Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates is the longest-serving elected official in Sarasota County history. She was appointed to the position in spring 1984, won her first election that fall and then was reelected nine more times before losing to former Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran last November by 6,792 votes.

During her tenure, Ford-Coates won numerous awards and recognitions from state and national leaders. She served as president of the Florida Tax Collectors Association and president of the National Association of County Collectors, Treasurers & Finance Officers, which named her Outstanding Tax Collector in the United States in 2008. She also served on the board of the National Association of Counties and, at the state level, was appointed to the 1997-1998 Florida Constitution Revision Commission, which was tasked with proposing ways to improve the Florida Constitution.

Born in Virginia, Ford-Coates studied history at William & Mary before moving to Sarasota in 1972. As she prepares to leave office on Tuesday, Jan. 7, she spoke with Sarasota Magazine about her long career, how local politics has changed in the decades she has served, and her future plans. Our interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What brought you to Sarasota?

"My husband and I and another couple converted a school bus into a camper and decided we were going to go on a cross-country trip. We made it down to Key West and up to Sarasota and ran out of money. We lived at Sun-n-Fun and worked. The other couple decided to go back to New Jersey, but my husband started working at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

"We watched the Democratic National Convention, which was in Miami that year, and it was the first time they specifically had places for young people at the convention. So when you watched the '72 convention, you saw young people. You didn't just see old white men. We were inspired by that and [Sen. George] McGovern [the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate]. We went down and volunteered for the McGovern campaign and made friends and decided to stay."

You started working at the tax collector's office in 1975. What made you go into that line of work?

"Around 1973, the Equal Rights Amendment was a big issue, so a friend of mine suggested we volunteer with the League of Women Voters, which was headed by Rebecca Eger at that time. Then, in 1975, Charlie Hagerman, who had been tax collector for 30 years, died in office, and [then-Gov. Reubin Askew] appointed [Eger]. She took office in April or May of that year. I thought to myself, 'I'm not working. Maybe it'd be fun to go work in a bigger office where there might be some chance for advancement or to learn something.'

"You used to have to update your car registration between July 1 and Aug. 20 each year, but in 1975 they changed it to go by birth date. So my first job was typing birth dates on registrations to send back to the state, and then when tax season started I worked as a cashier at the counter.

"My natural tendency is to improve processes, so I wrote a whole manual about how to do that, because there was none. And then I worked in delinquent taxes and accounting and was always asking questions. I always wanted to know why we were doing something. In '77, [Eger] appointed me assistant tax collector."

What did you enjoy about it?

"It's what I'm good at—asking questions and saying, 'Well, wait a minute. Can't we do it this way?' It's little things. For example, back then, we used to have people assigned to check every check to make sure that the written amount matched [the numeric amount] and everything was perfect. I went to the banks and said, 'Show me what you do with the checks.' Well, they put them in a high-speed processor and they read them automatically. There is no way they're reading that written line. They're reading the numbers. So rather than go through sending every one of those [incorrect] checks back, we stopped doing that."

In what other ways has technology changed the job?

"When I started, we had big books with giant pages, and we would get labels from the data processing department and put those labels on each property, showing it had been paid. There was no internet, no online systems, so it was very people-heavy.

"I adore technology. I had a personal computer early on, one of those little ones with a little screen, and was using it for things before we got everything else moved to online systems. Technology has made all the difference. We would have to have huge offices if we didn't have that and if people weren't able to do so many things online. You can do almost everything online now, unless you have to prove certain things for motor vehicles."

You were first elected in 1984. What made you run for office?

"[Eger's] husband had died and she decided to retire early, but, interestingly, she said to me, 'I'm going to retire and I'm going to get you appointed. Don't tell anybody.' I was like, 'What?' [Laughs.] The announcement was made that she was resigning and I was appointed [by then-Gov. Bob Graham] in the same release. On May 1, I was sworn in. On May 2, I had my first campaign meeting, and on May 3, I had two opponents.

"We had 300 volunteers, people from church and from the kids' schools and Girl Scouts. After the primary, the loser endorsed me, so I'm sure that helped. The Republican party was split back then, so I think that also helped. But I didn't win by a huge margin—that time. Four of the other times, I did."

How did you approach the political nature of the job?

