At a Santa Rosa GOP Women’s Club luncheon yesterday, State Rep. Mike Hill said that Escambia County Property Appraiser Chris Jones has ruled that his homestead exemption is valid. Jones told Inweekly that his office has no press release to send.
“You are all going to see a press release come out by our property appraiser Chris Jones, who’s going to release it today, stating that there has been no homestead exemption fraud committed by me since I’ve been elected,” Hill told the crowd. “You’re going to see that statement coming out.”
Rep. Mike Hill has a home in the Marcus Pointe subdivision that he and his wife have owned since 1995. The residence is in Florida House District 1, and he has claimed a homestead exemption on the house. However, Hill represents Florida House District 2 and used a Portofino rental unit as his residence to qualify to represent the district. Read “Where does Mike Hill live” and “Homestead exemption helps determine legal residency for Florida House”.
Inweekly called Property Appraiser Chris Jones. Hill has yet to deliver to Jones’ office any documentation verifying his homestead.
“We sent Mr. Hill a certified letter requesting documents to support the homestead exemption,” said Jones. “We’ve yet to receive any documents. Until we review the documents, we cannot issue any statement whether the exemption is valid or not.”
Hill’s campaign manager Tamara Fountain has given the Navarre Press an explanation of her candidate’s residency. According to her, the Marcus Pointe home is his permanent residence, and he doesn’t have to live in the house for him to take advantage of a homestead exemption.
She said that Hill hasn’t claimed two primary residences.
“He has also owned a State Farm Agency in his district for 16 years. He is living and working in his district which meets the residency requirements for serving in the House of Representatives,” wrote Fountain.
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Note: Fountain is interchanging descriptions of Hill’s residences. Marcus Pointe is where his family lives – Fountain calls that his “permanent” residence.
She says Hill has not claimed two “primary” residences. “Primary” doesn’t mean the same thing as “permanent.”
The documents Hill filed with the Florida House, so that he could represent District 2, declared that his legal residence is a condo at Portofino on Pensacola Beach. “Legal” doesn’t mean “primary,” according to Fountain’s statement.
Rep. Mike Hill has a “permanent” residence outside his House District. His “legal” residence is a condo inside his district.
He is clearly claiming two residences. The Florida Legislature changed its rules in 2014 to eliminated lawmakers renting units in their district while actually living elsewhere.