In fiscal year 2007-08, the county issued just 397 single-family home permits, an 835 percent drop from the boom years of 2004-05. ...more

December 18, 2008

The rapid rate of foreclosures in Florida is starting to change the way county property appraisers do business, and the result could mean a change in home values and property tax bills next year. ...more

December 10, 2008

The rapid rate of foreclosures in Florida is starting to change the way county property appraisers do business, and the result could mean a change in home values and property tax bills next year. The long-held wisdom of county appraisers was to ignore foreclosures when setting property values. But that's all about to change, according to Rob Turner, Hillsborough County property appraiser. ...more

December 9, 2008

Back in late May and early June, Highlands County government officials, home builders and real estate agents talked about the possibility of an advertising campaign targeting coastal areas to promote home buying in Highlands County. ...more

December 2, 2008

During the last few years, I have contacted the Highlands County Property Appraiser's office concerning the increased appraised value on properties in the county. I asked the question repeatedly, "since you are raising them drastically during this housing bubble, will you lower them as drastically when the bottom falls out of the housing market?" Their answer, Oh yes, we will definitely lower them if that happens. Well fellow residents, have you seen any drop in your appraised value? According to the newspaper, TV and radio, prices of homes in Florida have dropped 20-40 percent in the last year. When exactly do you think they are going to do what they told us they were going to do? If any of you are in agreement with me and others I have spoke to, please let's join together and force our county officials to live up to what they are suppose to do. ...more

November 14, 2008

Florida voters last January approved Amendment One, which mandated an extra $25,000 homestead exemption on top of an existing $25,000 tax exemption on homestead properties. ...more

November 11, 2008

Settle down, supporters of President-elect Barack Obama. The headline above is not a prediction of what the Obama administration, backed by a solidly Democratic Congress, will accomplish. We've learned from decades of political observing not to place much value in the campaign promises of presidential candidates. They haven't help much when trying to predict what they will do once in the Oval Office. ...more

November 8, 2008

3:03 p.m.: Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Rob Turner is in the midst of a final push to get out the vote. He is visiting voting precincts from one end of the county to the other. ...more

November 4, 2008

West Coast 'Lite' Regarding "Clean Florida's Air with New Rules" (Our Opinion, Oct. 24): ...more

November 2, 2008

A Tampa home was badly damaged by a fire this morning. Residents managed to get out of a burning two-story single-family house at 308 W. Francis Ave., said Capt. Bill Wade of Tampa Fire Rescue. ...more

October 31, 2008