The Okeechobee County Property Appraiser is charged by Law to locate and assess all property, real and tangible, within Okeechobee County. The office administers all exemptions, property classifications; maintains the GIS system and base map that are the basis for several other governmental departments mapping systems. In developing assessments, the office analyzes all three approaches to value, cost, income and market or sales comparison. As Property Appraiser I oversee all aspects of the office, and my staff and I have always and will always maintain an open door policy for citizens to be able to understand how their assessments are arrived at. If you feel that this office has not considered everything needed to accurately assess your property, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss all information with you. I truly thank you for the opportunity to serve you as Property Appraiser. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself or one of my appraisers.

Experience

• Worked in the Property Appraiser’s Office for 38 years.
• Served continuously as Property Appraiser since 1991.

Past Work Experience

• Licensed Florida Real estate broker for over 20 years.
  (License is current with continuing education but not active)
• Former Licensed Florida Fee Appraiser.
• Former Review Appraiser for the Commercial Bank of Okeechobee.
• Certified Florida Appraiser designation* - 1992.
  * This requires 128 course hours and passage of 4 exams. I have completed 480 continuing educational hours in order to maintain this designation.

Education

• High School Graduate.
• Attended University of Florida 1954-1955.
• Society of Real Estate Appraisal.
• International Association of Assessing Officers – Completed 128 hours for C.F.A. designation.

Professional Credentials and Accomplishments

• President of Property Appraiser’s Association of Florida 2005-2006.
• District four Director of Property Appraiser’s Association of Florida 1992-1997.
• Current Chairperson of Utilities Committee for Property Appraiser’s Association of Florida.
• Current Committee member for Compensation and Retirement Committee for Property Appraiser’s Association of Florida.
• Current Committee member for Forestry/Agriculture for Property Appraiser’s Association of Florida.
• 2009 R.R. “Bob” Walden Award Recipient.
• International Association of Assessing Officers member 1991-2009.
• Qualified as expert in appraisal matters in both state circuit and federal court as a fee appraiser.
• Developed in house a geographic information system base map at a great savings to the county.
• Researched, located ,archived and mapped road right of ways and easements for the Board of County Commissioners.
• Consistently reduced operating expenses by implementing proven technology such as Field Inspection Tablet System (FITS) which is an appraisal software that allows field appraisers to have all records for every property in the county with them, along with a listing of current sales, review dates, and permits while they are in the field. This has greatly increased the efficiency of the office. Actual expenses have been reduced by 20% since the 2007-2008 budget year.