By DOTTY NIST
“On such a winter day” in south Walton County, Feb. 26 was a time for some Florida Panhandle dreaming about a possible new city south of the Choctawhatchee Bay.
Mostly, however, the afternoon and evening at the Seaside Repertory Theater were filled with facts, figures and details related to incorporation, the process of creating a city, provided by Lynn Tipton of the Florida League of Cities.
Tipton, director of membership for the organization, had been invited to speak at two public forums hosted by the South Walton Community Council (SWCC).
Residents bundled up for the unusually chilly weather and filled the venue to capacity for the first session, with 85 participating and others having to be turned away due to lack of space. Attendance was reportedly a bit lighter at the second session, with about 40 attendees.
The Herald/Breeze attended the first (4 p.m.) session.
The meeting format was a presentation by Tipton followed by attendees’ questions, taken on index cards, being answered.
Tipton clarified that her organization does not take a position on whether an area should or should not incorporate but instead takes the role of resource for information.
Kelley Mossburg, new president for the SWCC, also commented that his organization’s role is one of raising awareness on incorporation and bringing forth information on this possibility rather than advocating for such an initiative.
In response to the question of how the idea for incorporation had come up, Mossburg said it was his understanding that it had come up about 10 years earlier, at which time the concept had been explored. Over the past several months, he continued, talk about incorporation had renewed, with the economy picking up and residents’ awareness and concern about development in the area serving as the “main driver.”
In response to a question on what boundaries were envisioned for incorporation, Mossburg said it is “way too early” for that answer to be provided.
Tipton told the group that incorporation comes to fruition as the result of grass-roots efforts, which begin with “a community discussion.”
Roughly almost 51 percent of Florida’s residents live in cities, towns, or villages, she revealed, and whether an incorporated area is called city, town, or village is “strictly aesthetic.”
“We have a city with five people…Weeki Wachee,” Tipton told the group. For purposes of simplicity, she opted to use the term “city” during her talk in referring to incorporated areas named in any of the three ways.
In contrast with the situation in some other states, Tipton explained, incorporating does not remove an area from the county in which it is located.
Rather than being “holes in the doughnut,” cities are “layers in the salad,” she commented.
In Florida, “every inch is in a county,” she stated.
Residents of a city continue to pay the same percentage of ad valorem tax to the county as they did as residents of an unincorporated area, Tipton said in response to a question, with the exception of taxes paid to the county in connection with a Municipal Service Benefit Unit (MSBU) or Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU). These may be associated with a tax reduction when an area incorporates.
Funding sources for cities vary, Tipton explained, with about 90 percent of cities collecting property taxes. Although cities’ ability to collect ad valorem taxes is “constitutionally granted,” 28 Florida cities do not do so, she noted.
Other revenue sources for cities, Tipton explained, include utility tax, business license tax, and fees for services such as water, sewer, and solid waste collection, with such fees often providing more than half of a city’s revenue.
Additional revenue sources, she said, may include a share of some state-levied taxes such as sales tax and county-levied taxes such as the gas tax, with some cities also eligible to participate in state revenue sharing.
Options associated with cityhood, Tipton indicated, range from providing “a full menu of services” to “government lite,” which would be limited to taking on land use, zoning, and a comprehensive plan for the area and contracting out for other services.
Some cities decide over time to add services, she explained.
What responsibilities are cities required to address? According to Tipton there are three “musts.” A city must address what the source of its residents’ fire protection and law enforcement services will be, and the city must create a comprehensive plan.
She clarified that it is not required for the city itself to provide law enforcement or fire protection services, that it may contract for these services or arrange for another party such as the county to provide them.
Upon the city incorporating, the county’s comprehensive plan remains in force temporarily, with the city having a two-year window to provide its own plan, Tipton noted.
She discussed some factors that motivate areas to form a city. One, she said, is the ability as a city to “sit at the intergovernmental table,” to have “a louder voice,” or to implement a “20-year vision.” For some areas, having their own comprehensive plan is “a big issue,” she told the group. In other instances, the motivation may be to provide a service or services that the residents want and have not been able to obtain from the county, Tipton said.
Florida Statute 165 governs incorporation, she noted, adding that the statute sets required steps for the process, one of those being a feasibility study for the proposed city. Among matters covered in the study are city boundaries. Required as part of the feasibility study is a draft charter, as each city has a charter unique to itself.
Another initial step is dialog with the area’s Florida House or Senate representative, Tipton commented.
Incorporation of a city requires passage of a bill known as a “special act” in the Florida Legislature and subsequently a vote of approval by registered voters in the area proposed for incorporation.
The legislature may find that the city would not be financially viable and decline approval of the special act, Tipton noted.
“For some communities, forming a city is not the answer,” she said.
There is no provision in state law for funding a feasibility study for an area interested in incorporation, Tipton said, although she commented that college and university students are often eager to undertake such a study.
The incorporation process is not a quick one, and the statutes are designed “so time will be built into the process,” she noted.
Due to the legislature’s schedule, 15 to 18 months is the shortest timetable for completion of the process, with the process stretching out to two to three years in some cases, Tipton told the group.
She said the first thing a legislative representative would ask would be what the city boundary would be. The boundary would be required to be “contiguous and reasonably compact,” she explained, adding that water bodies are considered contiguous.
A few people in attendance seemed to be more “secession-minded” than interested in incorporation. The last question posed to Tipton was on the possibility of the formation of a new county.
“I’m glad you asked that,” she responded.
Tipton said the last time a new county had been formed was 1925, when Gilchrist County was created. Since then, she said, there have been two tries at creating new counties, with corresponding bills written and introduced into the legislature. Taking place in the 1990s, these efforts involved an attempt to form Hialeah County from part of Miami-Dade County and one to form Ocean County from an area north of Jacksonville. Neither of those initiatives met with success in the legislature.
With the meeting concluded, Tipton received thanks and applause, and Mossburg also thanked those who had attended.
Information on the Florida League of Cities is available on the web site www.floridaleagueofcities.com or by calling (850) 222-9684.
Information on the South Walton Community Council is available on the web site www.southwaltoncc.org or by calling (850) 314-3749.
