Fiscal Rangers

Lake County, FL School Board approved ballot request to renew 3/4 millage "school safety tax"

The Board of the Lake County, FL School District is starting the process to add a request on the Nov. ballot for voters to renew the 3/4 mill property "school safety tax" that has been in effect since 2019. Their ballot approval will be completed at the Apr. 11, 2022 Board meeting. Read more →

Results of today's Lake County, FL School Board Internal Audit Committee meeting

We report the results of the March 8, 2022 meeting of the Internal Audit Committee of the Lake County FL School District and results of the annual Comprehensive Financial Report (formerly the CAFR). We also discuss an Internal Audit Report of the Lake County 3/4 mill referendum and whether the School Administration spent the funds in compliance with what they said would be the spending purposes. 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 →

Tavares, FL Residents & Taxpayers: City Council already plans to increase taxes for 2021-2022

The Tavares, FL City Council discussed "Broad Budget Priorities" for the upcoming 2021-2022 budget cycle, and three of them won't go to the rollback rate, indicating taxes will most likely go up again. Read more →

REDUCE YOUR Lake County, FL Property Taxes by 50% by buying property in a low tax Lake County city

Buyers of residential, rental or commercial property in Lake County, FL can SAVE 50% on property taxes if they pick the right, low millage rate city in Lake County. This article describes the 2020 millage rates for all 14 cities plus the unincorporated Lake County areas so you can decide to buy in a LOW or HIGH property tax location. Read more →

Lady Lake FL Town Commissioners cut trash runs to only 1, hear PACE financing program, discuss drones and building heights

The Town Commissioners of Lady Lake, FL had two meetings on Oct. 19, 2020 and FiscalRangers.com wrote an overview and made a video of the meeting. Read more →

Lake County, FL Board to have final millage and budget hearing tomorrow, Sept. 29, 2020

The Lake County, FL Board is having the final State required meeting to approve millage rates and budgets which will result in higher property taxes due to higher valuations. We provide the meeting details and discuss the issue. Read more →

Is Your Lake County City FAILING to provide VIDEOS of tax decision meetings, hiding their decisions?

City Councils in Lake County, FL are RAISING taxes while claiming credit for reducing tax RATES. The problem is property valuations are leaping, and multiply them by barely reduced millage tax rates equals TAX INCREASES. We discuss this manipulation of public information by elected officials. Read more →

How Lake County, FL elected officials are flimflamming property taxpayers

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

Clermont, FL Taxpayers protest City Council decisions and rampant development at City Hall

Citizens showed up at the Clermont City Hall on July 22, 2020 to wave signs and discuss issues with those passing by. Led by local Clermont watchdog Dani Page, the group waved signs for two hours. This is a 30 minute segment. Read more →

Flagler County, FL - half the population of Lake County, predicts $1.2-million DROP in sales tax revenue

Flagler County, FL announced Pandemic impacts on sales tax revenues, and Lake County, FL might be affected as much or more Read more →

What happens to local city and county cash flow if Florida cuts sales taxes like the UK just did to cope with the Wuhan Virus?

The UK just reduced their VAT, or national sales tax, to zero for awhile. What happens if Florida does the same, or the state government reduces tax revenues sent to local governments due to the Wuhan virus crisis? Will we go through layoffs and increased property taxes in Florida and Lake County? Read more →

Lake County, FL Board reduces COUNTY Business tax to ZERO over three years

Hooray! The Lake County, FL Board has voted to reduce the COUNTY business tax in increments to ZERO over three years! It was a useless tax that just went into the general fund and did not benefit businesses like the Tourism Development Tax does. Now cities need to do the same. Kudos to Lake County Tax Collector David W. Jordan Lake County Tax Collector for pushing this forward. Vance Jochim Read more →

Tavares, FL Residents - City Debt will soon be over $70-million ( or up to $23,000 per family of four)

The City of Tavares, FL has a debt that will be over $70-million or over $100-million if a referendum to approve a new $27-million Performing Arts Center is approved on the Nov. Ballot. So elections have consequences and we tell you more about the debt burden and who to vote for on the Nov. ballot. Read more →

Groveland, FL City Council video uploaded after adopting budget of $69-million

The Groveland, FL City Council met on Sept. 16, 2019, approved a new budget and millage rate, and covered routine issues. We provide an overview of the covered issues and a link to our video of the main City Council meeting. No riots or public demonstrations occurred! Read more →

Lake County, FL Cities are Raking in your Property Tax Cash Up to 18% OVER the Roll-Back rate and not Explaining How Much

