values and freedoms protected by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. A simple example is implementation of land use restrictions in many counties so that the owner could not develop property for business, residential or other uses due to environmental objectives. The result to many is a “taking” of property values without “just compensation”. My FiscalRangers.com blog has published a white paper on Agenda 21 dangers at www.tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 . Go there if you want more background, watch various videos or read... Read more →

Florida Legislator Describes Planned Legislation to Ban Agenda 21 Initiatives

This is from Florida legislator John Hallman. We previously mentioned that FL Senator Alan Hays read from a draft of this bill (or a version) at a recent North Lake Tea Party meeting. You can see the video of the meeting at our FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube page - look for the meeting on Property Rights, and Hays reads the draft near the end of the meeting. http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=85e6877146ca8bd1caf2f0bdd&id=96fec9c963 Vance Jochim Read more →

FiscalRangers Watchdog to Host Sept. 6th Public Meeting to Explain Coming LOCAL Lake County Property Tax Rate Hikes up to 72% & Understanding TRIM Notices

Tavares, FL - Sept. 2, 2012 - News and local government issues for Lake County, FL by Vance Jochim Updates Sept 4: Added section 10 to "homework" section that includes links to FL Dept of Revenue guides that most taxpayers never see. Added section 11 for email from Lake County Republican Party to Tax Authorities recommending NO increase in millage rates. This Thursday, Sept. 6, 6-8pm, FiscalRangers.com, a blog on local Lake County Florida Government Fiscal issues, will host a FREE property taxpayer public meeting at the Tavares Civic Center, 100 E. Caroline St., Tavares, FL to explain how and why your property taxes or rates are going up, and tips if you want to appeal your property valuations, lost exemptions, etc. You should have recently received your TRIM notice showing new valuations, changes in exemptions, proposed changes in millage rates, etc. Have you heard that many local Lake County tax "authorities" like cities, Lake County and various special districts are RAISING the millage rate used to calculate your property taxes? Even though your property tax valuation may be dropping, those authorities want to tax you as much or more as last year, so they are increasing your property tax... Read more →

Are Lake County Commissioners Harming Property Values by Ignoring Pleas to Remove Sustainable Development Restrictions?

Tavares, FL - August 16, 2012 All Lake County Property Owners should read this. This week was eventful in Lake County because of the Florida primary elections, which we covered earlier. However, it was also eventful for outing the sustainable development movement and the UN Agenda 21 implemented by the American Planner's Association (APA) in many LOCAL government regulations, including Lake County. Readers know we have written a white paper on Agenda 21 located at www.tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 . It includes many links to explanatory online videos, articles and the Republican National Committee (RNC) resolution "exposing" Agenda 21 and its affects on property and other rights. This week two property rights events happened at the Tuesday meeting of the Lake County Board of Commissioners, and then three events happened at last night's meeting of the North Lake County Tea Party to support the idea that Agenda 21 & "sustainable development" initiatives may be banned in Florida to protect property rights, like they did in Alabama. At the bottom of this article are some very specific suggestions for property owners. A. What happened at the Tuesday Lake County Board Meeting? 1. "Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP)" - The Lake County Board on Tuesday ignored... Read more →