Osceola County Tax Collector Bruce Vickers got to “come home” on Tuesday — but he isn’t moving, and his main office isn’t either.
He, along with members of his Tax Collectors department team and members of the County Commission, broke ground on a $5.5 million satellite office that will also have space for Supervisor of Elections office staff training and a voting precinct location. It is slated to open in May 2020.
What put the smile on his face is that he grew up just minutes from the location on John Young Parkway just south and west of Ham Brown Road.
“This is like coming home for me. I grew up in Campbell City, or Campbell Station as we called it, so this is exciting,” he said. “We looked into this when I first took office (in 2016).”
The county purchased the land in 2018 for $1.5 million, and the site will eventually also have a fire station and a community center, directly serving Campbell City, Intercession City and points north and west.
The location will help better serve the western part of the county; for instance, Celebration can be up to a 45-minute ride to the department’s main offices at Partin Settlement Road at U.S. Highway 192.
“We worked very closely to work with the county to find a great location, and working in partnership with the county we were able to secure the property,” Vickers said. “This location will be more cost effective for taxpayers and be more convenient and accessible for a greater number of Osceola County taxpayers.”
And while it will replace the Poinciana branch office, it will better serve that area as well. The current office has 3,000 square feet; the new one will have 11,000 square feet, large enough for access to birth and death records and a full,closed course for driver’s license testing, something the current Poinciana office and the other St. Cloud and Buenaventura Lakes offices do not. People on the west end won’t be driving 35 miles.
