The Florida Retail Federation hopes to get $20 million from BP -- perhaps by paying for tax-free holidays -- to help make up for Northwest Florida retailers' lost sales and vitality during the oil spill.

Northwest Florida residents are suing property appraisers in three counties because they want to know now whether the oil spill in the Gulf has devalued their properties.

For property appraisers and those attempting to calculate the economic cost of the spill, the owners are asking for too much, too soon.

“I think it’s totally unreasonable,” said Okaloosa County Property Appraiser Timothy “Pete” Smith, one of the appraisers named in the suit. “We don’t have enough data to make any decisions at this time.”