Rick Singh, candidate in the race for Orange County Property Appraiser, is calling out his opponent, incumbent Bill Donegan, for falsely representing himself as a “Certified Florida Appraiser as conferred by the IAAO.”
“It’s bad enough that he isn’t qualified to do the job, but running a campaign by misleading the public about this… it’s unacceptable,”said Singh.
Singh was responding to an unlicensed activity investigation of Donegan that is being carried out by the Department of Business and Professional Regulations (DBPR).
Although he is not licensed by the DBPR, Bill Donegan has been campaigning as an appraiser, which is a license that the DBPR issues, he said. Donegan has listed “Certified Florida Appraiser as conferred by the I.A.A.O.” on his website, on his postcard, on his email blasts to contributors, and he routinely represents himself as a Certified Florida Appraiser in person. However, the I.A.A.O. has confirmed that they offer no such designation, and the DBPR has confirmed that Bill Donegan has no appraisal license.
“I’ve been saying this all along. Bill Donegan has never appraised a home in his life. He hasn’t even become a trainee, which means he has no intention of becoming an appraiser,” he added. Singh made similar observations in an exclusive interview with West Orlando News Online, last month.
Donegan has suggested that he didn’t need an appraisal license because he didn’t handle daily appraisals; he just handled the office.
“That’s absurd,” Singh responded. “Even though the Sherriff doesn’t personally make every arrest in the county, we expect our Sherriff to have a law enforcement background. We expect our State Attorney to have a meaningful legal background. And we expect the Property Appraiser to have meaningful property appraisal experience– Bill knows this, and that’s why he’s been misleading the public about his qualifications.”
Yesterday, Donegan responded to the DBPR investigation by switching gears to state that he actually has a C.F.A. designation from the Department of Revenue. This is a “Constitutional Officer” designation that some Florida politicians can get for completing some necessary coursework, Singh said. It is not reflective of any actual appraisal experience and does not qualify him to perform appraisals. Donegan insists that he was not trying to mislead the public, and now refers to his previous representation of his license as a mistake.
“Bill keeps making mistake after mistake.” Singh said. “When your taxes are wrong because he got your value wrong, that’s a mistake. People have been appealing his values, and his values are overturned approximately one hundred million dollars every single year. That’s one hundred million dollars worth of Bill Donegan mistakes every year. And those are just the people who appealed Bill’s mistakes – what about everyone else? Orange County shouldn’t have to pay for any more of Bill’s mistakes.”
Although Bill Donegan has changed his website to now indicate his CFA designation comes from the Department of Revenue, he still claims to be certified by the IAAO in Real Property Appraisal, Income Approach to Valuation, and Appraisal of Land. However, Singh said, the IAAO lists no such certifications on their website.
Singh is certified by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) as property appraiser with a combined 17 years of public and private experience, as well as a broker in the real estate industry. He is running as a Democrat for Orange County Property Appraiser and will be on the ballot in Orange County’s election on November 6, 2012.
