Owes Volusia County money for business tax on failed financial services operation
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Robert Lott stands with a golden shovel as a SEV Chamber of Commerce board member for the recent groundbreaking of the Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue, the same street where he set up shop for his financial services business and the weekly Observer newspaper, the latter two long gone from the New Smyrna Beach landscape.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Robert Wayne Lott was once the kingpin of bustling Flagler Avenue with his standing as president of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, board member of the Southeast Volusia Hospital Taxing District, owner of Lott Financial Services and of the weekly Observer newspaper. Those days are long gone.
These days, Lott remains a holdover board member of the chamber and an owner of the Observer with his wife, Michele, but far from the hustle and bustle of thriving Flagler Avenue, the business and tourism hub of New Smyrna Beach.
In April, backlogged on the rent, Lott and his crew were shown the door by his landlord. His Lott Financial Services was gone even before he was vacated from the premesis. The Observer is operated from the Lotts' home on South Riverside Drive in Edgewater.
Whether Lott's rental debts are paid up is a private matter and he's not saying either way. His former landlord is embarrassed by the whole situation and doesn't want to be mentioned publicly.
What is public, however, is Lott's unpaid balance to Volusia County for the business license for his failed Lott Financial Services. He owes the county $250 for unpaid balances dating back to September 2010.
For that matter, the Observer's corporation, Coronado Beach Publishing, did not inform the county it had left Flagler Avenue last April, which costs $3 to update the licensing fee.
The Lotts have not returned messages for comment.