In a letter to Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph called on the legislature to adopt an ethics law prohibiting all tax collectors, their employees and their immediate family from bidding at tax certificate and tax deed sales. The letter comes on the heels of new media reports from WFTV-Orlando that suggest the Seminole County Tax Collector filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement asking to determine whether a former tax collector used his official office for personal gain.
“Although alleged, this complaint does highlight an opportunity for improving ethical standards for Florida tax collector offices around the state,” Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph wrote to Senate President Negron and Speaker Corcoran. “The alleged wrongdoing can be prevented with a change in Florida law.”
The accusations center around tax certificate sales, which each county tax collector administers annually to recuperate unpaid property taxes. Each year in Orange County and across the state, millions of dollars in property taxes go unpaid after the annual March 31 deadline. Rather than borrowing or drastically cutting services to fill the revenue gap, Florida law requires county tax collectors to auction off the unpaid taxes on each property to investors willing to pay the delinquent bills in exchange for a certificate that is eventually paid back by the property owner with interest. Most investors receive a 5% return on their investment.
According to media reports, a former tax collector in Seminole County allegedly participated in tax certificate auctions, an action Randolph says is prohibited in Orange County thanks to a long-standing ethics policy instituted by his office. Randolph’s policy states that “employees of the Orange County Tax Collector [including the tax collector him-or-herself] are prohibited from bidding at either the Tax Certificate Sale or the Tax Deed Sale in Orange County.” The policy is in place to prevent conflicts of interest and insider bidding. Employees of tax collector offices have access to information that could give them an advantage over other bidders.
Randolph said a statewide law like his policy in Orange County is needed to maintain public trust in the tax auction system. “Many in the public have lost faith in their government, and that’s a shame,” Randolph said. “Taxpayers, not just in Orange County, but across Florida, deserve an auction process that is conducted in an ethical, fair and transparent manner. I’m hopeful the legislature will pass this important ethics law.”
