ALTAMONTE SRPINGS, Fla. – Seminole County officials celebrated the ribbon cutting of its new tax collector’s office on Tuesday.
Seminole County tax collector J.R. Kroll said he’s saving taxpayers more than $300,000 a year with the opening of the new office in Altamonte Springs.
“I think this office was neglected for many, many years so now my goal is to just bring it up to speed with everything and get more efficiency for the people of Seminole County,” Kroll said.
Kroll said former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg was costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in office leases.
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“I work out of the Sanford building which is the old hospital,” Kroll said. “He didn’t like that, he just said it was old and cruddy.”
The new building will combine several offices and services into one facility, making it easier on Seminole County residents to take care of business with the tax collector’s office.
“Longwood office is closed now so if you go there there’s no one there,” Kroll said. “It’s all closed up and tore out so now everything is here. All the employees, same employees, same service will be here at this location.”
Kroll said the county purchased the new building at $1.7 million. With renovations the total for the new building comes in at a little less than $3 million.
Altamonte Springs Mayor Pat Bates said the opening of the new building signifies turning over a new leaf for the tax collector’s office after Greenberg’s arrest and conviction.
“I think we were all concerned about what’s going to happen to the tax collector’s office,” Bates said. “And J.R. came in, got the right people in place. He’s one of those people you can trust implicitly, and I think he is going to make a big difference.”
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