September is when Lake County, FL cities discuss and approve new millage and budget figures after property tax valuation reports are out. Most cities except two of 14 in Lake County are increasing millage rates above the "roll-back" rate, thus increasing tax bills to property owners. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council plans to discuss hiking budget and increasing the millage rate beyond the rollback rate - Friday, Sept. 6

The City Council of Tavares, FL is having their City Council meeting tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 and they will discuss proposed millage and budget figures. If they continue, should they rename the city Spendalot City or Camelot? Residents need to attend the 4pm meeting and provide input. Read more →

The new Lake County 2019/2020 Property Tax TRIM Notices are Out - and you need to analyze them

The 2019-20 Lake County, FL property tax TRIM notices are out. We provide an example and some analysis, and tips how to analyze YOUR rates to understand if hidden increases are included. Read more →

Lake County, FL Commissioner Leslie Campione provides background on proposed millage rate

Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione responds to criticism of the proposed property tax millage rate for 2019. Read more →

Tavares, FL property owners should attend this budget workshop, or open your wallet for higher taxes

Tavares, FL residents need to read this about pending millage rate tax hikes at a City Council workshop on July 24, 2019 at 4pm. These issues of escalating taxes are affecting ALL city and county residents in Lake County and the rest of Florida. If you don't act now, then hold out your wallet for tax day. Read more →

Why Don't Florida School Districts have Performance Management Metric Reports like Business?

Florida local government agencies like the Lake County FL School District lack process improvement and performance reporting dashboards like a business and need them. We start the conversation with some examples and what School Boards need to do if they actually want to protect the financial interests of taxpayers. Read more →

Tavares, FL City Council April 3, 2019 Meeting & the Great Debate over Dumpster Enclosure Rules. See our video.

We reported on the April 3, 2019 meeting of the Tavares, FL City Council, plus a link to our video of the meeting. See the description for topics and links. Highlights were gripes about not allowing public input on upcoming development proposal hearings, update on the Tavares Performing Arts Center and the Great Dumpster Enclosure Debate. Read more →

60 Local Government Employees based in Tavares, FL Earned $100k or more in 2017 per OpenTheBooks.org database

A government spending watchdog, OpenTheBooks.org, tracks wasteful government programs and also tracks local, state and Federal employee wages over $100k. We examined their reports for local cities in the Lake County area, and found 60 employees working in the Tavares, FL area for government that earned over $100k. OpenTheBooks.org also launched an initiative to encourage the Congress to launch a "War on Waste" by listing wasteful, stupid Federal programs and asking the government to publish budget details for transparency, and then eliminate the uncovered, wasteful programs. Read more →

Is Lake County, FL collecting hotel bed taxes from ALL AirBNB renters?

The Lake County, FL Tax Collector is not collecting bed taxes via AirBNB from renters using AirBNB for making reservations. Some individual AirBNB renters may file and pay the taxes, but most do not. Other Florida counties and some entire states work directly with AirBNB to collect taxes via the AirBNB reservation system, but apparently not Lake County. The result is hotels have to pay the bed tax of 4%, but many AirBNB renters may not be doing so, giving them an unfair pricing advantage. We have the details. Read more →

Conservative Jason Hoyt starts Florida PAC to fight solar industry corporate welfare & Florida Amendment 4

A new taxpayer advocate Florida PAC has been formed to fight corporate welfare, including efforts to get voters to vote NO on Florida Amendment 4 (2016) on the August 30 ballot which would give property tax exemptions benefitting just the solar industry. Read more →

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

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

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

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

10+ Reasons to Vote AGAINST Lake County, Florida's $800-million "Infrastructure Sales Tax" Referendum on Nov. 3

On Nov. 3, 2015, the ballot in Lake County, FL will have a referendum asking voters to renew an existing one penny sales tax for another 15 years that will generate between $450-800-million in taxes. The funds will be for capital spending like buildings or computers or vehicles and split in thirds for each of these three groups: 1) Lake County government, the 14 cities in Lake County, and the School District. This article covers 10+ reasons to vote NO on the referendum and conditions needed to save taxpayers $100-million plus by prohibiting use of bonds to run up government debt. Read more →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione Explains why County Taxes Need not Increase

Lake County, FL Commissioner Leslie Campione just sent out her monthly newsletter which we inserted below. It focuses on the upcoming Sept. 9th 5pm meeting of the County Board where they may vote in the FIRST of TWO required public hearings to INCREASE the millage rate by 11% or more (it was 18% but that was reduced last week at a four hour meeting.). Read more →

