State Rep. Charles Van Zant and his wife Katherine Van Zant were ordered by the Bradford County Property Appraiser's Office to pay nearly $9,000 for falsely claiming a homestead exemption since 2008.
Katherine Van Zant is currently running to fill her husband’s seat in the state House.
An Action News Jax public records request reveals an anonymous tipster alerted the property appraiser’s office in June that the Van Zants had been receiving a homestead exemption on a property in Keystone Heights since 2008, but no one had lived there for years.
The Property Appraiser’s Office’s review concluded that the Van Zants had improperly received the exemption since 2008.
After several meetings between the Property Appraiser’s Office, the Van Zants and their attorney, the Van Zants paid $8,716.28 to the tax collector, which was the full amount due for the unpaid taxes, plus interest.
According to the Bradford County Property Appraiser’s Office website, fraudulent homestead exemptions “steal from our law enforcement, our schools, our fire and EMS service and can lower our quality of life in Bradford County. Those tax dollars have to be made up somewhere and the honest tax payers get stuck making up the difference.”
A spokesman at Rep. Charles Van Zant’s Palatka campaign office said Van Zant would not be available for an interview on Wednesday.
Katherine Van Zant has agreed to an interview with Action News Jax on Wednesday afternoon.
“The hardworking citizens of the county should know that unfortunately their representative has not been honest, truthful and forthright in their homestead exemption,” said Leslie Dougher, who is running against Katherine Van Zant in this month’s Republican primary.
Dougher said she is calling on property appraisers in surrounding counties for a forensic audit on the Van Zants’ properties. She said she has also reached out to the Florida Commission on Ethics about their financial disclosures
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