The crime rate per 100,000 residents in Leon county decreased by 15.0% over 2016 numbers.

The table below shows that the violent crime rate – as defined as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – fell by 10.3% and the property crime rate fell by 15.8%.

However, the number of murders in Leon county increased 83% from 12 in 2016 to 22 in 2017.

The total crime rate in the state of Florida fell by 4.5% and also fell in 39 of the state’s 67 counties.

Despite the decrease in the per-capita crime from 2016, Leon county continues to lead the state of Florida in crime rate.

The table below compares the crime rate per 100,000 residents for all counties with a population greater than 200,000.

Tallahassee Reports has previously published stories about Tallahassee having the highest per capita crime rate in the state of Florida in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Those reports can be read here and here and here.

Renovate America has said they are not the target of an FBI investigation, but rather assisting the FBI with issues involving subcontractors. As is normally the case, the FBI is not offering comments.

On August 9th, Leon County announced Renovate America was chosen to participate in the residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) public-private partnership with the Florida Development Finance Corporation (FDFC).

PACE financing allows homeowners to make residential energy efficiency, solar and wind resistance improvements while paying for upgrades over time through their property tax bill. Leon County was one of the first to launch the program.

Renovate America is one of the largest providers of PACE home improvement financing in the nation.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reported the PACE program has been “beset by controversy as homeowners have complained that they didn’t understand their loan terms and can’t afford their debt.”

The average PACE loan is $25,000 and is added to a homeowner’s property bill along with their property taxes. Loans have been bundled into bond deals and sold to asset managers and investors.

On August 15th, less than a week after Leon County’s partnership announcement, the WSJ reported that defaults on PACE loans had increased substantially.

However, a spokeswoman for Renovate America said the partial data gathered by the Journal is more negative than what the company is seeing.

On Sept 26th, the WSJ reported that investigators from the FBI and the SEC were looking into business practices at Renovate America Inc.

While the focus of the FBI inquiry was not known, it was reported that the SEC was investigating loan payments Renovate America made for some borrowers who were struggling with their debt.

Securities laws require companies to disclose all information that investors would consider to be material.

Representatives from Renovate America said they have fully disclosed the SEC request to investors beginning in April and we believe this matter is unlikely to have a material effect on our business.

Also, according to the WSJ, former employees have reported that Renovate America engaged in lending to senior citizens who did not understand their loan terms.

On October 3rd, the WSJ reported Renovate America announced a company-wide shake which included the departure of one of its co-founders and the demotion of another from chief executive to a strategy role.

Alice Vickers, an attorney and the director of Florida Alliance for Consumer Protection, a statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit that advocates for consumer protection, highlighted concerns about PACE only days after the Leon County announcement of the Renovate America partnership.

Ms. Vickers wrote:

A PACE loan is usually not a homeowner’s cheapest alternative for financing home improvements. Data on PACE loans in Florida shows an average rate of 8.05 percent on a 20-year loan. A homeowner generally can receive a home equity line of credit or other mortgage re-financing for much less than the cost of a PACE loan.

PACE loans do not provide the consumer protections mandated for a home mortgage or home equity line of credit. There is no requirement for a determination that the homeowner can repay the loan. There are no Truth in Lending disclosures or requirement that the consumer be given a right to rescind the loan. Also, the consumer is not provided the same protection to assert legal claims and defenses.

TR is seeking comments from Leon County officials about the recent revelations and has submitted a records request focused on information about PACE loans made to Leon County residents.

In fact, recently Florida State University Criminology Professor, Brian Stults, told the Tallahassee Democrat that the presence of a significant number of college students in a community can result in crime rankings that are “very misleading, so we should be careful not to overreact.”

Understanding the rationale of this argument, TR decided to compare UCR crime statistics over the last eight years in Alachua County (pop.257,062), home of Gainesville and a major college, with the crime numbers in Leon County (pop. 287,671).

The findings raise interesting questions.

But first, a sobering statistic.

Over the last three years, Alachua County has reported 10 murders. During that same period, Leon county has reported 50 murders.

Now the analysis.

In 2009 Alachua County had a higher crime rate than Leon County. Alachua County reported 5,004 crimes per 100,000 people during 2009 while Leon County reported 4,671 crimes per 100,000 people.

As with Alachua County, Leon County’s crime numbers were driven by city incidents.

As the graph below shows, since 2009 Alachua County’s crime rate has decreased 39.7% from a rate of 5,004 to 3,582 in 2016.

During the same period, the Leon County crime rate increased 21% from 4,671 to 5,655.

A deep dive into FDLE arrest statistics show that during this period Alachua County reported a higher arrest rate than Leon county.

