We celebrated the most romantic day of the year at our 5th Annual Valentine’s Day Wedding and Vow Renewal Ceremony! At the end of our newsletter, you can see some of the wonderful couples that shared their special day with us and read their stories in our annual memory book. This event would not have been possible without our sponsors and community partners. We encourage you to support their businesses!
This March, we honor former Collier County Clerk Margaret Scott in observance of Women’s History Month. Margaret Scott was the third-longest serving Clerk in Collier history, holding the job for 17 years, winning four elections for the office before retiring in 1976. She is known for designing the county seal and county flag featuring a wild turkey when the county seat was relocated from Everglades City to East Naples in 1962. Margaret Scott oversaw the construction of the original building of the East Naples Courthouse.
From March 16-22, 2025, our office will join the celebration of Sunshine Week along with other Clerks throughout the state of Florida. Every year, our team celebrates Sunshine Week to raise awareness and engage our community in the importance of government transparency. One of my main priorities as your Clerk of Courts and Comptroller has been to improve access to essential forms, processes, and records for our community. In addition to upgrading systems and internal processes, we are proud to engage with local citizens to further educate the public about utilizing our services and best practices to protect them from fraud.
One of the important statutory duties of the Clerk of Courts is managing Collier County’s investment portfolio. In Fiscal Year 2024, our investment program yielded a record $79M in interest revenue for Collier County. In this month’s newsletter, I wanted to share an article with you about the balanced approach we take to investing your tax dollars. Of course, we publish full reports on our annual investment strategies and results generated online at CollierClerk.com/Finance.
I am pleased to share that our 2023 Popular Annual Financial Reporting (PAFR) has again received the prestigious Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting. Since the launch of our PAFR in 2021, we have been continuously recognized by the GFOA for meeting the nationwide criteria for excellence and best practices. I thank our Department of Finance and Accounting staff for all their hard work in putting this together and ensuring our taxpayers are properly informed. Please watch for our 2024 report to be shared online later this month.
This month, we will be partnering with the York Real Estate Team to deliver another valuable workshop about real estate trends, preventing property scams, and changes in real estate laws. Make plans to join us on March 19th for the complimentary lunch and learn: “Avoid the Six Biggest Costly Mistakes: Real Estate Laws Have Changed.” More details are available on the newsletter. I hope to see you there!
Read and download the March 2025 Newsletter here.
