Tax collector to open office on Hurlburt Field

Okaloosa County Tax Collector Ben Anderson has proposed opening an office on base at Hurlburt Field. County Commissioners will vote on the plan Tuesday.

Anderson currently has offices on Eglin Air Force Base and Fort Walton Beach, Crestview, Niceville and Destin.

He said he has wanted a location on Hurlburt Field since he took office in August 2011.

“Here they are Special Ops, and they are shipped in and out, and in a moment’s notice they’re gone,” Anderson said. “We should be delivering our services to them instead of making them come downtown to us.”

As tax collector, Anderson has the authority to open satellite offices where he sees fit, but because his office also collects county revenue such as business and property taxes, he must have the approval of the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposal Tuesday at a meeting in Crestview.

“It’ll be a full-service office that we provide out there,” Anderson said.

Those services include driver license renewals, vehicle registrations, hunting and fishing licenses and property tax payments. The office would hold daytime hours Monday through Friday.

“I am honored and I am humbled that we will be on base at Hurlburt Field working in a partnership with the military,” he said. “They’ve located a facility to put us in, but they have a little bit of remodeling they want to do for us.”

Anderson said he anticipates the office will be open by mid-March.

“It’s a convenience to the military, but it’s also a neighborly outreach to recognize and appreciate economically what they mean to our area,” he said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Tax collector to open office on Hurlburt Field