If you own property in Highlands County you should have received, or soon will be receiving, your tax bill in the mail from the Highlands County Tax Collector's Office. ...more

November 5, 2009

A lawsuit was filed Aug. 14 by Raymond F. Maguire Trust that names Highlands County Tax Collector Charles Bryan as the primary defendant. ...more

August 20, 2009

Florida voters last January approved Amendment One, which mandated an extra $25,000 homestead exemption on top of an existing $25,000 tax exemption on homestead properties. ...more

November 11, 2008

SEBRING — The number of tax certificates being advertised for Saturday's annual certificate sale is about 50 percent greater than last year's, showing a huge spike in the number of delinquent property taxes. Investors looking to make interest off the unpaid property taxes will have 16,458 properties to choose from, compared to the 10,895 certificates for sale from the 2006 tax roll. The county creates a certificate on a property when its owner owes taxes that are more than two years overdue. Investors buy them for the amount owed and earn interest until the property owner pays them off. After two years, the certificate holder could also try to get back the investment by forcing a foreclosure. Highlands County Tax Collector Charles Bryan blamed the increase on both the growing number of properties on the tax roll and on two property owners in Sun N' Lake of Sebring that owe taxes on 2,885 properties. He acknowledged the current economy has a role in it as well. ...more

May 25, 2008

SEBRING – Contract negotiations Friday morning with Michael Wright virtually guaranteed that he will begin work on Monday, June 2, as Highlands County's new chief executive officer. Wright agreed to the major points of the contract offered to him by the county commissioners: a $150,000 per year salary and a $600 per month car allowance. ...more

May 9, 2008

SEBRING — Michael Wright, the heir apparent to retiring Highlands County Administrator Carl Cool, will be offered a salary of $150,000 per year to become the county's new chief executive officer. The five county commissioners unanimously decided on Tuesday to offer Wright that salary, which would be about $14,000 above the salary of Cool, a county employee for more than 30 years, the past 17 as administrator. ...more

May 6, 2008

Americans who are interested in making a government for the people must vote this year for no one holding public office. This should be a year for starting a campaign to vote everyone from city, county, state and federal officials out of office and start a new slate. It is apparent that they are not representing the people. Once elected, public officials think they have a lifetime job and apparently once in office, they gain so much power and money that it is almost impossible to vote them out of office. That is the reason I am advocating re-elect no one. I will make one exception to that rule. Charles Bryan, the Highlands County tax collector. ...more

February 2, 2008

SEBRING — Luke Brooker isn't, but Bob Germaine is. The sheriff is, and so are all the other constitutional officers. Germaine called a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday to announce he'll seek the clerk of courts seat being vacated by Brooker. Germaine, 57, said if he's elected, he won't be a one-term clerk. He's been working in the office for 36 years and is Brooker's chief deputy on the criminal courts side. "I help people every day," Germaine said to the 20 people gathered in the supervisor of elections office when he announced. "I don't feel like I've done anything if I don't help someone." ...more

January 3, 2008

SEBRING — Back in the old days, parents and children used to play the license plate game. Rolling down the interstate on vacation, they'd spot a plate from Oklahoma, Wyoming, or even Alaska, and call it out. These days, it's not as easy. Most states have specialized plates with Scout symbols, colleges, birds, fish and sail boats, so it's impossible to tell from the look whether a plate is from Georgia or New York. Even Charles Bryan misses Florida's county plates. "When I'm on vacation in Tennessee, and I see Florida on a plate, I want to see if they're from Highlands County," said Bryan, the Highlands County tax collector. It's the job of his office to register vehicles. Motorists can choose "Sunshine State" or "Highlands" at the bottom of their plate. What's the No. 1 specialty plate? Florida and Florida State universities, Bryan replied. ...more

November 30, 2007

LAKE PLACID — The arrest of a Lake Placid man Friday on charges of marijuana production was in connection with the Aug. 7 raid and dismantling of a growhouse at 648 Western Blvd., Lake Placid. ...more

September 17, 2007