EDGEWOOD, Fla. — Spectrum News 13 uncovered unpaid waste bills for about 40 homes in this city over at least three years that now need to be settled.
- Edgewood has over 3 years worth of unpaid waste bills
- 44 homes weren't billed
- Property appraiser blames City of Edgewood
The town of Edgewood is less than 3,000 people, but about one percent of the town has been impacted for years without even knowing it.
“It was frustrating,” Edgewood Mayor John Dowless said. “I was annoyed because we are paying for the assessment to get done and to be done properly and it wasn’t.”
A non-ad valorem assessment is a special assessment that is not based on the value of a property. These non-ad valorem assessments can be assessed to a home’s property for services like landscaping, security, lighting and trash disposal.
Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh says the blame falls on the city of Edgewood.
“They didn’t create the list properly and send it to us,” Singh said. “Whatever they created is what we respond to, it is not our job to check it, and we don’t check any list.”
Spectrum News 13 obtained the 2016 Certificate to Non-Ad Valorem Assessment for Edgewood signed by then Mayor Ray Bagshaw. Out of 844 homes, 44 homes were missing. The same was signed for the 2017 and 2018 non-ad valorem assessments.
One of the properties impacted belongs to Bill Grant.
“I didn’t think I would talk about garbage today,” Grant said from the driveway of his Edgewood home.
Since Grant bought his home in January, he will only be responsible for any fees due on his property.
“I’m glad to find out I won’t be getting a letter from the mayor,” Grant said.
But the city of Edgewood feels this isn’t all on them.
“It’s their job as far as I’m concerned with who gets charged ad valorem and who gets charged a non-ad valorem,” Mayor Dowless said.
“We verified is this the list you want. They said yes by certifying it, and that’s what we did,” Singh said.
As of now nearly all of the 44 home owners still don’t know they are going to be assessed a fee anywhere from $300 - $1,000.
The city says they lost out on about $35,000, but when the assessments are paid the city will begin to recoup the money starting in December.