Bay County magistrate hears multiple code-enforcement cases; several fines reduced under temporary program
Summary
At a Sept. 18 special-magistrate hearing, Bay County accepted code-enforcement recommendations across more than a half-dozen properties, imposing abatement liens and fines while applying a temporary 90% fine-reduction policy for payments made by Sept. 30, 2026.
Bay County Special Magistrate hearing manager Tiffany Sordo opened the Sept. 18 session and presided as code-enforcement staff presented the compliance histories for ten cases that included property abatement costs, fines and the recording of liens in county public records. Catherine Ashman, Bay County code enforcement manager, told the magistrate that the county often contracts cleanup and that abatement costs (contractor invoices and asbestos surveys) are not eligible for magistrate reductions, while assessed fines can be reduced under a temporary county program.
Across multiple cases the magistrate and staff accepted code-enforcement recommendations to record liens for the cost of abating nuisances and to impose fines; in several matters the magistrate applied the county's temporary 90% reduction for fines if owners pay by Sept. 30, 2026. Examples at the hearing included a fine reduced from $1,550 to $500 for 7739 Gadsden Avenue and an assessed obligation set at $8,433.13 for a property at 229 Placido Place when the county's reduction was applied. Magistrate Sordo repeatedly emphasized that abatement costs already paid to contractors would remain on the record and were not subject to the fine-reduction policy.
"The cost of abatement is the cost it took to get it cleaned up or removed the mobile home off the property; that's a cost that I'm not going to change," Sordo said while explaining which parts of a bill the magistrate could modify. Code enforcement also cited the Uniform Assessment Collection Act and chapter 21 of the Bay County Code as the county's process for recording liens and collecting assessed costs.
The hearing concluded with magistrate instructions to owners about payment locations (the code-enforcement office on the 2nd floor of the Bay County Building) and with several final orders recorded as findings of compliance and directions to record liens where appropriate. The session adjourned at 2:07 p.m.
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