The Tax Collector's Corner is a piece written and submitted to the local newspapers for print. This article is a message to the community of Santa Rosa County from Robert G. McClure, Santa Rosa Tax Collector.

Published: 7/16/08
E-Mail: rmcclure@srctc.com

As your Santa Rosa County Tax Collector, I would like to take this opportunity to inform everyone of our current status regarding the recent 2008 Delinquent Tax Certificate Sale.  This sale was held on Friday May 30^th and we sold 3,191 Certificates representing $4,751,610.12 in taxes to the successful bidders.  Due to various factors the average winning interest rate which was bid was a little over 14.5%, this is in contrast to last year’s winning interest rate bid of a little over 4%.  The economy and the current real estate market played significant roles in the increased interest rate from last year to this year.  A secondary result to these factors is that currently there are 2,021 unsold Certificates which no bidder expressed any interest in and no bids were placed thereon.  These represent nearly $1.5 million in taxes.  Per Florida law these unsold certificates have been “struck off” to the county.  However, since there were so many unsold Certificates, not only in Santa Rosa County but throughout the entire state, we are working with the Florida Department of Revenue to investigate potential avenues to sell these unsold Certificates from the County to individuals.  We anticipate having an answer in the near future and will publicize any future sales, which would possibly be held either via the internet or over the counter, in local papers and on our website.  Anyone who has an interest in possibly obtaining these Certificates are welcome to visit our website at www.robertmcclure.com or call us at 983-1800 for additional updates and details. 

As always, thank you for allowing me and my staff to serve you.

Robert G. McClure, CFC