With all the accusations flying about Florida's voting problems, Secretary of State Glenda Hood has barely had time to catch her breath.
She apparently also hasn't had time to pay the property taxes on her Orlando home.
Records show that Hood, whose salary was paid with property taxes during her decade as Orlando's mayor, didn't pay the delinquent taxes on her Lancaster Park house until Friday -- a few hours after she was questioned about it by the Orlando Sentinel.
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When the bill still hadn't been paid by mid-May, a delinquent tax certificate was sold on the property along with all other properties that have back taxes. That amounts to a lien and allows the certificate holder to charge interest on the debt and ultimately put the property on the auction block if the bill isn't paid within two years.
Hood learned the ins and outs of property taxes, which pay for police, firefighters and other services, during 10 years on the City Council and another 10 years as mayor. She left halfway through her third term in the mayor's office, after accepting an appointment as secretary of state from Gov. Jeb Bush in December 2002.
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James Powell earned 5 percent interest off Hood's trouble. The Palm City man bought Hood's tax certificate at random in May, along with others, as an investment. But he doesn't know Hood and didn't realize the house belongs to the secretary of state.
"That is curious," Powell said Friday. "Why would the secretary of state, of all people, not pay their taxes?"
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-locglenda17071704jul17,1,2557147.story?coll=orl-home-headlines