From 2009 through 2012, Alachua County averaged an arrest rate of  7,600 per 100,000 people. Following this four year period, the crime rate fell from 5,004 to 3,739.

In contrast, from 2009 through 2012, Leon County’s arrest rate averaged 4,319 arrests per 100,000 people – approximately 40% less than Alachua County.

The crime rate in Leon County was relatively flat during this period. However, the arrest rate fell below 4,000 in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and the crime rate spiked to number one in the state of Florida for each year.

These findings should raise questions about the impact of students on the crime rate in Tallahassee. If the presence of a major university has a negative impact on crime stats, why does that impact not show up in Alachua County?

The findings should also raises questions about Tallahassee’s law enforcement strategy. With increasing crime, why are arrests down?

Despite the job losses, the unemployment rate remained at 3.6%. One year ago the unemployment rate was 4.2%. The 3.6% is the lowest unemployment rate reported in Leon County since 2008.

The Leon County Jobs Report, listed below, indicates that 147,798 people were working in May 2017. This is 6,332 (4.5%) more than the 141,466 reported working in May of last year.

Also, the labor force expanded when compared to one year ago. In May 2017, the workforce was 153,316 compared to 147,656 last year.

At the state-level, Florida gained 39,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate decreased from to 4.1% in April to 4.0% in May.

At the national-level, the US gained 145,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1.

The chart below shows that monthly level of jobs in Leon County over the last three years.

However, a statistic buried in the reams of data that escaped media scrutiny was the fact that Leon county was last in the number of cases cleared. Based on FDLE documentation, the majority of cases are cleared by arrests.

The statistics show that Leon County ranks last in cases cleared with a 16.6 rate per 100 offenses.The state average in 2016 was 24.3.

A look at the trend of arrests in Leon county shows that from 2012 to 2016 the arrest rate has declined 29% while the crime rate has increased by 22% during this same period.

The chart below shows the trends in crime rate and arrest rate from 2012 -2016.

With the recent investments made by the city commission in more patrol officers and the consistent increase in crime over the last four years, it would seem logical that arrests would increase.

However, the number of arrests reached a new low in 2016.

Is this a crime fighting strategy? If so, what is the rationale?

Next TR will look at why arrests are down in Leon county and if there is evidence that shows a correlation between arrests and crime rates.

The total crime rate in the state of Florida fell by 4.4% and also fell in 41 of the state’s 67 counties.

The good news for Leon County is the violent crime rate fell 11% from a rate of 829.7 to a rate of  734.2. The state violent crime rate fell 3.5% from a rate of 455.3 to a rate of 439.2.

The violent crime rate includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

TR is evaluating the violent crime state ranking. Preliminary analysis shows Leon County ranks #1 in violent crime rate for counties with a population above 50,000.

The ten counties with the highest total crime rate are shown below. Source can viewed here.

Also, listed below is the detail of crime statistics for Leon County. It must be noted that when FDLE separated out reporting law enforcement jurisdictions, the Tallahassee Police Department reported a 9.0% increase in the crime rate while the Leon County Sheriff’s Department reported a .7% increase in the crime rate.

Tallahassee Reports has previously published stories about Tallahassee having the highest per capita crime rate in the state of Florida in 2014 and 2015. Those reports can be read here and here.

Check back for updates.

Leon county led the state in per capita crime in 2014 and 2015. See our previous report here.

For Leon county, the crime index increased 9.5% during the first six months of 2016 over the same period in 2015. The increase was driven by a 12.0% increase in property crimes like burglary and larceny.

In Leon County violent crime was down by 12.7%. This included decreases in murders (-37.5%), rapes (-1.5%), and aggravated assaults (-19.1%). Robberies were up 20%.

Property crimes in Leon county were driven by a 33.5% increase in motor-vehicle theft.

In contrast to the Leon County trend, the data shows that crime decreased in Florida when compared to the same time period during 2015.

For the first half of 2016, the state of Florida experienced a 3.4% decrease in the crime index.

The overall decrease in the state was lead by a 3.6% decrease in property crimes and a 3.3% decrease in violent crime. However, the state-wide violent crime decrease was driven by a decline in aggravated assaults and robberies. Both murders (15.2%) and rapes (1.9%) increased at the state-level.

Selected Leon County statistics for first six months 2016:

• Rapes decreased by 1.57%, from 134 offenses to 132. At the state level, rapes increased by 6.1%.
• Robbery increased by 20.0%, from 185 offenses to 222. At the state level, robbery was down by 5.6%.
• Aggravated assaults decreased by 19.1% from 873 offenses to 706. At the state level, aggravated assaults increased by 3.3%.
• Motor vehicle theft increased by 33.5% from 448 offenses to 598. At the state level, vehicle theft increased by 4.4%.

