Seminole tax collector cuts ribbon on new branch office in Altamonte Springs
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Wielding large gold scissors, Seminole County Tax Collector J.R. Kroll on Tuesday cut a ribbon to officially open a new branch office in Altamonte Springs, where residents can now pay their property taxes, renew their driver’s licenses, and purchase state hunting and fishing permits.
“This is a huge moment for us,” Kroll said. “We’re hoping for years to come it will be very successful for us.”
The Tax Collector’s office purchased the two-story building and surrounding tree-canopied lot at 150 N. Westmonte Dr. in June 2021 for nearly $1.7 million and then spent about $1 million renovating the structure’s interior.
It replaces a smaller branch office off Wekiva Springs Road, just north of State Road 434, near Longwood, which closed at the end of February. Kroll also recently consolidated three administrative offices in Lake Mary and moved them into the new Altamonte Springs branch.
In total, the moves to the Altamonte Springs branch will save the public office $330,000 a year in lease payments, Kroll said.
Soon after first taking office in January 2021, Kroll vowed to purchase the existing 14,500-square-foot building in Altamonte Springs and end the lease payments at the other offices.
In the long run, that will save money, Kroll said.
“Getting into a new office in this area has been a goal of our office since day one,” Kroll said.
At the ribbon-cutting event, Seminole Commissioner Lee Constantine said the new branch office is a more convenient location for most Seminole residents than the former Longwood branch because it’s centrally located within the county and sits just south of busy State Road 436.
“This is so great to have the Tax Collector’s Office back in Altamonte Springs,” he said. “It’s a beautiful facility inside.”
In January 2017, within days of taking office, former Seminole Tax Collector Joel Greenberg moved his staff out of his rent-free offices in the county administration building in Sanford and into an upper floor of an office building on North Sun Drive in Lake Mary. The public office shelled out $9,200 a month in rent for that site.
A few months later, Greenberg closed the Tax Collector’s Office branch on State Road 436 and opened the branch on Wekiva Springs Road in Longwood, paying about $13,000 a month in rent at that time.
While in office, Greenberg preferred to rent facilities, including coming up with a controversial proposal in 2017 to sell off the remaining Tax Collector’s branch offices to an investment firm and then lease them back. His office would then use the estimated $13.2 million from the sale of the public properties to buy shopping centers in distressed areas.
That plan was eventually rejected by state officials after an outcry from county officials.
Greenberg resigned in June 2020 after he was arrested and charged on several federal charges, including trafficking a teenage girl for sex, stalking a political rival, and using the public office to create fake IDs and steal identities.
He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison last December after pleading guilty.
The bottom floor of the new Altamonte Springs branch offers services for the public, including driver’s written examinations. The top floor houses the Tax Collector’s administrative offices. On Tuesday morning, about a dozen residents sat in the waiting area.
“This is a great day for Altamonte Springs,” Mayor Pat Bates said at the ribbon cutting. “JR [Kroll] took over an office in turmoil, and he is restoring the reputation of the office.”
