Info Government May Provide
During one of the usual weekend calls I have with my mother, my mom was complaining once again about her property tax. Without getting too detailed, my parents divorced but Dad's name is still on the land, and thus, Mom says her homestead exemption is not as great as it could be. So the other day I wandered over to her Florida county tax assessor's website, which is embarrassingly amateur looking, to see exactly how Mom's getting taxed.I wasn't expecting much, maybe just an assessment pulled out of thin air. What I got blew me away. I got the usual, the assessor's idea of property worth, the homestead exemption, the tax, and a general description of the property. In addition, there were links to vital records like my parent's divorce judgement. Clicking around, for other properties, there were links to PDF copies of death certificates (with SS#s blacked out), quit claims, certified titles, maps, tax deeds, and building permits issued if the documents were produced in the last 10 or so years. The public information about things relating to property was linked right on the assessor's page.
This made me wonder, could larger cities have the same sort of traditionally public information (deaths, divorces, permits, quit claims) available on line? Links to permits would be exceedingly useful. Not even the copy of a building permit, but just even the building permit number, date issued, would be very helpful. Right now I can only find permits issued in the last few months.
But I realize this is only a dream because it would mean different agencies actually working together to serve the citizenry.
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Additional: I just dug deeper with the example permit, it shows the inspection. I would kill for this depth of detail with permits issued in the city. No more trying to read tiny writing on a stair of a rickty house.
Labels: city services, government, real estate
posted by Mari @ 22.2.08
2 Comments:
off topi, but you might find this truxton mention worth your while.
http://imgoph.blogspot.com/2008/02/its-not-tcs-fault.html
This blog:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/73-gentrification/
Reminded me of your blog.
-AJ
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