Hangar? What hangar? Oh, that hangar? Nope, never saw it before
Outgoing county Property Appraiser Jim Todora is set to record a tax lien on the Venice Municipal Airport, this due to a leased building on the airport that was never reported to the county as being in existence.

In a letter to City Finance Director Jeff Snyder dated November 4 (PDF, 3 pages), Todora identifies a hangar built in 2003 by A.C. "Chuck" Schmieler as having been given a tax exemption improperly. In actuality, the building was never reported by the city to the county as ever being in existence, this in spite of the building's appearance on the county's aerial photo property map server.

Schmieler is the public face of VABA, the Venice Airport Business Association, an organization whose board members include the owner and an employee of the Venice Jet Center. Schmieler, VABA, and the Venice Jet Center have been highly critical of what they have stated is the city's failure to financially capitalize on potential uses of airport land.

Todora's letter indicates that property taxes on the land and building have not been paid since since the initial lease was signed in November of 2000. Todora indicates that his office will be recording a tax lien on the airport itself for unpaid taxes for the years 2001 through 2007. According to Todora's letter, the City of Venice is responsible for paying the back taxes to the county as the city is the listed owner of the parcel and building.

Up until several weeks ago, the county's satellite map identified the hangar as having the same address as the airport's main office, 120 Airport Avenue East, this despite being several buildings west of the airport office. City fire inspection records going back to the construction of the hangar give Schmieler's building an entirely different address. The county's map server now has corrected information identifying Schmieler as the leaseholder.

According to various sources at city hall and at the county's Property Appraiser's Office, it appears that the city never notified the county of the existence of the building. This is usually done as a matter of course by the City Clerk's Office and the City's Building Department. The end result is that the county's records indicated that the hangar didn't exist at all and that the land that the hangar sits on was set aside for municipal and/or airport use.

Venice Florida! dot com has asked the city to identify who at city hall is legally responsible for notifying the county of new airport leases. As of publication of this article, the city has not had sufficient time yet to respond to that question.

Stealth job uncovered by a "taxpayer;" Venice Florida! dot com sits on information despite potential political impact on Carlesimo's campaign
The city, as landlord, is obligated to pay the back-owed taxes, plus penalties, to the county. The actual amount owed has not been calculated yet, but it is estimated that around $10,000 is due to the county along with an additional 50% penalty. With penalties and interest, the amount was ballparked by an employee at the Appraiser's Office to be somewhere around $18,000.

Schmieler's lease with the city indicates that he is financially responsible for paying any due property taxes, but it is unclear at this time if Schmieler is legally responsible for reimbursing the city on the back-owed taxes and penalties after the city had given him an exemption by default, this exemption due to the city's failure to report the existence of the lease and the building to the county.

Todora's letter identifies "a taxpayer" as having brought the matter to the county's attention. That taxpayer is Venice resident Fred Roscoe.

Several months back, Roscoe asked Venice Florida! dot com for help in trying to ascertain who the actual leaseholders are for various buildings on airport land. This writer showed Roscoe the county's photo map server and both Roscoe and this writer immediately noticed that property line overlays indicated that Schmieler's hangar was bizarrely situated on open non-leased airport land. Initially, we both thought that this was a simple error in the map server's data.

Upon further checking, Roscoe discovered that the building didn't exist at all according to county records, this despite the existence of building permits and a lease, all on file at city hall. According to county records, Schmieler's hangar was listed as part of property number 0431-06-0001, identified as property controlled and used by the City of Venice for municipal and airport use.

In other words, Schmieler's hangar was listed at the Property Appraiser's Office as part of the airport's main office building, some three buildings to the east -- the same building that Airport Manager Fred Watts works in.

All other leased property at the airport is, as far as we could determine, identified in county records and on the county's map server by the individual lease holders. Roscoe inquired about the discrepancy at the Property Appraiser's office and was told that the hangar didn't officially exist.

Roscoe persisted, which resulted in the county launching a massive investigation into all leased properties located on airport land that included several physical inspections and tours of airport properties. That investigation took place over the past few months.

Despite the fact that the investigation would have had political impact in the then-ongoing elections, especially with candidate Emilio Carlesimo having aligned himself strongly with VABA, Venice Florida! dot com did not publicize the ongoing investigation at that time out of fear of compromising the investigation.

Todora looking for other stealthed properties
Todora writes that his office isn't through with the investigation and that the county is looking to see if any other stealthed buildings or city-owned leases properties exist, and not just at the airport: "This office recently conducted a review and inspection of the Venice Airport property and we are satisfied to have accounted for all the leases currently encumbering property at the airport. However, we wish to confirm all City of Venice property which the City leases are properly listed in the assessment rolls. We respectfully request the City of Venice to provide this office a list of all City owned property that is currently leased. The list you provide will be matched against the assessment roll."

When first contacted by Venice Florida! dot com several months ago, Schmieler stated that he didn't owe any taxes that he was aware of, but that if there were back-taxes owed, he would be willing to pay them.

Roscoe now looking into Agape Flights permits
Roscoe is now looking at the hangar currently leased by Agape Flights, a non-profit company whose primary purpose is to fly critical supplies to Christian missionaries in Haiti as well as Central and South America. Roscoe stated on Friday that the non-profit lists several flight instructors as staff members. Roscoe wants to know if Agape is planning on opening up a flight school at the airport.

Additionally, reliable information has just come in to Venice Florida! dot com that indicates that Agape's hangar may have been built without ever having received building and construction permits by the city. Roscoe has stated that he will be following up on that information to determine if it is true and, if it is, he has a couple of questions: Who was responsible and what is the remedy?

John Patten is the editor and publisher of Venice Florida! dot com and had previously worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.