Florida Files

School Board, Okaloosa County — District 5

Brett Hinely

2025 Form 6 · annual filing (Commission on Ethics) · received 2026-06-04 · 6 pages (text)

Net worth$4,712,649
Income listed$668,607
Real estate$1,125,0002 properties
Debts listed$180,151
Worth a look1

Where listed income comes from

  • Investments & retirement 63% $421,388 · Freedom Distribution W-2, Freedom Distribution, LLC
  • Other / unclassified 32% $212,325 · Bluewater High and Dry, Cove Marine Inc
  • Government & public payroll 4% $26,820 · School District of Okaloosa County W-2
  • Real estate 1% $8,074 · Maggie Mountain Vacations Rental Income, Marina Cove Realty LLC

Worth a look 1

Worth a look Income & business ties

No major clients listed for Cove Marine, Inc., which paid them $159,762

Owners of more than 5% of a business who received more than $1,000 from it must list the business's customers or clients that provided more than 10% of its gross income. The secondary income section is empty or N/A. That's correct only if no single customer exceeded 10% — the form doesn't say.

What to check
  • For a small or one-person business, it is unusual for no client to exceed 10% of revenue.
  • Check the business's public contracts or listings for major clients.

Rule: Business owner with no major clients listed
“If your ownership and gross income exceeded the two thresholds listed above, then for that business entity you must list every source of income to the business entity which exceeded 10% of the business entity's gross income”2025 Form 6 instructions, Income — Secondary Sources ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context 7

Context Unusual reporting

Lists 3 investment accounts ($452,271) instead of what's in them

The instructions say the investments held in a brokerage account or IRA are the assets to report — not the account itself. As listed, the public can't see what the filer is invested in.

What to check
  • Which companies or funds are in these accounts? Holdings matter for conflicts of interest.

Rule: Accounts listed instead of investments
“Note that the product contained in a brokerage account, IRA, or the Florida College Investment Plan, is your asset”2025 Form 6 instructions, Assets ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context Unusual reporting

Net worth $4,712,649; listed items add up to $5,112,649

Reported net worth: $4,712,649. Household goods + listed assets − listed liabilities = $5,112,649. Net worth roughly equals the listed assets before debts — the debts may not have been subtracted.

What to check
  • No action needed unless other items look off.

Rule: Net worth vs. listed items
“Simply subtracting your liabilities from your assets will not result in an accurate net worth figure in most cases.”2025 Form 6 instructions, Net Worth ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context Income & business ties

62% of listed income ($416,388) comes from Freedom Distribution, LLC

Listed income totals $668,607 from 7 sources. The largest is classed as investments & retirement.

What to check
  • Who is this source, and does it have business before the office sought?
  • If the filer owns it, check the business section and secondary income.

Rule: Where the money comes from
“List the name of each source of income that provided you with more than $1,000 of income during”2025 Form 6 instructions, Income ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context Income & business ties

Earns from 5 separate employers or businesses

Several distinct earned-income sources (excluding investments, retirement and Social Security).

What to check
  • Are any of these sources connected to each other or to the office sought?

Rule: Several earned-income sources

How this rule works

Context Wealth & holdings

Reports a net worth of $4,712,649 — a millionaire on paper

Net worth is the filer's own figure. Being wealthy isn't a problem; it's context for comparing candidates and for reading the rest of the form.

What to check
  • Compare with the other candidates in the race.
  • Check that the large assets below are described and valued clearly.

Rule: Net worth tier
“Report your net worth as of”2025 Form 6 instructions, Net Worth ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context Wealth & holdings

Real estate worth $1,125,000 across 2 properties (24% of net worth)

Real estate holdings, as listed.

What to check
  • Look the parcels up with the county property appraiser: land use (vacant or improved), assessed value and when they were bought.
  • Check whether any listed liability is a mortgage on these properties.

Rule: Real estate holdings
“Real property: Identify by providing the street address of the property.”2025 Form 6 instructions, Assets ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Context Wealth & holdings

Lists 1 business under “Interests in Specified Businesses” and owns more than 5% of it

Listed under “Interests in Specified Businesses”: Cove Marine, Inc.. That section covers banks, insurers, mortgage and small-loan companies, utilities, alcohol licensees, pari-mutuels and holders of city or county franchises — industries where officials' interests are disclosed separately.

What to check
  • Check whether the office sought oversees or contracts with these industries.
  • Look the businesses up on Sunbiz for officers and registered agents.

Rule: Stakes in closely regulated businesses
“The types of businesses covered in this section include: state and federally chartered banks”2025 Form 6 instructions, Interests in Specified Businesses ✓ quoted from the saved instructions · how this rule works

Where to look next

Some of what this filing reports stands out. These links open official public records, built from what the filer disclosed. They're searches you run yourself — results may include other people or companies with similar names.

Their filings

Their campaign

Businesses they disclosed

Other filings by Brett Hinely

FilingReceivedNet worthItems
2024 Form 6 — annual (Commission on Ethics)2025-08-22$4,015,737

Net worth

Net worth
As of
Household goods (lump sum)

Assets over $1,000 $4,892,800 listed

DescriptionValue

Liabilities over $1,000 $180,151 listed

CreditorAddressAmount

Joint and several liabilities not reported above

Reported as “N/A”.

Income $668,607 listed

Elected to attach federal tax return instead:

Primary sources

SourceAddressAmount

Secondary sources (major customers of businesses owned)

Reported as “N/A”.

Interests in specified businesses

#1 Name
Address
Activity
Position
Owns > 5%
Nature of ownership

Signature

Signed by
Date
Filed with COE

Source

Document
Open PDF · original source
Retrieved
2026-10-07T23:08:41+00:00
SHA-256
d78b8899035af63e9e7757b15bfeb0a6dd9ef3be70d2a5471e28affb907a159b
Pages
p1 form6 · p2 form6 · p3 form6 · p4 form6 · p5 form6 · p6 form6
Extraction
parser v0.5.2; 0 value(s) below 80% confidence