Ford-Coates once again earns Legacy Award for high level of achievement in financial operations for tax collectors’ offices in state of Florida

Distinction accorded after thorough review of specific areas of competency

Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates. Image from the Tax Collector’s Office website

Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates once again has earned the Legacy Award, a special designation for excellence in the field of financial operations, the Florida Tax Collectors Association has announced.

The process that leads to the recognition “is rigorous,” a news release explains. It includes a panel’s “comprehensive review of the financial functions of the Tax Collector’s Office,” the release adds.

“The Legacy Award is one of the most significant honors the Florida Tax Collectors Association awards a local tax collector,” association President Sharon Jordan of Suwannee County said in the release.

The five-person panel, which comprises governmental financial executives from across the state, reviewed the following Sarasota County Tax Collector’s Office’s to ascertain the level of competency, the release continues:

  • Innovation and automation.
  • Achieving a perfect annual audit report.
  • Customer focus.
  • Budgeting.

Ford-Coates “has consistently earned the Excellence in Financial Operations Award after exhibiting proficiency in these four areas of expertise,” the release notes. “However, for the 2017 Legacy Award, Mrs. Ford-Coates demonstrated that her office had even further enhanced its financial operations,” the release adds.

“Mrs. Ford-Coates’ methods for delivering service to the people she serves and consideration of the technological innovations she has developed and put into place were also analyzed,” Jordan said in the release.