Information Video on Citrus County YMCA

Below is the 2014 YMCA information video recently shared at the YCMA Get Together.  It is an excellent way to learn about the excelling work the YMCA is doing in Citrus County and about their future capital plans.

For more information contact the ‘Y’ at:

YMCA of the Suncoast-Citrus County Program Branch
3909 N. Lecanto Hwy.
Beverly Hills, FL 34465
352-637-0132 phone
888-206-1244 fax
www.ymcasuncoast.org

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“Below is the 3/18/2014 Press Release from Property Appraiser Les Cook on the Duke settlement.” ~Thomas

PROPERTY APPRAISER ANOUNCES SETTLEMENT OF DUKE LITIGATION

Property Appraiser Les Cook announced today that a settlement was reached with Progress Energy Florida (Duke Energy) that with court approval will end 15 months of costly litigation over the 2012 and 2013 assessment rolls and provide stability to the assessment roll for 2014 without the threat of litigation. After being appointed Property Appraiser on January 6th Mr. Cook made it his first priority to take a fresh look at all that has transpired in this case. With formal mediation being planned and a trial date set for May 19th he started an early dialog with Duke Officials to explore a possible resolution.

After several conferences in person and by phone and the exchange of appraisals from both sides, an agreement was reached on overall assessed values for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 assessment rolls. Appraisals from both sides were reviewed as a basis for allocation to individual parcels.

The decision to settle this case was driven by several factors along with the Property Appraiser’s judgment as to the potential for a larger return with further costly litigation versus the potential risk of a negative result. Some of the factors that weighed heavily on the decision to settle were:

The first two rulings were negative to our position. The additional judicial statements in those rulings and from the bench were not encouraging. It was apparent that no further challenge to the constitutionality of the pollution control statute would occur and our office would need to apply this statute. This application, if applied consistently with methodology utilized by other Property Appraisers across the state, would result in a significantly lower value for the pollution assets.

The fact that other counties are utilizing a different methodology than the one we are promoting in this litigation. Continuing the fight places Citrus County with limited resources out on the front lines trying to argue for a separate valuation method.

Even with some success at trial on the valuation issue, a lengthy appeal process would likely follow with additional costs, no immediate revenue, no end in sight and the risk of a negative outcome.

1.420 million dollars spent to date on pre-trial expenditures and the strong desire to protect our taxpayers from additional expenditures related to the litigation.

The potential for continued disruption to the budgeting processes along with continued unrecoverable revenue loss to our school system, estimated through 2014 at 10 million dollars.

Opposition to our positions by the Department of Revenue as represented by the Attorney General’s office.

Our county benefited from special circumstances due to the 1998 favorable Circuit Court ruling that led to a higher valuation in the past on the utility company’s pollution control assets. That decision has now been superseded and in my opinion the higher 2012 and 2013 valuations run the risk of not being legally supportable. This decision to forgo a trial and discontinue litigation was not easy recognizing the additional burden being carried by our property owners, but the risk of additional costs with no return was not acceptable.

While the final settlement will provide some additional revenue above the good faith estimates to taxing authorities, the primary benefits will be stability of taxable values for budgeting, the end to litigation with one of our largest employers and investors and the rebuilding of a working relationship that will provide for future agreements without the need for litigation.

03/18/14

(Follow this link to download original Press Release from Citrus County Property Appraiser: http://www.pa.citrus.fl.us/pdfs/Duke%20Settlement%20Press%20Release.pdf)

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FL DOE Releases Choice Replacement for FCAT & PARCC

Educational Commissioner Pam Stewart and the Florida Department of Education today release a statement announcing their choice for the FCAT and PARCC assessment vendor.  The recommended vendor will be not-for-profit American Institutes for Research (AIR).  Governor Scott through Executive Order 13-276, issued Florida’s departure from the PARCC consortium.

Below is the FL-DOE Press Release.

We will continue to share more information as we learn.

FL-DOE PRESS RELEASE

WITH STUDENTS AS TOP PRIORITY, FLORIDA CHOOSES REPLACEMENT FOR FCAT
~ Florida’s new assessment tool will assess student progress on new Florida Standards ~

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Continuing historic steps to ensure all Florida children have the opportunity to succeed, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart today announced a new test has been selected to replace the FCAT 2.0 exams beginning with the 2014-15 school year.

“The new assessment will measure each child’s progress and achievement on the Florida Standards, which were developed with an unprecedented amount of public input,” said Stewart. “This assessment supports our new standards, which emphasize flexibility for teachers to make their own decisions in classrooms while preparing our students to analyze and think.”
“The selection of our new assessment tool is a critical step forward. Florida students will be assessed on their knowledge of the Florida Standards, which will prepare them for success in college, careers and in life,” said State Board of Education Chairman Gary Chartrand.
In August 2013, Governor Rick Scott convened the state’s top education leaders and bipartisan stakeholders to discuss the sustainability and transparency of the state’s accountability system in a three-day accountability summit.

Using input from the summit, Governor Scott issued Executive Order 13-276, which initiated Florida’s departure from the national PARCC consortium as its fiscal agent, to ensure that the state would be able to procure a test specifically designed for Florida’s needs without federal intervention.

Governor Scott also set out eight goals for the new assessment to ensure the best outcome for Florida students. Among those eight objectives were an emphasis on prompt reports of results, no significant change in testing time for students, no significant increase in costs of the assessments and an assurance that testing dates be as close as possible to the end of the school year to maximize learning opportunities. This assessment meets those goals.

Governor Scott also requested additional public comments about the standards, which resulted in public hearings around the state and thousands of comments from Floridians. In February 2014, the State Board of Education approved changes to the standards that reflected the input. The new Florida Standards for mathematics and English language arts stress a broader approach for student learning, including an increased emphasis on analytical thinking. With the new and more rigorous standards, a new assessment was needed to measure student progress.

The Invitation to Negotiate was posted for public review in October 2013 and proposals were received in December. An evaluation team reviewed five proposals and narrowed the choice to three groups. Subsequently, a negotiation team unanimously recommended the not-for-profit American Institutes for Research (AIR) to Commissioner Stewart, who announced her selection of AIR today.

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