Hi, kids!

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the news and newsmakers of the day who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life or detracted from it in some significant way…

Hey, Volusia.  Where did the money go?

In the 1940 Looney Toons cartoon “Of Fox and Hounds,” the dim-witted but loveable hound, Willoughby (in our parody, Volusia County taxpayers), and the sly fox, “George” (played to perfection by County Manager George “The Wreck” Recktenwald).

During a fox hunt, the hapless Willoughby runs into the forest intent on finding a fox – except he is clearly oblivious to what a fox actually looks like – searching every tree he comes to.  When Willoughby runs into his new friend George, he repeatedly asks where the fox went.  

Of course, George gives Willoughby directions to a rail fence, ensuring him the fox is on the other side which invariably sends Willoughby off the edge of a steep cliff.

All the while, Willoughby never suspects that his “friend” George is the fox…

“Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?”

I was reminded of that farcical comedy last week when Volusia County’s Chief Financial Officer Ryan “The Alchemist” Ossowski – the greatest illusionist since Harry Houdini – presented various mind-numbing PowerPoint slides showing forecasts for Solid Waste, Volusia ECHO, Volusia Forever, Mosquito Control, Ponce Inlet Port District and County Transportation Trust funds, along with the county’s capital projects plan.

Like a game of Three-Card Monte, none of it makes sense. 

Because it’s not supposed to – and despite their contemplative head-nodding – our elected officials are just as clueless as the rest of us. 

Last year at this time, a similar forecast showed the $3.5 million in Volusia ECHO funds (for “planning purposes”) which was later approved to fund Councilman Don Dempsey’s pet motorcross facility and lashed to the controversial expenditure of Volusia Forever conservation funds to purchase 356 acres of cow pasture to put it on…

Then came the inevitable doom and gloom when Ossowski began prepping the budgetary battlefield with scary stories of reduced federal funding for expenditures we already pay for.

In an article by reporter Sheldon Gardner writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal last week, we learned:

“The county is bracing for spending cuts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency plays a key role in helping fund major — and sometimes very expensive — projects to repair and strengthen communities after a storm.

“Current guidance that we’ve been getting from FEMA is that they’re going to be pulling back on especially non-public-safety-critical items like (beaches) and parks,” Ossowski said.

Big projects are coming up, too.  

The county’s five-year capital projects plan includes a new Volusia County Sheriff’s Office headquarters for $30 million, a new Mosquito Control facility for over $23.9 million, which officials plan to finance; and a landfill expansion for over $20.1 million.”

Whoa.

For the record, Volusia County now operates with an astronomical annual budget of over $1.3 billion. 

You read that right.  

Following Tropical Storm Ian, the county established the Transform386 program to allocate an additional $328.9 million in Community Development Block Grant funds received as part of a massive federal assistance package. 

In January, it was reported that the U.S. Housing and Urban Development awarded Volusia County $133.5 million in Hurricane Milton relief… 

It doesn’t end there. 

Last year, the county brought in some $391 million in property tax revenue, in addition to various other taxes, fees, state and federal grants and allocations, funds carried over from the previous budget year, etc. 

Add to that the county’s pernicious process of dipping into tax supported Volusia Forever and ECHO funds under a “direct county expenditure” program (read: sneak thievery) where repair, replacement, and capital improvement projects that are normally budgeted for annually are instead funded with millions in looted conservation and passive outdoor recreation funds. 

In my view, the county’s expenditure program is “Exhibit A” in the case against the proposed “stormwater and flooding” half-cent sales tax money grab that is slowly being resuscitated from the ash heap of bad ideas by a political insulation committee of county/city officials. 

Bullshit.                   

I harp on this a lot, but the last time the Volusia CEO Business Alliance and others – in confederacy with their friends in municipal and county government – tried to sell us on a sales tax increase, it was ostensibly to fund transportation infrastructure. 

Remember?  I do.

Unfortunately, our ‘powers that be’ approved malignant sprawl at a rate that has now exceeded our transportation needs while ignoring critical infrastructure concurrency requirements – something that should be prosecuted as criminal negligence – and allowing environmentally destructive slash-burn-fill-and-build construction practices to flood existing residents across the width and breadth of Volusia County. 

Typically, engineers, planners, and growth management experts call that a compounding problem – something to avoid – a situation where added factors exacerbate an existing problem, making problems worse or more complicated. Example: The heavy rain compounded the problem of development-induced changes to the topography of the land, causing extensive flood damage to existing houses, businesses, and roads…

Now, those self-described “fiscal conservatives” on the dais of power in DeLand are being “prepared” by senior staff for a new budget year – and still no substantive road improvements, major utility upgrades, effective stormwater management, or the countless other must haves necessary to keep pace with development. 

Just more Taj Mahal facilities, upgrades, and comforts that benefit the bureaucracy, or the pet projects of shameless elected officials who know better, and the inevitable salary and benefit increases for senior staff which ensures they don’t have to feel the same pain their constituents experience.

In my view, it is time for Volusia County taxpayers to ask these pompous asses the tough questions, like, “Where did it go, George?” and “When is this bloated, lethargic, and obese monstrosity of a bureaucracy going to stand on its own two feet?