"I remember somebody said to me, 'Well, why do we have to be so nice to people? They have to come to us.' And I said, 'No, they don't. Every four years, they can decide to go to someone else.' It's almost like retail. You have to do your job well and respond to your customers in order to stay in office.

"I had to run for office and talk to people, but that also means you have to get out and hear how you're doing. I'm basically an introvert, so I probably wouldn't have gone to all those chambers of commerce or Tiger Bay meetings and ask, every time I met somebody, 'Have you been in my office? How are we doing?' But that's what you're supposed to do, because you're responding to the public. It's a good dynamic.

"At the moment, I have the longest service of any elected official in Sarasota County history. There were elections where I had the highest vote count of any candidate on the ballot, including the president."

What was your reaction to losing last fall?

"It's been a difficult year when you consider I spent 53 years with my husband and he's gone, and 49 years in this office. [Editor's note: Ford-Coates' husband Brian died last September.] Suddenly, I'm going to be building a new life. You figure it out, day by day."

Why do you think last year's results were different from previous races?

"Two things. I think the red wave had an effect. And I misread or didn't realize that when we started using technology for payments, people weren't writing checks. I didn't hear people say, 'I write your name on my check' anymore.

"People will send us a compliment, but they don't know who's in charge like they used to. I think I missed an opportunity to say, 'I'm your elected tax collector. Let me know if you have any questions.'"

It seems like politics is much more just about the letter next to your name these days.

"I won in 2016 with 60 percent—that was also a Trump year. That's not an insignificant amount. And this year, I still lost by less than any other candidate or any other measure on the ballot.

"I've never endorsed another candidate. I'm a Democrat. I may vote Democratic, but I'm not here to force that on anyone. That's not relevant to this position. And I hope that the next tax collector does not push a Republican agenda."

Did you ever think about running for another office?

"With legislative races, all a candidate does is raise money. You have to report in to the state party or the national party how much money you've raised almost every day, which is one of the many reasons why I never ran, although I was asked many times.

"I know what my talents are, and they're in management. You've got to figure out what you're good at and keep doing it."

How do you feel about all the change in Sarasota that you've seen?

"Things grow. Things change. I tend to feel that wherever you are, there's always people who are in your neighborhood. You know the people in your grocery store. You know the people here and there. And I feel like it's still Sarasota. Yeah, you can drive east and when you get to Beneva Road, it's not orange groves, and there's no drive-in theater out on Bee Ridge, but change is OK. I think it should be controlled change and, sure, I may disagree with some decisions, but I'm not the kind of person who gets upset."

What are your plans after stepping down?

"My first day as a civilian is Jan. 7, which is also one of my daughters' birthdays. So I consider it my birthday also. I will celebrate that. There's still a lot of things to do from my husband's death. I'm sure something will come up in a volunteer capacity that I'll take on, but I don't know what that is yet."

Is there any part of you that feels like leaving office is liberating in some way?

"No. I love my job. I love the people I work with. It's fun to go to work. It's fun to ask questions and get new ideas. I will miss it terribly."

What stands out as a memorable day in office?

"9/11. We were hosting a state conference here at the Hyatt. I was president of the [Florida Tax Collectors Association] at the time. Bush had requested a room there, but he had to stay up on Longboat Key because it was taken. Someone whispered to me that the twin towers had been hit and I had to announce that to 400 or so people who were there from across the state. Then we had to decide what to do. Do we go on or not? I told them, 'Yes, we have to do our job, no matter what happens tomorrow.' We put TVs everywhere we could so people could watch, because everybody wanted to see what was going on in the news."

You have a lot of science fiction memorabilia in your office. Who's your favorite Marvel character?

"That's an interesting question. If you asked me who my favorite Star Trek character is, I can answer that: Deanna Troi, because she could sense other people's feelings. As a manager, that would be unbelievable.

"I like the way Marvel weaves its movies together. There'll be this movie and then, years later, this movie will refer to that thing that happened that led to it. I find the storytelling in Marvel to just be amazing. I like all the characters, I think. You've got to love Star-Lord [Chris Pratt's character in Guardians of the Galaxy], and Thor is pretty good."

Can you tell me about the hatchet on your desk?

"I'm known for editing. People tend to give me documents that are full of legal phrases, because that's what the state is using or what the law says, and I'm like, 'Nope. Cut it down. Tell me what I have to do in normal terms.' So if the staff got something back without my changes, they would have a little celebration, and because of that, they gave me a hatchet."