Race was expensive for tax collector candidates

And the winner was: Olivia Byron Scott. Well, she lost her school board race, but Scott spent only $4,929 to get chosen on 7,185 ballots, which averaged a mere 68 cents a vote.

Her District 1 opponent, Ronnie Jackson, was nowhere near as frugal, using $7,521 to draw 7,848, but, of course, he won the race, so perhaps his strategy was better.

Theirs was also the most cost-effective race among the five county commission, school board and tax collector races, with Bill Brantley and Richard Norris in second place.

The county commission candidates also proved they were fiscal conservatives by spending an average of $1.68 per vote.

It was the tax collector race that upped the average: Wendy Renfro, for instance, splurged another $7,800 in the final three weeks of the campaign to total $41,400 of her own money.

Eric Zwayer, of course, swept that winner-take-all race with nearly 32 percent of the vote to 16 percent for Renfro. Because he expended only $15,614 to get 5,238 votes, his campaign was also the thriftiest.

Hot hot hot
It wasn't supposed to be like this.

With Edgar Stokes retiring, the county commission race to fill his seat was supposed to be the hottest. However, a constitutional office became an open race because of the death of Charles Bryan, and seven candidates jumped in.

The hopefuls included a sitting county commissioner, Guy Maxcy, who gave up the District 5 seat to run for tax collector. That, according to former county administrator Carl Cool, is just how highly prized the job was.

"There's a tremendous difference in pay," Cool explained.

According to a formula set by the state, the tax collector draws a $112,789 annual paycheck; a Highlands County commissioner earns $49,156.

There's also quite a difference in hours. Tax collectors have a full-time job.

"That's not at all the case for county commissioners," Cool said. "That person has to be retired, independently wealthy, or have another job."

A few commissioners, of course, do work long hours. However, Maxcy sells insurance, Stokes is a cattleman, Jeff Carlson is an accountant and Don Bates owns a caladium farm.

"You'll hear people who run as full-time county commissioners, but they're really policymakers," Cool said. "They're there all day Tuesday, and maybe two or three days besides that."

Most constitutional officers have a lifetime lock on the job, said Cool, who considers Supervisor of Elections Joe Campbell and Property Appraiser Raymond McIntyre to be virtually unbeatable.

"And they're not overpaid," Cool said. "The tax collector handles over $100 million a year in taxes."
Only open constitutional officer seats are hotly contested, Cool said. Bryan was in a tight race when he was first elected.

"People have run against him, but once he was an incumbent, he blew them away," Cool said.

TAX COLLECTOR
Candidate Votes Spent Cost per vote
Tom Andrews 2,545 $13,293 $5.22
Russ Albritton Jr. 738 $3,508 $4.75
Richard "Bo" Birt 2,514 $11,523 $4.58
C. Guy Maxcy 1,438 $8,343 $5.80
Rob Reed 1,304 $10,909 $8.36
Wendy S. Renfro 2,722 $34,173 $12.55
Eric Zwayer 5,238 $15,614 $2.98

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 2
Candidate Votes Spent Cost per vote
Don Elwell 3,530 $5,448 $1.54
Vernon Hinote 3,139 $8,103 $2.58
Pete Pollard 2,855 $3,385 $1.18

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 5
Candidate Votes Spent Cost per vote
Rick Beebe 3,437 $5,524 $1.60
Greg Harris 5,797 $9,134 $1.57

SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 1
Candidate Votes Spent Cost per vote
Ronnie Jackson 7,848 $7,521 $0.95
Olivia Byron Scott 7,185 $4,929 $0.68

SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 4
Candidate Votes Spent Cost per vote
Bill Brantley 7,724 $7,751 $1.01
Richard Norris 7,230 $5,242 $0.72