Fiscal Rangers

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 →

Why Tavares, FL Taxpayers Don't get all the details on City Council decisions

The City of Tavares, Florida's City Council met yesterday, April 7, 2021. We describe how they are leaving important details related to Council decisions out of the online agenda packet, and they need to provide that online in the future. This is one of several Tavares practices that result in lower transparency than other Lake County, FL cities. 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 →

Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell asks that voters monitor LOCAL elections as much as National elections

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell encouraged taxpayers to attend local city council and other local agency meetings to monitor what they are doing, and also monitor who are the best candidates for their local government agencies. Here are my additional ideas for reform of City Councils and policies. Read more →

Residents living on Lake County, FL Canals - read this about funding for needed canal dredging

Residents on private canals in Lake County, FL need to read this. A new funding process is being considered by the Lake County Board to allow residents to tax themselves over 10 years to fund needed dredging of their canals. 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 →

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 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Senate Passes Tax Bill and how does a property tax write off provision affect Florida?

Tavares, FL Dec. 2, 2017 Whoopee - the Senate just approved a tax bill, so it will be merged with the House version and sent to Trump to approve before Christmas! One condition added back by Senator Susan Collins was to still allow deductions of up to $10,000 in property taxes from Federal Income Tax returns. If it makes it to the final bill, that benefits states that have HIGH property tax rates. So I looked up how Florida compares to other states in average property taxes, and we are middle of the pack. Many northern states and Texas are double Florida's average property tax rate, so their residents get taxed higher, but will get more tax write-offs. But this also means Florida residents will still get to deduct the first $10,000 of their property taxes from their Federal Tax Return. Since Florida's tax rate is half of New Jersey, etc. it means to reach that $10,000, people with more expensive homes will get a bigger write off as a percent of home value. By that, I mean that if a New Jersey home owner pays 2% on a home, that means their $10,000 maximum deduction will be reached at... 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 →

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

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

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

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

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 →

Education Journal investigation shows Florida State University waived admissions criteria for connected students

Following a University of Texas admissions scandal, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an investigation into admissions favoritism at 13 top public universities Sunday. They found Florida State Unversity to be dropping entrance admission criteria for connected students, and up to 40 times, connected leaders or alumni contacted the admissions office to "follow up" on specific admissions, unlike several universities which did not allow such actions. 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 →

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 →

Lake County surprise assessments could increase your tax bill tremendously

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

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

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

Lake County Residential Zoning needs drastic improvement to retain home values

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

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

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

Lake County FL School Impact Fees Increased but growth costs still 25% Unfunded

Tavares, FL Dec. 7, 2014 The Lake County Board of Commissioners approved an increase in the Lake County School Impact Fees, raising it from an average $2500 per NEWLY constructed home to $7500. The fee is paid by the homebuilder at time of construction completion. HERE is the Orlando Sentinel story on the fee increase. Impact Fees are based upon the amount needed to generate new student stations (i.e. schools and classrooms) due to growth caused by new residents buying the new homes. Existing homes are not taxed, only new ones. The current rate is based upon a consultant's study required by Florida State that defines the average funds needed per home, and the current rate is about $10,200. However, the school district has no received full funding for years, due to waivers by the School Board and the County Board. Thus the approved increase will still not fully fund the added classroom space and facilities needed due to population growth. Here is the comment I posted on the newspaper Facebook page about the impact fee increase: " Well, this really means that the Schools need about $10,200 for every new house to build schools for the new kids from... Read more →

SHOCKING - Daily Commercial NOW says the Lake County, FL County Commission Should Review the Budget

Yes, today the Lake County, FL newspaper, the Daily Commercial, had both a front page article AND an "OurVoice" editorial saying NOW the County Board, after raising taxes by almost 14%, should "get serious about your budget". This article contains a review of a newspaper article, an editorial and my specific responses to the points in them. Read more →

Your Lake County Property Taxes may go up 11-18% if you do not take action Tomorrow

Monday, Sept. 8, 2014 | Tavares, FL | by Vance Jochim If you live in Lake County, FL and own a house, commercial or investment property, your property taxes shown on your property "Trim" notice could go up 11-26% due to 1) appraisal values going up 4.2% or more and 2) the Lake County Board approving a budget and tax hike of 11-18% tomorrow afternoon at 5pm (Tuesday). I refer to the County tax increase as the "Jimmie Tax" due to encouragement for it by the Lake County Board Chair, Jimmie Conner. Or you could call it the Conner, Cadwell, Sullivan & Parks tax after the four commissioners who voted for it. (Tim Sullivan since recanted a bit and helped Leslie Campione reduce the pending tax to about 11%.) Below is an overview, our recommendations, and some links to reference documents. If you don't think the tax rate increases listed on the TRIM notice are acceptable, you need to write, call and visit tax authority public hearings to get your point across. There will be other groups who WANT the spending increased, including employees, interest groups and officials and they definitely are calling, writing and attending public hearings. Renters should... Read more →

Another Tax Spender Demand in the Daily Commercial

Once again, the Daily Commercial posted another front page article citing spending WANTS from local County fire officials while not talking to anyone with an alternative, or talking to taxpayers about the merits of adding more people to the staff. 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 →

FiscalRangers Alert: Will Lake County, FL Board Throw $2-million More Into Expensive Cagan's Crossings Library?

Tavares, FL - Monday, Feb. 10, 2014 Tomorrow, the Lake County Board is being asked to approve, WITHOUT DISCUSSION, the start of a process to use $200,000 of library impact fees to design the total $2.2-million build out of the second floor of a library in South Lake County for unstated purposes. Those purposes may be to develop services that compete with tax paying businesses. The issue is in tab 8 of the "consent agenda" which means the Board will approve it without discussing it in public at the hearing. Lake County, FL has a very expensive library built in Cagan's Crossings, in the very south east corner of Lake County and next to Polk, Osceola & Orange County. Various agreements exist/ed to allow residents of other counties to use the libraries, but as far as I know, Lake County paid for it. Here is the link to the Cagan's Crossing library page: http://www.lakeline.lib.fl.us/libraries/cagan_crossings_community_library.aspx That is the library where Polk County agreed to contribute annually towards library expenses, then welched, causing the Library Dept. to reduce staff. It is my understanding that Polk County HAS no libraries, thus I assume they do not have a Library Impact fee, but Lake... Read more →

Lake County Property Tax Percentages EXCEED Every County Around Us

Tavares, FL Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013 Lake County, FL CNN published an interactive map of residential property taxes showing how every County in the US compared to others in two categories: Total Dollars paid per residence per county, and Percent of "Home Price" (not sure if that is original price or current market value per appraisers). They used data from the Tax Policy Center, and we assume the data came from this report: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/stateandlocal/tax-and-budget/Revenues-and-taxation.cfm Lake County property taxes as a percent of "home prices" is 1.08% and is higher than many Florida counties but lower than others, ranging from .58% to 1.36%. Further examination reveals that EVERY County around Lake County pays less percent in property taxes than Lake County homeowners . But Lake County property taxes were not as high as counties in other states according to this CNN map. In the "Dollars" tab, Lake County residents pay an average of $1801 compared to $595 in rural counties to $2751 in Miami-Dade County. CHECK both TABS to see dollars and then percentages of home sales prices. Move your mouse over the counties to see how they vary. http://money.cnn.com/interactive/real-estate/property-tax/?iid=EL So, when you hear people complain about property taxes in Lake... 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 →

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 →