The Florida statutes states public records to be "All documents, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, recordings, software.. regardless of physical form.. made or received pursuant to law or in connection with transaction of official business."
Director of administration and special projects, Preston Trigg, is a Hillsborough County tax collector. Tax collectors are often referred to as "constitutional officers," along with sheriff, clerk of court, property appraiser, and elections supervisor. I've always heard negative comments about tax collectors, but meeting Trigg helped me understand that they are people just like the rest of us.
Hillsborough county tax collectors collect and distribute $2 billion worth of property taxes and special assessments a year. They are elected every four years in presidential election years. Also, 98% of customers rate their services good or excellent.
Property taxes are very important public records for reporters because we can find out how rich a person is, how many properties they own, etc. Trigg showed us the website www.hillstax.org, which allows people to access such public records.
I thought it was interesting to learn that everything in Florida starts out as public record. There are exemptions for school records, cases under investigation, private emails, most juvenile records, and recent autopsy photographs.
I also found it interesting that Florida is one of the only places in the world where it is your constitutional right to look at government records. Like Trigg said, "It's a beautiful thing."
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