Escambia Declared Natural Disaster Area Due To Rain, Flooding
September 23, 2013
Escambia counties in Florida and Alabama have been declared natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that began January 1, 2013, and continues.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 50 counties in Alabama as the primary natural disaster areas. Farmers and ranchers in Escambia County in Alabama and Escambia County in Florida qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.
“Our hearts go out to those Alabama farmers and ranchers affected by recent natural disasters,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation’s economy by sustaining the successes of America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities through these difficult times. We’re also telling Alabama producers that USDA stands with you and your communities when severe weather and natural disasters threaten to disrupt your livelihood.”
All qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
Additional programs available to assist farmers and ranchers include the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance, and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
Pictured above and below: Taking advantage of a dry day, a crop duster is used to apply pesticides to a corn field in Walnut Hill. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Clayton Graduates From Basic Combat Training
September 23, 2013
Army Pvt. Jacob A. Clayton has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.
During the nine weeks of training, the soldier studied the Army mission, history, tradition and core values, physical fitness, and received instruction and practice in basic combat skills, military weapons, chemical warfare and bayonet training, drill and ceremony, marching, rifle marksmanship, armed and unarmed combat, map reading, field tactics, military courtesy, military justice system, basic first aid, foot marches, and field training exercises.
Clayton is the son of Brenda Garrett-McCall of Highway 95A, Molino, and grandson of Larry Garrett of Mobile, Ala.
He is a 2011 graduate of Northview High School in Bratt.
Citizens Property Expects To Drop Below 1 Million Policies
September 23, 2013
The state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. may drop below 1 million policies for the first time since 2005, while its employees could start to occupy fewer buildings in the coming year.
Citizens, which stood at a bloated 1.5 million policies a little more than a year ago, could be around 600,000 policies before the next storm season approaches.
However, Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway said a more reasonable number would be just over 900,000.
Gilway credited the pending reduction to recent takeout efforts by private companies and to the anticipation of using a new clearinghouse to help direct what are expected to be many of the least-risky policies into the private market.
“The difference in the entire makeup of Citizens in the last 14 months is staggering,” Gilway said during a board meeting that mostly focused on informational updates.
Gilway was brought onto Citizens from Seattle-based Mattei Insurance Services in June 2012 as Citizens was under fire for its role as the state’s largest property insurer.
As of Aug. 31, Citizens had nearly 1.23 million policies, according to the most recent number posted on the company’s website. Gilway said the number was now closer to 1.2 million.
Nearly 400,000 Citizens policyholders will be told during the next month that they will have to decide whether they want to remain with the state-backed insurer or be shifted to one of 10 private carriers that were approved in August for a massive takeout program.
Gilway said he expects seven or eight companies to request taking out an additional 200,000 policies in December.
In each case, the private carriers must agree not to change the terms of policies until it is time for policies to be renewed.
Citizens estimates that 30 percent to 35 percent of those offered the move to the private market will remain with the state-backed insurer when the initial offers are made.
Lisa Miller, a former deputy insurance commissioner who now lobbies for insurers, said the reduction should be good for all Floridians.
“This means more options for consumers because companies will compete — compete on price, service and coverage,” Miller said.
Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, said the reduction of Citizens will make the rest of the insurance market in Florida stronger. But, he added that Citizens, which was under 300,000 policies a decade ago, still has a ways to go.
“We believe Citizens should not compete with private insurers who are writing at rates approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation and that coverage should be written on the private market whenever it is available, again at rates regulated by the state,” Sam Miller said in an email.
He added that while statewide assessments may still be necessary following a major hurricane, the totals will be less.
With the trimming of policies, and as Florida is in the midst of an eighth consecutive season of having no major hurricane make direct landfall, Citizens’ unfunded liability risk from the impact of a one-in-100-year-storm has dropped from $10 billion to $4 billion, Gilway said.
“And that does not contemplate the 600,000 requests for depopulation,” Gilway said.
With the leaner number of policies, and as the company internally undergoes a massive reorganization, the state-backed insurer is also looking to scale back on its facilities used to house approximately 1,120 employees.
Collectively, the nine properties cost $525,894 a month in leases. The total does not include operational costs.
Gilway said the agency is undertaking a review of four offices in Jacksonville, four in Tallahassee and one in Tampa for the potential of consolidation and to reduce lease costs.
“We probably do need one location in each,” Gilway said. “Looking at the lease rates, we’re designing strategies to consolidate locations.”
Citizens spends $270,818 a month to rent space in the Corporate Center, Cypress Plaza, The Point and on Nations Way in Jacksonville.
Citizens already plans to move out of Monroe Park Tower in Tallahassee, which costs $11,218 a month, by the end of the year. The remaining locations in Tallahassee, at Citizens Centre I, Citizens Centre II and the Killearn Center, collectively cost $129,146.
Meanwhile, Yong Gilroy, Citizens chief insurance officer, told the board the clearinghouse, which lawmakers approved this year, remains on pace to begin Jan. 1.
Last month, the Citizens board approved a contract that could be worth up to $44.9 million over a decade with Bolt Solutions, Inc., to provide a software platform for the clearinghouse.
The clearinghouse is designed to match up homeowners with private insurance companies willing to provide coverage.