To quote the loveable dupe Willoughby after his “friend” sent him off the cliff, “Thanks a lot, George, thanks a lot…”

City of Bunnell – A Threatened Community Fights Back

“A development of this size has the potential to change the entire character of our city.”

–Bunnell Vice Mayor John Rogers, Monday, June 9, 2025

The request by a Jacksonville-based developer was the largest in modern history:

An 8,000-home monstrosity, to include an 800 space RV community, blanketing over 2,800 acres between SR-100 and SR-11 west of the community of Bunnell.  A life altering project which, among other massive impacts on existing residents, was expected to increase traffic from the current 8,817 daily trips to an obscene 81,943 trips per day on area roadways at build out… 

The controversial project has been declared the Reserve at Haw Creek – one of those cockamamie appellations that only a real estate marketing group could manufacture – a signature that always seems the exact opposite of what the development represents, is the single largest planned unit development proposed for Flagler County since ITT’s Palm Coast.   

There was nothing reserved about it…                

Once finished, the gargantuan Reserve at Haw Creek would increase the population of the City of Bunnell by 500% – forever changing the quaint culture and small town feel of the closeknit community – leaving residents rightfully concerned about traffic congestion, density, schools, flooding, infrastructure, environmental impacts, and their quiet quality of life.

To their credit, threatened citizens of Bunnell and its rural areas banded together early to fight for their small community at every step of the process. 

On Monday evening, citizens turned out en masse to voice their vehement opposition to “The Reserve” before the Bunnell City Commission – while a representative for the developer schmoozed the elected officials with tales of riches beyond their local-yokel comprehension.

According to an article in FlaglerLive.com this week:

“Yes, you will have to hire staff. Yes, you will have to maintain the sewer plants, the water plants down the road,” Grim said. “But you can have millions of dollars coming in to pay a few $100,000 worth of salaries.” It was a shocking misrepresentation: the city’s costs in added staff, added police, added firefighters, fire trucks, police cars and operational costs manyfold more than its current budget supports would be in the tens of millions of dollars.

The public comments were invariably brutal to the proposal. “The bigger picture of all of this is flooding, flooding, flooding, flooding,” Melanie Brian said. “I don’t care what St John’s Water Management says. I live there. I live right there. We had 3 feet is all I had left before that water entered my home just this last hurricane, just the last hurricane. And that is including the trees that are still there. So now you’re going to rip all that out. I’m going to have water in my house. It’s going to happen. I don’t care what they say on development. What is in black and white on a piece of paper is not what really happens.”  

At the end of a long evening, the Bunnell City Commission voted 4-1 to reject the proposed development, marking a rare victory for long-suffering “Fun Coast” residents who have literally been steamrolled by real estate developers armed with “voluntary regulations,” lucrative incentives, and state legislation that has all but preempted local control of future growth.  

Unfortunately, the David v. Goliath fight against the Reserve at Haw Creek is far from over. 

The developer now has 30-days to file an appeal in Circuit Court… 

Stay tuned.  This one bear’s watching.

Quote of the Week

“Gov. Ron DeSantis is giving a vote of confidence to the University of Florida Board of Trustees, even after they advanced a failed pick for President of the state’s flagship school.

DeSantis has reappointed Mori Hosseini and Fred Ridley to the Board, even after both men were part of the unanimous vote in favor of Santa Ono.

The state Board of Governors (BOG) summarily rejected Ono amid concerns about his adherence to left-wing ideology like diversity, equity and inclusion, and a firestorm from people on the Right, including onetime DeSantis favorite Christopher Rufo, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and Donald Trump Jr.

The Governor offered weak criticisms of Ono, saying past comments made him “cringe,” but expressed confidence in the Trustees publicly before the BOG spiked their pick. Even after it was final, though, the usually outspoken DeSantis avoided saying anything relevant about the controversy, a measure of the political complications he faced.

Hosseini has been one of DeSantis’ most influential supporters since his run for Governor in 2018, with the Governor backing a $92 million highway interchange at the ICI Homes developer’s behest. In turn, DeSantis enjoyed private flights and a golf simulator at Hosseini’s expense.”

–Reporter A. G. Gancarski, writing in FloridaPolitics.com, one of the most respected media outlets covering government, politics, policy, and lobbying in the Sunshine State, “Gov. DeSantis reappoints Mori Hosseini, Fred Ridley to UF Board of Trustees despite Santa Ono snit,” Tuesday, June 9, 2025

Wait.  Did I read that right?

“…with the Governor backing a $92 million highway interchange at the ICI Homes developer’s behest. In turn, DeSantis enjoyed private flights and a golf simulator at Hosseini’s expense.”

Wow. No mincing words, no “allegedly,” no chocolates and flowers…

In most places that value good governance, that shocking revelation of quid pro quo politics by a respected Northeast Florida journalist would have resulted in outrage from those who pay the bills.

The acknowledgment that massively expensive infrastructure beneficial to well-heeled benefactors is up for sale to the chum who offers the best spiffs, like private jets and expensive toys. But not here.