Check back for updates.

Capitol Alliance Group has been the County’s state lobbyist since 2008 and is now seeking a $20,000 increase in their annual contract which expires in September. The current contract pays Capitol Alliance Group $50,000.

In the request submitted by Jeff Sharkey, the managing partner of Capitol Alliance Group, to Vince Long, the County Administrator, Mr. Sharkey writes about their lobbying successes and then speaks of the low fees the group has charged over the last three years in justifying an increase.

Mr. Sharkey offers support for his “low fee” argument by writing, “By comparison, we would note that the City’s legislative lobbying contract is more than two and half times the county’s contract amount.”

Mr. Sharkey seems to be correct in stating Capitol Alliance Group fees are lower.

In 2015 TR did a story comparing local government lobby fees. The comparison revealed that the fees paid by Leon County government were the lowest. The table is included below and the full report can be read here.

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The City of Tallahassee pays $130,000 per year while Lakeland spends $56,580, Gainesville spends $60,000 and the City of Tallahassee’s sister government, Leon County, spends $50,000.

The issue is scheduled to be addressed at the Leon County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, May 24th.

The issue is scheduled to be voted on at the next City Commission meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

Based on the documents provided, the start-up businesses to be funded have yet to be identified and the City of Tallahassee will not receive an equity stake in any of the businesses.

DOMI station is a business incubator with a mission to support and nurture entrepreneurs to help diversify and expand the local economy and to provide a venue to retain local talent.

In May 2014, the  Leon County Commission allocated $250,000 to renovate a building off of Gaines Street which became the home for DOMI Station. The county retained ownership of the building and is leasing space to DOMI Ventures.

DOMI Station offers a  “Get Started” program. The “Get Started” program is a four month business development and support program which allows entrepreneurs to develop and implement their business plan.  Tuition for the program is $5,000 per participant and DOMI Ventures has asked the City to support five participants.

Business incubators have become the economic development focus of state and local governments across the country.

Incubators are typically partnerships sponsored by pro-business organizations, such as local colleges and universities, county governments and municipalities, economic development organizations and for-profit ventures.

For example, the Orange County Commission, located in Central Florida, recently  agreed to provide seed funding of $100,000 to a business incubator.

Over the past five years there has been a renaissance of business incubators, with new models emerging all over the world to serve the unique needs of entrepreneurs.

Despite this renaissance, there are questions about the effectiveness of business incubators. For example,  an article by a group focused on entrepreneurship research raises questions about the success of incubators. The article can be reviewed here (note the comments at the end of the article.)

Other articles about the successes and failures of business incubators can be found in the New York Times and Forbes magazine.

Based on its 2015 annual report, DOMI Station supported start-up businesses which generated $2.9 million in revenue and created 30 full-time jobs with average salaries of $40,000. The names of the start-up business that created these jobs were not provided in the public documents provided by City staff.

You can review more information about the 2015 activities of DOMI Station here.

Leon county led the state in per capita crime in 2014. See our previous report here.

In contrast to the Leon County trend, the data shows that crime decreased in Florida when compared to the same time period during 2014.

For the first half of 2015, the state of Florida experienced a 2.2% decrease in the crime index. The crime index measures all crimes.

The overall decrease in the state was lead by declines in property crimes like burglary and larceny.

Violent crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault increased by 2.2%

For Leon county, the crime index increased 5.1% during the first six months of 2015 over same period in 2014. Both property crimes and violent crimes increased in Leon county.

Violent crimes increased by 15.2%. This category was led by a 32% increase in rapes from 102 incidents in 2014 to 134 incidents in 2015.

Property crimes in Leon county increased by 3.3%. This category was lead by a 25.5% increase in motor-vehicle theft. In 2014 there were 357 motor-vehicle thefts compared to 448 motor-vehicle thefts in 2015.

The Leon County motor-vehicle theft rate  increased three times faster than at the state-level, which increased by 8.2%.

Listed below are crime rate changes in five North Florida counties and the state of Florida.

The table can be sorted by clicking on columns.

[table id=37 /]

The table shows that Leon county is ranked second among the North Florida  group in the total crimes category and is ranked first in violent crimes.

This method results in a regressive ‘tax’ which means more money is leaving poorer neighborhoods than would if a traditional approach of paying for fire service was in place.

Given the demographics of our community, this also means that this approach disproportionately affects black neighborhoods.

These findings are of particular significance given the local debate on income inequality and the recent increase in the fire service fee approved by Leon county and the City of Tallahassee.

How did this policy get implemented? What is the financial impact of the fee on the economically challenged sections of our community? And, what are the politics behind this policy?