Consumers, working with their agents, will submit information, and insurance companies then will be able to make coverage offers.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, has requested that additional warnings be clearly placed on the takeout offers.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Realtors: Local Home Sales On The Upswing
September 23, 2013
Single-family home sales across Florida grew 12.5 percent in August compared to the same period a year earlier, the Florida Realtors reported Thursday, with the local market expanding at almost twice that rate.
In the Escambia-Santa Rosa market, new home sales were up 22.6 percent in August over last year, while local condo and townhouse sales were up 6.1 percent. The average home sale price in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties was up 4.7 percent from last year to $157,000.
The Realtors reported there were 20,933 sales closed statewide on existing single-family homes last month. The median sales price for single-family homes was $175,000, up 18.6 percent from a year earlier. That was down from the $179,500 median price on the 20,632 single-family homes that were sold statewide in July. The median sales price on single-family homes nationwide, based upon July numbers, is $214,000, up 13.5 percent from the prior year.
High School Football Standings, Upcoming Schedule
September 23, 2013
Here is a district by district look at last Friday night’s high school football scores and this week’s schedule. Only1-6A and 1-5A have seen district action so far.
Time To Renew Business Tax Receipts
September 23, 2013
It is time for business owners in Escambia County to renew their business tax receipts. Tax Collector Janet Holley mailed out 21,547 renewal notices on August 1, with the renewal cycle ending on September 30. Beginning October 1, delinquent penalties will be assessed.
Business tax receipts can be renewed online, by mail, by phone (a convenience fee may apply), or in person at any one of four tax collector offices.
Applications and information for business tax receipts are available at www.escambiataxcollector.com. For more information or to make an appointment, visit the tax collector’s website or call (850) 438‑6500, ext. 3252.
Tax collector offices are open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. as follows:
- Downtown, 213 Palafox Place
- Molino, 6440 Highway 95A North, Suite A
- Marcus Pointe, 6451 North W. Street
- Warrington, 507 North Navy Boulevard.
Free Family Movie Night To Feature ‘Despicable Me’
September 23, 2013
The Northwest Escambia Baseball Park and NorthEscambia.com are teaming up to bring you a free Family Movie Night. Mark your calendars now…on Saturday, October 19 at 7 p.m., we’ll bring you “Despicable Me” on the big screen.
Bring your blankets or chairs. No outside coolers; concessions will be available. This is a family event; no alcohol or inappropriate behavior will be tolerated.
Admission is free, but donations will be accepted toward the cost of the event for NWE’s 2014 baseball season.
Bradberry Park is located on Highway 99A in Walnut Hill, directly behind Ernest Ward Middle School.
Lawmaker Proposes Ban On Vehicle Tracking
September 23, 2013
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, wants to make it illegal to put tracking devices on vehicles without the owners’ consent. Brandes filed a bill last last week that would expand the definition of stalking in Florida law to include the prohibition against installing devices that can record, store and transmit the locations of vehicles.
Violating the prohibition would result in a second degree misdemeanor.
The proposal would also require law enforcement to get search warrants to place tracking devices on people’s vehicles.
Four Injured In Van, Semi Trailer Crash
September 22, 2013
Four people were reported to be injured in a Saturday afternoon traffic crash on County Road 97 at Kingsfield Road.
All four were in a Chevrolet van involved in a collision with a semi trailer; some of the injured were juveniles. Their injuries were not believed to be life threatening. Further details, including the names of those involved, have not yet been released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Cantonment, Beulah, Bellview and Ensley stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the accident about 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
FDLE Pitches ‘Dream Defender’ Rule To Control After-Hours Capitol Access
September 22, 2013
State police plan to limit after-hours access to the Capitol in an effort to avoid a repeat of the month-long occupation of Gov. Rick Scott’s office over the summer by protesters pushing for changes to Florida’s self-defense laws.
Under the proposal by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, members of the public would be expected to leave the Capitol building by 5 p.m. each weekday or within 30 minutes of the end of public meetings. Capitol police could arrest anyone for trespassing who didn’t leave when they were told.
No one could stay overnight or prepare food in publicly accessible parts of the Capitol. There would also be additional restrictions on those who have cards allowing them to access the building and how many people could accompany them.
“The suggested changes are directed at enabling Capitol Police to better secure the Capitol building complex property, safeguard those who work and visit within the Capitol and ensure security services are provided in the most efficient manner,” according to a document outlining the changes.
FDLE released a summary of the proposal to the Tallahassee Democrat after the paper sent in an open-records request. The News Service of Florida requested the document after the Democrat reported on it.
The agency says the full plan is shielded under the state’s open-records law, but it released the outline “in the spirit of honoring the request.” The proposal would still have to be approved by Gov. Rick Scott, Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel. The state fire marshal is also supposed to be consulted.
“At this juncture we have just begun submitting areas of recommended changes to these parties which will be subject to discussions and modifications prior to final decisions being reached in the near future,” the FDLE outline says.
Neither Weatherford nor Gaetz has seen the plan yet, according to their offices. A spokeswoman for Scott referred questions to FDLE.
The plan comes after a group known as the Dream Defenders staged a 31-day sit-in at the Capitol following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The Dream Defenders demanded changes to state laws on self defense, school discipline and racial profiling.
Rep. Alan Williams, a Tallahassee Democrat who worked with the group, said he understood the need to secure the Capitol but didn’t think a “Dream Defender rule” was necessary. Williams said it was also important to make sure Floridians could be heard by state officials.
“I would hope that we ensure that our citizens of the state of Florida continue to have that opportunity before this rule is implemented,” he said.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida