Al Higginbotham was born in 1954 in Florida and he is the current County Commissioner for district four of seven districts in Hillsborough County. the district he serves includes the Brandon and Lithia Pinecrest areas.
He was born Allen Holt Higginbotham Jr, but people usually recognize him as Al Higginbotham.
He has held this office as county Commissioner since 2006 and has led a life immersed in politics. He served on the 1998 and 2000 campaign for former Governor Jeb Bush. He also served on the campaign for President Bush in the 2000 election, and he served as chairman on a number of boards just to name a few.
Higginbotham’s wife name is Devon, formerly known as Devon Brown, and they have 2 children named Kaylon and Allen, III. Their current mailing address is at 6402 Barton Rd, Plant City, Florida 33465.
Through further investigation with the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s office I was able to receive various information concerning Higginbotham’s Barton Rd dwelling. This information in turn led me to seek other resources.
The property appraiser has assessed the Higginbotham home at $377,758. Based on the current market value, the home is suggested to be worth $518,971.
His taxes for the 2007 tax year have been paid in the amount of $7292.54. For the 2008 tax year, $5250.99 is due if paid by the end of this year.
This particular Higginbotham’s home was built in 1940. This house is located on fifteen acres of land and has five bedrooms and three bathrooms. This home was sold to them in May of 2001.
Prior to obtaining this home, the Higginbothams’s’’ former mailing address was 120 Wiggins Rd S in Plant City, Florida.
Al Higginbotham and Devon Higginbotham have a large number of houses in their names.
Al Higginbotham, the conservative republican commissioner, was born in Plant City and lived a few places throughout Florida before coming back to his city of origin.
Before 1991, his political party was democratic. He served on a democratic campaign in 1972 when he was eighteen years old.
Devon and Al were married in 1979 and lived in Orlando at this time. While the couple lived in Orlando, they did file a civil suit against an individual by the name of Vincent Wilkinson on April 24,1985. Most of the information concerning this case was not available but, the judge Nancy Clark made her final judgment on May 7, 1985.
Al Higginbotham himself also had a civil suit filed against him by a person named Manuel Ojeda on June 19, 1990. Judge Nancy Clark handled this case as well. The case was later dismissed on August 22, 1992.
Discovering this suit, I decided to check and see if Higginbotham had any criminal conduct on his record, but I did not find any discrediting information on him for the Commissioner.
I also checked to see if he had been to jail, but of course no information populated.
In 1977, Al Higginbotham graduated from the University of Florida where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and South American Government.
The Higginbotham family came back to Plant City in 1991, but before leaving the Orlando area, Al Higginbotham had started two businesses. Both of these businesses were founded in 1981: Market Place Real Estate, Inc and Salesmakers, Inc. He sold these companies before heading back to the Hillsborough County area.
Being that Al Higginbotham is in office as a County Commissioner, I felt it was necessary to see how he votes on some of the various issued that are addressed by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.
For the 2008 calendar year, I discovered over 100 issues discussed and voted on by the BOCC. For Majority of these issues voted upon, Higginbotham voted “yes”, such as whether or not to request staff to investigate the traffic light that seemed to be malfunctioning on Dale Mabry.
There was an issue in 2007 where Higginbotham stated that he would refrain from voting on a particular matter to avoid a conflict of interest:
Last year, Hillsborough County was cracking down on some companies that haul trash and remove waste from construction areas. Higginbotham reportedly had a lot to say about the issue until it was later discovered that his wife was partnered up with one of the trash-hauling companies that were complaining about this crackdown.
It is reported that when Higginbotham was questioned about knowing if his wife (Devon) was partnered with this company, he stated that he did not realize that she was involved with them.
Her house building company that was partnered up with the trash hauling company is known as Archive Properties, Inc.
Archive Properties, Inc specializes in making homes with whatever ideas the buyer has in mind.
I just found this information a little puzzling because it is hard to believe that a husband would not know the business partners of his wife…maybe he did not, but maybe he did and just wanted to sway the other commissioners to vote how he wanted them to based upon the alliance his wife had with the company.
After this information was publicized, Higginbotham stated that he would not vote at all on this matter, just to avoid any further issues. He also stated that he was not try to act in an unethical manner and did not feel that he had.
I found it very ironic that the first public meeting I attended included my profile select. I had not intentionally done this, but putting a face with the name made things much easier as I conducted my researched on Al Higginbotham.
As I discovered at this meeting, Higginbotham had been involved in some kind of accident or was born with an imparity. He walked with assistance. I guess you would call them crutches (he places his arms on top of the "crutches" to hold his weight up).
I discovered that Higginbotham actually walked without assistance before, but he had an accident on January 20,1995 that impacted his life forever.
He was in Alabama on a hunting trip and big tree fell on him while he was in the woods. The impact from this tree led to him receiving massive spinal injury. The actual tree was thirty feet tall!
He thought that he wouldn’t ever be able to walk again, but he did start to get feeling back into his legs. Although he uses a type of crutch to walk, he is able to use his legs still. This experience led him to start giving motivational speeches.
Higginbotham is a very religious individual. He is very active in his church. He attends First Baptist Church of Plant City.
The fourth district Commissioner wrote a book entitled, “By faith…I’m still standing. (Triumph Over Paralysis)”. I really like the selection for the titled because it can either be taken literally or figuratively and still be very effective. The foreword of this book was written by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush:
“Al Higginbotham is a man I’m proud to call my friend, and whose story would be captivating to me based on that friendship alone. But the intimate and personal story Al shares in the following pages, I think, will resonate with many people who have never met him but who will be moved by his words.”
http://www.hillstax.org/taxapp/property_detail.asp?pmid=3775369
http://www.hillstax.org/taxapp/property_detail.asp?pmid=3372588
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6402-Barton-Rd-Plant-City-FL-33565/82052684_zpid
http://pubrec3.hillsclerk.com/oncore/showdetails.aspx?id=9117169&rn=7&pi=0&ref=search
http://www.hcpafl.org/perl/re2html.pl?strap=212809ZZZ000003490901U%20%20%20&c0=1&c1=1&c2=1&c3=1&c4=1&c5=1&c6=1
http://www.myorangeclerk.com/myclerk/Details_Ptr.aspx?SessionID=14b66847-9eb5-4d0c-9226-27d1c808d5d3&CaseID=304385
http://www.myorangeclerk.com/myclerk/Details_Ptr.aspx?SessionID=14b66847-9eb5-4d0c-9226-27d1c808d5d3&CaseID=518653
http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=4209
http://pubrec3.hillsclerk.com/oncore/showdetails.aspx?id=9462777&rn=0&pi=0&ref=search
http://www.sunbiz.org/pdf/50618725.pdf