CITRUS CRUSADER

By John Labriola - A discussion over the Betz Farm land sale descended into chaos this past week as Citrus County commissioners accused each other of being corruptly influenced by developers' campaign contributions, while an altercation involving Citrus County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Josh Wooten led Commission Chairwoman Diana Finegan to call for his arrest. The commission voted 3-2 for a motion by Commissioner Holly Davis to rescind its earlier cancellation  of the $6 million sale to Bravo Land Group, as both Davis and Commissioner Rebecca Bays changed their earlier votes, saying they were not aware that it could cost the county more than its $100,000 insurance deductible if there is a lawsuit, including $360,000 in commission fees to the listed realtor and over $1 million in damages that the developer is now claiming. Commissioner Janet Barek, who made the original motion on April 14 to cancel the sale to preserve the 350-acre property, based on County Attorney Den...

By John Labriola - Inspired by Citrus County's example, Hernando County has decided not to renew its subscription to the left-wing book review magazine BookPage. The decision was made this past week by Hernando County Library Director Cynthia Loftis-Culp, who reviewed the magazine after residents urged the Hernando County Commission to end the subscription. "I have determined that the funds currently allocated to this publication could be more effectively utilized to enhance our eBook collection, which continues to see strong demand from our community," Loftis-Culp wrote. Hernando County was spending $1,305 annually for about 150 copies a month of BookPage, which were available at its four libraries. The magazine consistently recommends titles with LGBT, CRT, pro-abortion, anti-Trump, and witchcraft themes while demeaning conservative viewpoints. Residents attending the April 14 Hernando County Commission meeting told commissioners BookPage promotes far-left and woke ide...

By John Labriola - The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday will be considering a motion by Commissioner Holly Davis to rescind the commission's earlier cancellation of the sale of Betz Farm. On April 14, Davis had joined all commissioners except Jeff Kinnard in voting 4-1 to send a notice of termination of the $6 million contract to Bravo Land Group, which is managed by James Dicks, founder of DIX Developments. According to Tuesday's agenda memorandum, her move to rescind that notice appears motivated by concerns that canceling the 2023 sale could cost the county more than its $100,000 insurance deductible if there is a lawsuit, including $360,000 in commission payments sought by Kevin Cunningham, whom the county had awarded the contract to sell the property. Commissioner Janet Barek had sponsored the move to cancel the sale so the vacant 350-acre property could be kept as conservation land, arguing that the developer had breached the contract by missing various deadlines, whi...

By John Labriola - Citrus County Commissioner Rebecca Bays last week tried to rebut Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia's March announcement that Citrus County is overtaxing its residents.  At a candidate forum in Lecanto, Bays presented a PowerPoint reflecting the county administration's talking points to justify Citrus County's budget, which Ingoglia had said contains $39 million in excess spending when indexed for inflation and population growth from a baseline of six years ago.  Bays, who is running for reelection on Aug. 18,  cast the deciding vote in 2023 for a massive 18 percent tax increase , which she claimed was needed to cover a constitutionally mandated employee pay raise and to speed up road resurfacing.  She said the average Citrus County taxpayer pays $1,279 a year in property taxes, the equivalent of $106 a month, which she said is less than the $140 average monthly phone bill. "That's not waste. That's value," Bays insisted. I...

By John Labriola - Divisions on the Citrus County Library Advisory Board (LAB) continued to grow last week as a revote for chair resulted in a bare majority for embattled chairman Justin Strickland.  The revote was necessary because Strickland had mishandled the vote for officers in February, when he improperly presided over the election and then immediately called for a vote after being nominated instead of asking if there were any other nominations. This time, Library Director Adam Chang conducted the election. Strickland's unprofessional behavior during that meeting, when he attacked the Citrus Crusader for covering his opposition to a Charlie Kirk book display (which Strickland falsely tried to reframe as an attack on his church) apparently alienated some LAB members. Two members who previously supported Strickland as chairman – Edith Ramlow and James Pirotta – voted against him this time, resulting in a 5-4 vote, with four votes for Pirotta. Rhys Campbell and L...

By John Labriola - In a rematch of their 2022 contest, Citrus County Commissioner Diana Finegan sparred with her opponent Stacey Worthington at a candidate forum in Lecanto on Monday hosted by the Citrus County Republican Party. The two candidates in the District 2 race, which will be decided in a countywide primary election on Aug. 18, clashed repeatedly as Worthington criticized Finegan for her failure to convince the county commission to cut spending. "I've been serving on boards, and I don't only fight, but I get people to go the way I want them to go by making a very convincing, persuasive argument, and if I fight and fight and fight for three and a half years and I'm not able to still win any of these arguments, I might look at changing my approach and trying a different tack," said Worthington, who previously served as chairwoman of the county's Planning and Development Commission. Finegan, who has tried to cut taxes every year only to be outvoted, and...

By John Labriola - A week after Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia held a press conference to announce that Citrus County is overtaxing residents by $39 million a year , County Commissioner Rebecca Bays dismissed his findings at a town hall meeting in Lecanto.  Bays said she disagreed with Ingoglia's methodology, which involves taking the county's 2019-2020 general fund budget, indexing it for inflation and population growth, and then subtracting that from the current budget to determine the amount of excessive spending.  "It's a formula, and that's not how government works," she said. Citrus County collects $112 million a year in ad valorem taxes, Bays said, of which $40 million goes to the sheriff's office. Along with other constitutional offices and state mandates commissioners have to fund, that doesn't leave the county much room to spare, she claimed.  According to Ingoglia, over the last six years, Citrus County hired 278 employees, ...