2013 Fall Newsletter

COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: COLLIER COUNTY

Collier County, along with a dozen other counties was established during the great Florida land boom of the 1920s. Originally part of Lee County, the Florida legislature established Collier County on May 8 th 1923. It is the 62 nd named county and the largest land mass county in the State, comprised of 2025.5 square miles. Approximately 70 % of the land is owned by state and Federal Govern- ments and is tax exempt.

Hon. Abe Skinner, CFA

The County is named for Barron Gift Collier, a New York City advertising mogul and land developer who moved to Southwest Florida and bought large tracts of land. He agreed to complete the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades to Miami in exchange for being considered by the state legislature to have a county named for him. After this he was quoted as saying, “When I first came here on holiday with Juliet, I never expected that I would buy a whole region of it, nor did I ex- pect to pay for the new Tamiami Trail, or half the things I have done. But I really didn’t expect to have a whole county named after me. “To this day, the Collier family is still active in the development of the county. In the early days of Collier County the economy was primarily from agriculture, commercial fishing and the timber industry. The county’s economy boomed along with its population after World War II from 6,488 in 1945 to 85,971 in 1980. Today the population of the county is in excess 340,000 and the economy is sustained from agribusiness (205,512.55 acres), tourism (78 golf courses) and real estate making Collier County one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Naples, Everglades City, and Marco Island are the county’s three municipalities, with Naples serving as the county seat. Other unincorporated settlements in Collier County include Chokoloskee, Caxam- bas, Carnestown, Copeland, Corkscrew, Goodland, Immokalee, Jerome, Miles City, Ochopee, Sun- niland, and Collier City; some of these names are rooted in the past while others retain their Seminole names.

2013 Preliminary Tax Roll At-A Glance

Real Property Parcels

263,886

Tangible Accounts

28,376

Just (Market) Value

$74,231,496,898

Taxable Value

$60,722,857,859

Hon. Abe Skinner was appointed in 1991 by Gov. Lawton Chiles | 46 total service years in CCPA | Number of Positions: 60 | Website: www.collierappraiser.com

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Fall 2013 Newsletter of the FCIAAO