Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh should answer these 5 questions about the ongoing debate in regards to moving the Tax Collector’s & Property Appraisers office from the costly & hard to access SunTrust building in Downtown Orlando.
By Jacob Engels
1. What options has the property appraiser offered to the county besides trading one ivory tower for another one to be built at a later date — costing taxpayer millions in the meantime to stay in the SunTrust building.
2. If the property owner agreed to repair the roofs and AC and take down the cost would he agree to it then – since it will be the least expensive option?
3. Has the property appraiser ever been open to mobile offices — even perhaps using existing tax collector offices as mobile offices throughout Orange County?
4. Does the property appraiser have a log of how many taxpayers actually go to the downtown location? If he has seen an increase, what has he done to modernize operations like offering online options to let taxpayers do their business online instead of coming in to an office?
5. How is 1,000+ FREE parking spots not a better deal than a filled SunTrust garage that people have to pay for to use?
Answer these questions or not, it has become quite apparent that Mr. Singh has placed himself in a tough spot with his latest round of flip-flops regarding moving out of the SunTrust building – a main pillar of his campaign in 2012. We will have another update on this issue following Tuesday mornings Orange County Commission meeting where the matter will be discussed further. Our sources tell us that while it is not likely that anything that it will be approved to move forward or killed outright – that the county will await an outstanding air quality study before going any further with the proposed move.
Jacob Engels, is the Founder of East Orlando Post & Seminole County Post. He is a seasoned political operative who has led numerous statewide political groups and has worked on several high-profile local, statewide, and national races. Jacob has been interviewed on national television & radio programs, with his work having been featured in the Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald and other publications nationwide. He can be reached at info@eastorlandopost.com
