Abe Skinner, Collier County’s property appraiser for more than three decades, died Dec. 14 at 94. Set to retire in January, the Fort Myers native joined the county office in 1962 and served as property appraiser for 33 years. Skinner steered his department from the era of huge property map books to a website where, with a click, one could find values, parcel sizes, overhead photographs, tax references and even building permit dates. He also took it through three moves and the development of three satellite offices in a growing county. In 1990, before he was first elected to office, the population of Collier County was 152,099. Today it is 375,752. Property valuation has swelled from $121.2 million in 1996 to $152.25 billion today.
The Nieves family, owners of a new Cuban food takeout restaurant, wants to introduce non-Cubans to not only their native...
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