September 21, 2026

CITRUS COUNTY, FL — Today, TripleDippers.org released a comprehensive forensic audit of public employee leave banks and compensation rosters, revealing systemic stockpiling of taxpayer-funded time off. The analysis exposes hundreds of bureaucrats hoarding hundreds—and in some cases thousands—of hours of unused leave, creating an artificial financial liability that drains public resources and artificially increases public pension calculations.

“By capping banked leave at 60 hours—mirroring private sector standards—we not only protect public safety by ensuring employees take the necessary time off for work-life balance, but we also unlock the millions needed to deliver meaningful property tax cuts to our residents,”

concluded Dave Jaye, Lead Researcher, https://tripledippers.org which has been documenting and exposing Citrus County Politician and Bureaucrat Pension bonus abuses since 2022

“This taxpayer burden is compounded by a stark economic disparity: 85% of private-sector workers and taxpayers do not have a traditional pension, yet taxpayers are forced to pay guaranteed public employee pension bonuses and life-long pensions,”
said Dave Jaye

To protect hardworking taxpayers and restore government accountability, Tripledippers.org is proposing two critical fiscal reforms:

1. Enforce a strict 60-hour cap on banked leave, aligning government operations with modern private-sector standards.
2. Mandate that all banked leave be paid out at the salary rate in effect when the hours were earned, eliminating the outrageous taxpayer rip-off of cashing out accumulated time at inflated final-year salaries.

The Problem: Multi-Thousand-Hour Stockpiles and Pension Spiking

In the private sector, companies enforce strict use-it-or-lose-it policies or modest carryover limits (typically 40 to 80 hours) to encourage work-life balance and control corporate liabilities. In stark contrast, local government records reveal extreme hoarding:

Across Citrus County alone, 666 County employees exceed the 60-hour threshold, holding thousands of hours of paid time off that represent a massive, hidden liability for taxpayers.

“This taxpayer burden is compounded by a stark economic disparity: 85% of private-sector workers and taxpayers do not have a traditional pension, yet taxpayers are forced to pay guaranteed public employee pension bonuses and life-long pensions,”
said Dave Jaye

“Allowing bureaucrats and politicians to cash out these massive reserves at their peak career salaries—rather than the wage rates when the time was earned—artificially takes more money from taxpayers and spikes their final-year compensation. Because public pensions are calculated using these inflated terminal earnings, taxpayers are forced to fund outsized, lifetime pension payouts for retired politicians and bureaucrats,”
noted tax advocate Sabrina Watson, host of Citrus County investigative reports at https://rumble.com/c/286Sunshine

“It is fundamentally unfair that 85% of hardworking taxpayers have no pension of their own, yet they are forced to finance guaranteed pensions, social security matches, and bloated leave payouts for government bureaucrats, said Dave Jaye.

William Lafamme, Engineer in Training, has proven to be a quick study in ripping off taxpayers, as he has accumulated 1,159 hours of banked days off, almost 29 weeks as a trainee—the 9^th highest number of banked days off in Citrus County Government, tied with another William Laflamme, Medium Equipment Operator.   Banking 29 weeks of days off puts as a Trainee at public safety risk and does not ensure this young man has a healthy work-life balance. Citrus County Government policy must change to impose limits of 40 hours of banking hours off for newer employees and 60 hours banked for senior employees.”  Citrus County Administrator Steve Howard, s is leading by example this raid on Taxpayer money with the Banked hours taxpayer rip off. Howard alary $229,904, annual Benefits $92,000 est. has piled up 1,148 hours of banked time off in less than 4 years on the job. Howard who started his job driving back and forth from Camden County Georgia, 1,148 hours, 28.7 weeks, is the 11^th highest banked hour hoearder out of over 800 Citrus County Employees. The BOCC must insist that County Administrator Howard and other employees have a work-family life balance and not risk safety of taxpayer and artificially taking more money from Citrus County Property taxes.

“Triple Dippers refers to Florida politicians and bureaucrats who file fake retirement paperwork and for 8 years collect a pension and a paycheck at the same time to do the same job while not paying the standard 3% of their salary to the Florida Retirement System (FRS). But taxpayers are forced to pay 22.02% of these triple dippers’ salaries from property taxes to the FRS! “Cashing out unused days off at their final highest salary is the cherry on top of a pension bonus system taxpayer rip-off,” said Dave Jaye.

See the statewide list of 32,259 Florida politicians and bureaucrats collecting over $9.9 billion in public pension bonuses at https://tripledippers.org/fl-statewide-tripledippers-dec-2025/

“Florida’s public pension bonus system has created a $39 billion unfunded state pension liability, approximately $1,725 to be paid by every Florida resident.” 303 Florida cities, fire and special districts formed their own expensive Retirement system to collect pension bonuses 50% to 80% higher than the Florida Retirement System. Eliminating Florida pension bonuses could fund property tax relief!” concluded Dave Jaye.

Stay tuned to Citrus County investigative reports at https://rumble.com/c/286Sunshine urged Sabrina Watson.

Research & Data Sources

The official research reports and data publications from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the national compensation surveys supporting these benchmarks are available at the following links:

BLS National Compensation Survey (Paid Sick Leave & Carryover Provisions): https://www.bls.gov/ebs/factsheets/paid-sick-leave.htm

BLS The Economics Details (Private Industry Leave Statistics & Carryover Breakdown): https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/86-percent-of-private-industry-transportation-and-warehousing-workers-had-paid-sick-leave-in-2023.htm

BLS National Compensation Survey Overview:

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/86-percent-of-private-industry-transportation-and-warehousing-workers-had-paid-sick-leave-in-2023.htm

https://thecapitolist.com/frs-double-dip-retirement-expansion-will-make-it-harder-for-private-sector-to-compete-with-state/

Citrus County Board of County Commissioners Record Request PRR-2026-959

Contact: Dave Jaye, Researcher | 586-488-5177 | dave.jaye55@gmail.com