We’ve become inured to the stench of transactional politics in Tallahassee. 

Florida.  The biggest whorehouse in the world. 

The rules truly are different here…

And Another Thing!

One need look no further than the Lost City of Deltona – now the largest municipality in Volusia County by population – for all the frightening earmarks of a city in crisis.  

A key symptom of a civic malignancy on the heart of a community is when the elected body cannot form a quorum; and it appears the majority of those the taxpayers of Deltona cast their sacred vote for simply cannot be bothered to show up…   

Or is there something more sinister at play?

According to a report by Al Everson writing in the West Volusia Beacon last week, in the hours prior to the Deltona City Commission’s June 2 meeting, City Clerk Joyce Raftery began receiving calls from elected officials begging off that evening’s public meeting, “They said they had family issues. One didn’t feel well.”   

Huh.  It’s almost as if someone coordinated it, eh? 

In total, four of the seven, including Mayor Santiago Avila Jr., abdicated their sworn obligation to conduct the people’s business – a position for which they receive public funds to serve in the public interest – which means the City Commission failed to achieve a quorum, and the meeting had to be cancelled.

Why the last-minute exodus?

In the Beacon’s report we learned, “Among the items on the agenda of the June 2 meeting were an ordinance to ban the opening of new medical-marijuana dispensaries in Deltona and consideration of a moratorium on new development. The proposed moratorium on new construction and development follows from stormwater problems in various parts of the city, especially after hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 and Hurricane Milton last October.

Ahh.  The old ‘one-two’ of the “M” word and Impact Fees…   

According to an excellent report by WFTV-9 reporter Demie Johnson, “Hundreds of new homes have already been approved in the city so far this year, according to Commissioner Dori Howington. Meanwhile, hundreds of existing homes are still dealing with the effects of flooding from the past few storm seasons.

“We can’t sustain that with the infrastructure we have, and if we aren’t charging enough in impact fees, then the developers aren’t doing it which means our residents have to pick up the pieces,” said Howington.

Howington said the cost to develop in Deltona hasn’t gone up in a decade. It’s an issue the city has been working to address since December. Because there hasn’t been much movement, she’s suggesting a temporary pause on building altogether.”

In turn, Commissioner Howington made a valiant effort to call for a special meeting of the Deltona City Commission. 

Unfortunately, her attempts were ignored…      

Last Friday, Greg Gimbert, administrator of the popular social media civic forum Volusia Issues, expressed the concerns of many when he asked Volusia County Councilman David “No Show” Santiago – who many believe is the behind-the-scenes Pied Piper of Deltona Politics – why his wife, Deltona Commissioner Emma “No Show II” Santiago, and his acolyte Mayor Avila, failed to appear? 

“It’s frustrating to watch people take the check but not do the job. Thank you for adding them. David Santiago do you think you can get your wife and your boy to show up for work?”

In a revealing reply, Councilman Santiago explained:

“My wife is an independent woman who makes her own decisions. Not sure what you mean by my boy. Maybe there is a possibility they disagree with what Dori is proposing? Maybe they feel this doesn’t need a special emergency meeting and could be addressed at the next regularly scheduled meeting and save tax dollars? Maybe this is all to build up someone’s popularity tactics. Maybe people are waiting to see what the Governor is going to do with SB 180 which can make this a waste of time? One thing that I do know is that I don’t speculate and or guess what others think because most of the time it’s incorrect. Have a good day.”

Disturbing. 

I have a few “what ifs” of my own, like maybe someone functioned as a conduit to prevent a quorum and circumvent the discussion of impact fees and a development moratorium?

Or maybe they took a page out of Councilman “No Show” Santiago’s pernicious political playbook – sitting on their ass, refusing to participate, and spinelessly sidestepping controversial issues until they see which way the political wind is blowing?   

In a curious twist, during a workshop on Monday evening, the Deltona City Commission took action to direct that an ordinance authorizing a nine-month building moratorium be drafted for consideration – to include a timeline for approving the measure before July 1 – along with provisions for repealing the measure should a developer sue the city (inevitably).

According to Commissioner Howington, the city currently has 23 development applications awaiting approval, and “The proposal for a temporary moratorium puts a pause on everything new coming at us,” she said. “It does not impact commercial or industrial development.”

“I’m hearing from residents. They want to take a pause.”

In a follow-up report by the West Volusia Beacon, we learned, “The vote was 5-0. Two members of the governing body, Vice Mayor Davison Heriot and Commissioner Emma Santiago, were absent.”

Go figure…

During the workshop, Deltona’s City Attorney Gemma Torcivia stressed the importance of having a quorum at the required special meetings to ensure timely action on the moratorium.

Time will tell. 

Perhaps last week’s exodus from the dais by Deltona officials was just another symptom of the epidemic of mass political cowardice – the inability of compromised elected officials to take a position in front of their frightened, frustrated, and claustrophobic constituents – taxpayers desperate for solutions to the disastrous effects of overdevelopment?  

In my view, that virulent malady seems to be spreading like a cancer through councils and commissions across Volusia County…

That’s all for me.  Have a great weekend, y’all!