By Amber Jurgensen and Matt Mauney | Associate Editors
The Plant City Observer has profiled candidates for the several local and state elections. Here, we spotlight James DeMio, Bob Henriquez, Ronda Storms and Rob Townsend, candidates for Hillsborough County Property Appraiser.
James DeMio
No-party-affiliation candidate James DeMio hopes to use his 20 years of real estate experience in the race for Hillsborough County Property Appraiser.
In those 20 years, 10 have been spent as a licensed broker in Hillsborough County. The rest was spent in a court with jurisdiction over real-estate related cases.
Currently, DeMio is the broker/owner of Florida Property International in Tampa and has sold millions of dollars of residential, commercial, retail, apartments and office real estate to local and international clients.
“A strong work ethic in any business during these times is important in staying in business,” he said. “I will put my real-estate knowledge and apply my strong work ethic as a public servant.”
He has managed his own property holdings since 1990 and has represented hundreds of taxpayers in filing federal tax returns.
DeMio plans to change the culture at the Property Appraiser’s Office, saying that the biggest issues facing this election are fair taxes and assessments of property values.
“(That) would require lower assessments on homeowners and small-business properties, while assuring large corporate property owners pay their fair share of property taxes,” he noted.
This is why he supports voting yes on Amendment 4.
DeMio is a member of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, Florida Gulf Coast Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and Women’s Council of Realtors. He is also a volunteer donor for the Red Cross and the McDonald Training Center and has been a member of the NAACP, helping raise $22,000 for the Rainbow Coalition.
When he isn’t working, DeMio enjoys traveling. With his work in real estate, he has seen the problems faced by Hillsborough County property owners in tough economic times.
He said that, in the long run, the real estate market in the county “will fair better than most parts of the country.”
“Until the number of foreclosures and shorts are reduced, the real-estate market will continue to have abnormal and unstable growth.”
DeMio is a Democratic Party precinct leader, but is running no-party affiliation.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in business and finance in 1989 from Ohio State University. From 1990 to 2000, DeMio served as an administrator and officer of the Housing Court Division of the Cleveland Municipal Court, overseeing the multimillion dollar budget, payroll and purchasing of the 40-employee division. He also testified on nearly 1,000 cases in the enforcement of civil and criminal housing codes, health codes, zoning codes, fire codes, agricultural, air pollution and landlord/tenant laws at the court.
Bob Henriquez
As a fourth-generation Florida native, Democrat Bob Henriquez has been able to experience the Hillsborough County lifestyle for years. His great-grandfather was the last mayor of West Tampa, before it was annexed into the city of Tampa in 1925. Growing up, Henriquez was an All American football player at Tampa Catholic High School, enjoyed going to the beach and spending time with his big family.
But Henriquez’s favorite thing about Hillsborough County was traveling out to Parksdale in Plant City on a clear spring day to savor strawberry shortcake.
Henriquez wanted to leave Hillsborough County to go to college, but knew he always wanted to return to Florida. After high school, Henriquez attended to Princeton University and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
“My passion and goal has been to provide community service and give back,” Henriquez said, adding that the political arena is a way to do that.
Henriquez completed his fourth and final term in the Florida Legislature in 2006 as a state representative for District 58.
In April 2008, Secretary of State Bob Butterworth and Gov. Charlie Crist named Henriquez the Sixth Judicial Circuit administrator. He headed the Department of Children and Families efforts in Pinellas and Pasco counties until 2011. He dealt with multimillion-dollar budgets and oversaw about 300 people.
“My reputation is someone who can work with people on both sides of the table,” Henriquez said. “I can be a very positive force.”
Besides being involved in politics, Henriquez also worked as head football coach from 1990 to 1999 at his alma mater, Tampa Catholic High School. He was recently inducted as an inaugural member of the Tampa Catholic High School Football Hall of Fame. Henriquez says coaching has parallels to working in the political arena.
“My definition of a coach is someone who can take a group of individuals with God-given talent from point A to point B without them knowing,” Henriquez said. “It takes motivation, patience. It’s building a team, dealing with young people, administration, parents and budgets.”
Henriquez decided to make the choice to run for Hillsborough County Property Appraiser after some employees from the office talked to him about their dissatisfaction with the way things were being ran.
“Rather than talking about it, why don’t I get back into it,” Henriquez said. “The circumstance of the race and the position really appealed to me.”
Henriquez wants to establish better technology in the property appraisers office. He thinks the website should be more user friendly and have more information available.
Henriquez also wants to improve efficiency in the office, by having the Property Appraiser’s Office work with other county government offices like the permitting department, code enforcement, emergency management and the tax collector’s office.
“I want to make myself visible and accessible to those in the community and find ways to make it more convenient for people to get access to the Property Appraiser’s Office,” Henriquez said.
