April 26, 2021
Escambia County working for force people out of a home in Century.
The property a 511 Hecker Road escheated to the county in January, becoming county property after taxes were not paid for seven years.
The total amount owed as of January was $22,516.71, according to Escambia County Tax Collector Scott Lunsford. The taxes were owed by joint property owners Shawanda Newton, Latoya Redmond, Lalita Simpson, Earwin Newton and Amber Redmond, according to the tax deed.
Lunsford said no one ever purchased a tax certificate on the property to give them claim to the property, so it escheated to Escambia County. That zeroed out the taxes due.
Escambia County may be the next party to file a lawsuit against Skanska over its runaway barges during Hurricane Sally.
The Escambia County Commission on Thursday night unanimously approved retaining the partnership of the three law firms of Levin Papantonio Rafferty; Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz; and Beggs & Lane to pursue all civil remedies to recover the damages the county suffered from the loss of the Pensacola Bay Bridge.
Mark Bartlett, risk manager for the county, told the commission they were still in talks with the insurance group representing Skanska. In our last conversation last week, I told them that we will not miss any deadlines for filing any proper paperwork in court, and we will not jeopardize our legal avenues, Bartlett said. With that being said, I also expressed a desire to have an ongoing and transparent dialogue with them to see if we can come up with a solution to try not to go through the cumbersome court process.