Lake County FL Budget Woes Described, and our Counter Comments

The local Lake County Daily Commercial published an article quoting many officials about low budgets and the possible need for MORE taxes. They did not quote any watchdog groups about alternatives to raising taxes, and we provided some comments they would not publish. Read more →

Upcoming Renewal of Lake County FL Penny Sales Tax Might Pit County & Cities vs Schools

Tavares, FL - Sunday, feb. 16, 2014 For almost 15 years, the County Govt., the cities, and the School District received equal thirds of revenues from a Penny Sales Tax approved by voters. That tax is due for a public renewal vote in 2015, and the School Board is talking about instead launching a referendum for a different, and additional 1/2 penny tax just for their capital spending needs. But the County government leaders and League of Cities would rather stay with just renewing the existing tax and percentage splits because they are fearful the public won't support a renewal of the tax if the schools go for a separate, new sales tax. This story by Livi Stanford in today's Daily Commercial (see link below) provides all the details, so read it to get an idea of what could happen - either all three tax entities join together to renew the existing tax, or the School Board independently tries to get voter approval of their own half penny tax, which leaves the County & Cities to campaign for voters to also approve renewal of the existing penny tax which would be split only between the County & the cities. My... Read more →

Upcoming Lake County Impact Fee Decisions Could Result in NEW Taxes for YOU!

Tavares, FL - Lake County, FL - Monday, Nov. 26, 2012 After taking a 3-week period to recover from the election results, we are back at it! Your taxes could be raised next year if the Lake County Board decides to continue waiving local Impact Fees on new construction. By waiving the impact fees, the Board is giving up tax revenues that will need to be provided by another source, like property taxes, sales taxes, etc. The Lake County Board and the Lake County School District Board are in the process of deciding whether to renew suspension of impact fees for County transportation (roads) and Schools on new construction of homes and commercial buildings. If you read about or see Lake County (not city) roads being overcrowded, or schools not being able to buy new buildings, computers or school buses, one reason is that impact fees for them were waived by the County Board the last 2-3 years. The resulting County & School Board impact fee decisions in the next 1-2 months could re-enact transportation and school impact fees on new construction waived by the Lake County Board for the last 2 years. The homebuilders and commercial construction firms don't... Read more →

Lake Appraiser and Lake County Tax Collector Improve Transparency over Tax Authorities

Tavares, FL - Oct. 2, 2011 - FiscalRangers has achieved an improvement in transparency over tax authorities listed on property tax notices. We recently heard at a meeting of the North Lake County Hospital District that a taxpayer had a terrible time finding out what that Hospital tax on their property was about. She looked at her Tax Trim notice from the County Appraiser, Ed Havil, and the Tax Notice from County Tax Collector Bob McKee, and the only information for the Hospital District tax was the location and date of the final hearing to approve next year's taxes. No phone, no email, no address and no website was provided. Sure, she could call either office and they could provide a phone number, but no info on what the tax was or phone number listed on the notices or on the two agency websites (we thought). In contrast, if you look at THIS Wisconsin based website, it focuses on improved transparency over taxes there. And, if you visit THIS website from Milwaukee County, you find they have provided a "Milwaukee County Accountability Portal" which "allows the publci to view detaild data on SPENDING by Milwaukee County Government. And, look at... Read more →

Drastic Hikes in Florida Unemployment Insurance Start January 1, Reducing Funds for Other Agencies

Most Florida businesses will get an unexpected hike in employee unemployment insurance taxes starting January 1, 2010. This problem will cascade into another fight for the total remaining Florida tax revenues, thus reducing the remaining funds for other agencies, including Schools, etc. (and, remember, Charlie Crist just approved the $600-million SunRail system, which will also compete for funds. Additionally,if Obama's health plan passes, it mandates drastic hikes in Medicaid payments for Florida and other states that have low Medicaid payments, thus that will "suck" more funds out of Florida State cash). Below is a briefing sent out by the Eustis Chamber of Commerce that gives a good description of the tax hike, which significantly increases bottom line costs for each employee. If you are business owner, you need to know about this tax, and perhaps take the actions requested by the Chamber. If you are an employee, you need to understand how the State has used up their unemployment insurance fund to pay unemployment insurance, and has been borrowing $300-million per MONTH from the Federal government to continue paying unemployment payments. The tax hike means that your employer's cost will go up, which means that there will be another reason... Read more →

Taxes Today - an essay by Charlie Reese

Lake County local Ralph Smith sent me this which he received from Stan Bainter. Kinda makes you tired of all the taxes he describes below! This is a good item to read before going to this week's various government agencies to watch them approve their budgets and any tax increases. vj 545 PEOPLE By Charlie Reese Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually... Read more →