This is the first of a three part series that will focus on these questions and more.

Same Fire Service Fee for Different Sized Homes with Different Values 

Instead of paying for fire services through property taxes, a fire service fee was established by the city commission on October 1, 1999. Leon County officials opted not to implement the fee for county residents, but rather, to continue its payment for fire services.

In October 2009, new rates were negotiated and approved by the city and county commissions. In addition, Leon County government adopted a fire service fee for county residents.

In 2015, a new study provided support for another increase, which raised an additional $8 million county-wide. Our detailed report can be found here.

For residential dwellings, the fee approach coupled with the new rates adopted by the City and County results in outcomes that raises serious questions about fairness.

For example, a 400 square-foot mobile home in Paradise Village valued at $11,000, a 1,000 square-foot home in Appalachee Ridge neighborhood valued at $50,000, and a 4,000 square-foot home in Betton Hills valued at $550,000 all pay the same $201 annual fire service fee. See comparison below.

All Three Properties Listed Below Pay the Same Fire Service Fee

____________

_____________

_____________

And consider this: in a quadraplex with four 1,000 square feet apartments, as shown below, each renter pays $201 ($804 per building) while the owner of a 4,000 square-foot home pays $201.

Is the Fire Service Fee Equitable?

Common sense would say the costs associated with controlling a fire at an 800 square-foot mobile home would be less than extinguishing a fire at a 4,000 square-foot home in Betton Hills.

And in fact, the fire service fee study produced for the City recognizes this by establishing different rates for office buildings based on square footage.

For example, a commercial building under 2,000 square feet pays 50% less than a commercial building that is 4,000 square feet.

However, the City did not use this approach with residential dwellings, but most other local governments do consider size and value when financing fire service.

For example, in Gainesville, Florida 50% of fire service costs are raised by property taxes and 50% is funded by a fire service fee. The fire service fee component takes into account the size of the residential structure.

In addition, Gainesville offers payment options for those that face economic hardship and those that live in mobile homes. Get specific details here.

TR was told no such options exist in Tallahassee.

Also, during the middle of last year, the Lakeland City Council considered a fire service fee to fund 50% of fire service costs.

The proposed fee structure was based on the size of a residential dwelling. Ultimately, the fee approach was rejected by the City Council amid protests by citizens, the local Chamber and coverage by the Lakeland Ledger. Get more details here.

So why did our leaders elect this approach and what is the financial impact of the policy?

In our next report, we document how the fire serve fee approach implemented by our local government has resulted in millions of dollars leaving poor neighborhood when compared to the less regressive approach adopted by most other cities in Florida.

As is with most local government press releases, the information was positive.

However, TR had questions about information provide by the Tallahassee Democrat based on the press release.

Tamaryn Waters, a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, wrote that over the last five years tourism in Leon county increased by 40%. The exact quote is listed below.

More visitors flocked to Tallahassee and pumped money into restaurants, hotels and activities over the last five years than ever before, resulting in a 40-percent increase in local tourism.

Given the fact that airline traffic is down over the last two years and job growth has been up then flat then down, TR was puzzled by the 40% increase in tourism.

Since then, TR has taken an in-depth look at the tourism/visitor information by reviewing publicly available data and talking with  local officials and tourism consultants.

This is what we learned.

First, there is no data available that shows tourism increased 40%.

Second, consultants told TR their focus is on visitors, not tourists, when evaluating the economic impact of travelers to our community. In other words, the economic analysis does not differentiate between business visitors and people who are here for a concert at Cascades Park.

Third, due to various methodologies, it is difficult to compare certain types of information, like the number of visitors, across different years.

So, what independent information can give an indication of how Tallahassee is fairing as a “destination.”

Visit Tallahassee provided TR with a consultant survey that estimates hotel occupancy. The chart below shows annual occupancy rates.

The information shows a steady increase in hotel occupancy from 2009 through 2014. Hotel occupancy increased from 50.7% in 2009 to 60.4 % in 2014. That is a 5 year increase of approximately 19.1%.

TR also pulled the taxable sales data for lodging in Leon county from the Florida Department of Revenue. The chart below shows the taxable sales for lodging in Leon county from 2009 -2014.

The information is consistent with the hotel occupancy information provided above. Taxable sales for lodging increased from $79.8 million in 2009 to 103.8 million in 2014. That is an increase of approximately 30%.

The information shows that the number of visitors to Leon county has steadily increased over the last five years. It is important to note that it is difficult to determine if these visitors are here for business, tourism, or a football game.

However, the bottom line is that while a number of economic indicators are headed in the wrong direction in Leon county, the number of visitors to Leon county has increased over the last five years and that has provided a much needed positive economic impact for a number of local businesses.