Business briefs: Neal communities notched 62 sales in January

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Neal Communities sold 62 homes in January, including six sales from the semicustom, luxury Neal Signature Homes and 17 sales from Neal's Southern division.

January's notable neighborhoods included Silverleaf in Parrish with seven sales and Eagle Trace in Bradenton with six sales.

Neal Communities will have 22 models in the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association's Parade of Homes Saturday. The homebuilders' pool company, Waterscapes Pools and Spas, will feature eight pools.

In 2015, Neal Communities hit a milestone, closing on 989 homes in Florida -- the most since its 1970 inception -- and pulled permits for more than 1,200 homes in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Neal Communities also opened 13 new communities in 2015, and expects to unveil eight this year, continuing its five-year expansion plan.

Sarasota Orthodedics opens Bradenton office

SARASOTA -- Sarasota Orthopedic Associates has opened its fourth location at 4319 20th St. W., Bradenton.

The new location allows the physicians of SOA to better serve the needs of Sarasota and Manatee County for sports medicine as well as spine, joint, and muscle conditions.

Gasoline prices expected to start moving up

The exceptionally low gasoline prices, the lowest since 2009, are expected to start rising in coming weeks, possibly peaking at $2 to $2.50 a gallon around Memorial Day, according to the American Automobile Association.

The cash price for regular unleaded in Florida now is averaging $1.75 a gallon -- almost a dollar below 2015's price peak in June, when a barrel of crude oil sold for $61. Since then, a glut of oil and lower worldwide demand has dropped prices for a barrel of crude oil to under $30.

"The cost of oil remains a major wild card," said Michael Green, AAA spokesman.

In the last week, prices at the gas pump dropped three cents and are down 17 cents from a month ago.

Yet this is the time of year when refineries lower production as they do annual maintenance, especially during April, Green said. And each year, prices rise going into the summer driving seasons.

Manatee to extend hours to file tax exemption

MANATEE -- With the deadline approaching to file a property tax exemption, the Manatee County Property Appraiser's office is extending its hours to accommodate expected high volumes of applicants.

Last year, Manatee County saw more homes sold than in any year before, a total of 20,691. Scott Tussing, the appraiser's assistant director of public service and exemptions, said it has prompted the office to give new homeowners more time to file.

His office could see as many as 1,300 more filers applying for the 2015 tax year than in 2014.

The filing deadline is March 1.

Tax exemption categories include those for homestead, low-income senior citizens and widows and widowers. This year, the office will hold Saturday filing hours on Feb. 27 between 8:30 a.m. and noon. In person filers may also turn in their exemption applications on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

-- Herald staff, wire reports

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Business briefs: Neal communities notched 62 sales in January ."