Fiscal Rangers

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 →