Ronda Storms
Republican Ronda Storms considered herself a military brat. Born in Iowa, the state senator moved overseas when she was 4 years old. She lived in Turkey and Germany, and could speak Turkish and navigate the streets by the age of 10.
Storms continues to share that love of travel now with her family. On one trip to Arizona, the family put 2,000 miles on a rental car traveling the state. Like the TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” they stopped at a quirky eateries just for the adventure.
“Traveling gives you a broader perspective and lets you understand something in a broader spectrum,” Storms said. “I’ve always been thankful for growing up in the military and traveling.”
And, although Storms has been all over the country and overseas, she loves Hillsborough County and calls Brandon home. Her father retired from the Air Force at MacDill Air Force Base. Ronda graduated from Brandon High School and went on to the University of South Florida to get a Bachelor’s in Education in 1988.
Storms taught English at Bloomingdale High School, before attending law school at Stetson University College of Law. Storms says her teaching experience has helped her in the political arena.
“I learned how to talk to people and hold people’s attention,” Storms said. “If you can get graduating seniors to pay attention to you in April, then you can get anyone to listen to you.”
Storms, then, practiced law before moving onto politics.
“I like to do it all and see it all,” Storms said. “It’s wonderful to be a person who spends her whole life learning.”
Storms has spent many years volunteering for political campaigns for candidates who include Buddy Johnson, Chris Cors and George W. Bush. Storms was on the Hillsborough County Commission from 1998 to 2006. She was elected state senator in 2006.
Storms chose to run for Hillsborough Country Property Appraiser after a porn email scandal surrounding former Property Appraiser Rob Turner erupted.
“From my perspective, we couldn’t let it go on and if no one was going to step up from my party, I would,” Storms said. “It was poisonous for morale and poisonous for advancement in the office.”
Storms beat incumbent Rob Turner in the GOP primary with 70% of the vote.
As a former attorney, Storms considers herself more experienced in land use and property rights which makes her an ideal candidate for property appraiser.
Storms wants to maintain greenbelt policies to keep agricultural areas designated for agriculture.
“If that farmland converts, you change the flavor of the community,” Storms said. “That’s a problem for the community, families and businesses.”
Storms also wants to make the Property Appraiser’s Office more accessible to its constituents and have services available to the broad range of people that live in Hillsborough County.”
Rob Townsend
No-party-affiliation candidate Rob Townsend is concerned with the current policies and trends when it comes to property appraisals and property rights.
“I intend to use this constitutional office to challenge unconstitutional laws and policies of the current tax system, to represent the people before interests or agendas,” said Townsend, a lifelong Hillsborough County resident and Plant City High alum. “I want to uphold the oath of the office to appraise property solely on the Florida Constitution with respectful and courteous service at all times.”
Townsend said that he is concerned about the sheer number of amendments and the “reckless wording that our legislators are putting on the ballot.”
Townsend added that he doesn’t support the DROP Program, saying that the support of the program through property taxes is a “huge travesty.” If elected as Hillsborough County property appraiser, he said he would lobby for a 16-member board to direct state retirement monies, so a catastrophic loss of funds won’t occur.
“Overvaluing the county to support the DROP Program should not occur,” he added.
Townsend also noted that a return to the agriculture and business schedule is a must with a mandatory compliance of the new Value Adjustment Board rules.
Lastly, Townsend said that he is concerned with current appraisals in this market.
“When the property taxes and insurance are more than the principal payment of the home, something is wrong,” he said. “I would make fair and steady assessments based on actual value not overheated markets or housing bubbles.”
A farm owner, Townsend said that he has a solid understanding of the green belt and the importance it has on agriculture and property rights.
“I will be able to administer a fair program for all,” he said.
He also said he understands the 1968 Florida Constitution in respect to the two Department of Revenue schedules.
“I understand the importance of small businesses and manufacturing to the local economy,” he said. “I believe in an open office with a return to sunshine, and I also believe that my life experiences will enable me to manage this office efficiently.”
Townsend has held several jobs in his life, including working in the mines to working in a combined-cycle, power-plant operation presently. He believes that his work ethic will benefit him if elected.
“I understand and represent the values of the hard-working people of this county,” he said. “I conduct myself with high ethical standards with moral values and can be considered a man always willing to stand up for what I believe is right.”
He added that he isn’t afraid to challenge the system or status quo.
Married to his wife, Cathy, with four children and six grandchildren, Townsend said that he is “supportive of family values in our county.”
In his spare time, Townsend enjoys being outdoors and spending time on his farm as well as hunting and fishing. He also spends a lot of time reading and studying natural science, history and politics.
“I have devoted a lot of time studying the history of the Florida Constitution,” he said.