We have known for quite some time that our population is aging (it is the “baby boomers” rounding third and heading home), but we have never seen any projected numbers. So we thought that we would try our hand at… Read More ›
Lake
Lake County Demographic Reports….
These are very interesting statistics about the Lake County population. In light of our concerns about the increasing real estate taxes pricing seniors and those living on fixed incomes out of their homes, we can see why our property taxes… Read More ›
Music & Memory …….a $50,000 study from Senior Levy funds
While reviewing the Willoughby-Eastlake Board of Education’s meeting minutes, we noticed a $50,000 receipt from the Lake County Commissioners’ Office, and a subsequent payment to RSVP. So we went upstream and asked Mr. Jason Boyd, County Administrator, for the details… Read More ›
Letter to the editor….Citizens are starting to get it..
Thanks to Lobbyist Elliot for this letter to the editor in the News-Herald: Your opinions How levies are hurting some residents: I am writing to thank those Painesville Township homeowners who evidently have never seen a property tax increase they… Read More ›
RSVP…our final chapter
We have been quite critical of the Retired Volunteer Service Program and Willoughby-Eastlake schools for their lack of candor when answering our questions about their program. Our questions started last year when we discovered that RSVP had received $744,000 over… Read More ›
Lake County Commissioners’ Retire/Rehire Policy
We have previously posted about the long standing practice of public employees “retiring” from their position and then returning to work in the same capacity and same pay and benefit scale. This is commonly known as “double dipping”. The Lake… Read More ›
Commissioners’ Meeting 5/17/18
I addressed the Lake County Commissioners today and discussed the following items: I mentioned that I attended the Sunshine Law Training at Lakeland Community College. Since we learned that a citizen may ask for the compensation package of any public… Read More ›
Public Employees Retirement System……COLA…how sweet it is….
As we continue our research into public finances, we discovered this information on the Lake County Auditor’s website. As you know, we are concerned about private citizens getting priced out of their homes because of increasing real estate taxes. This… Read More ›
Our Debate Over Real Estate Taxes Continues
In previous posts, we mentioned that we have filed a request for a revaluation of our property to reduce our real estate taxes. We initially filed our request with the Lake County Auditor’s office in January, 2018. We just received… Read More ›
RSVP…..chapter 3….getting closer to answers
We continue to analyze the RSVP financial information received from the Lake County commissioners. Here is a summary of the revenue and expenses reported by the Commissioners for 2016 and 2017. Please be advised that we doubt that this is… Read More ›
RSVP…….the journey to get answers continues
We are operating under our basic premise that if we stay on the current path of ever increasing real estate taxes, we will price seniors and those living on fixed incomes out of their homes that have worked all their… Read More ›
Our challenges to the Republican party……are they up to the task?
We went to a “meet the candidate” night last evening. We spoke to leading local Republicans after the speeches and discussed with them the plight of seniors in Lake County being priced out of their homes, and the problems in… Read More ›
Commissioner Cirinio’s News-Herald article
Thanks for the following copy of the article Commissioner Cirino wrote for the News-Herald…..We agree completely with Commissioner Cirino on the devasting impact that it will have on Lake County. The question now is: What can we do about it?”
Email to Commissioners on Perry Plant closure….it will impact all of Lake County
We sent this email to Commissioner Cirino today. We will make you aware of his responses. Commissioner Cirino, At the last Commissioners’ meeting, you mentioned about the impact of the closure of the Perry Nuclear Plant on the real estate… Read More ›
State of Ohio House Bill 586…..give credit to Rep. John Rogers
Although we have disagreed with State Representative John Rogers’ decisions in his second job as the Executive Director of the Lake County Land Bank, we must applaud his efforts to at least try to do something for seniors in Lake… Read More ›
Unfunded Pension Liabilities……what a tangled mess
We have done some more research on the issue of unfunded pension liabilities, and at the risk of ‘getting too deep into the weeds’, we will offer some explanations of what we have discovered on the Lake County Auditor’s website…. Read More ›
More Bad News about State Pensions….so who is going to pay?
Thanks to our Kirtland Lobbyist for this article on State Pension plans. It makes our last public meeting with the Lake County Commissioners all the more important. (See the video for Commissioner Dan Troy’s reaction to our questions on Lakeland… Read More ›
Video of Commissioners’ Meeting…we will let the citizens decide
As promised, here is a video of the Lake County Commissioners’ meeting held on Wednesday, April 4th. We informed the Commissioners about the taxpayers’ investment in Ohio and Lake County schools, and the grades received for that investment. We also… Read More ›
RSVP…….They need to cover up, their lack of candor is showing
We have spent quite a bit of time researching and debating this entity with the Lake County Commissioners. It is a long convoluted story, but we will try to be brief.. First, here is a schedule showing the Senior Levy… Read More ›
Election Workers Needed
At today’s Lake County Commissioners’ meeting, a Ross McDonald, Director of the Board of Elections, spoke about the need for additional help for the May 8th election. They will accept individuals 17 years old, if they are high school seniors. … Read More ›
May 8th Tax Levies….do you know what they will cost you?
We are starting to see lots of advertising for the upcoming May 8th election. We are always curious why not one elected official, or any bureaucrat, will take the time to summarize for the citizens of Lake County what it… Read More ›
Crime Lab newsletter….
We received the Spring 2018 Lake County Crime Lab’s “Crimescene” newsletter. The Crimescene Spring 2018 Please remember that they are requesting a continuous (forever) .4 mill real estate tax levy on the May 2018 ballot. A .4 mill levy will… Read More ›
State News….more wasteful spending
Thanks to our Kirtland lobbyist for this bit of news from Columbus: http://www.chroniclet.com/state-news/2018/04/03/Kasich-renews-Ohio-membership-in-bipartisan-governors-group.html We are not hearing much positive news from citizens when they speak about Governor John Kasich.
ADAMHS Board vs. Forbes House…the business “golden rule” wins again
Ms. Kim Fraser, Executive Director of the ADAMHS Board, graciously met with me to discuss the breakdown in communication between the ADAMHS Board and the Forbes House. Here is my re-cap of the meeting: ADAMHS Board meeting-summary-3