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Note: Beauty is the County must fund everything once the required signatures are certified
The process required to develop a county charter is laid out in Florida Statutes, Chapter 125, Part II, Sections 125.60-125.64:
Any county not having a chartered form of consolidated government may, pursuant to the provisions of ss. 60–125.64, locally initiate and adopt by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the county a county home rule charter. The county commission may form a charter commission by resolution. Alternatively, if citizens submit a petition to the county commission signed by at least 15 percent of the county’s registered voters, a charter commission must be appointed. [Today Walton County has 42,558 registered voters, meaning that any petition would need to bear 6,348 signatures.] In either case, the charter commission must be formed within 30 days of the passage of the resolution or filing of said petition.
The charter commission is composed of an odd number of members, not less than 11 or more than 15. If the commission is established by resolution, members are appointed by the county commission. If the petition method is used, the legislative delegation may make the appointments. In any event, no member of the legislature or county commission may serve on the charter commission.
Within 30 days following appointments, the commission must hold an organizational meeting to elect a chair and vice chair and decide any procedural matters. All meetings are open to the public. Expenses of the commission must be paid from the general fund of the county, upon verification of a majority vote of the charter commission.
The charter commission shall conduct a comprehensive study of the operation of county government and of the ways in which the conduct of county government might be improved or reorganized. Within 18 months of its initial meeting, unless such time is extended by appropriate resolution of the board of county commissioners, the charter commission shall present to the board of county commissioners a proposed charter, upon which it shall have held three public hearings at intervals of not less than 10 nor more than 20 days. At the final hearing the charter commission shall incorporate any amendments it deems desirable, vote upon a proposed charter, and forward said charter to the board of county commissioners for the holding of a referendum election as provided in s. 64.
125.64 Adoption of charter; dissolution of commission.—
(1) Upon submission to the board of county commissioners of a charter by the charter commission, the board of county commissioners shall call a special election to be held not more than 90 nor less than 45 days subsequent to its receipt of the proposed charter, at which special election a referendum of the qualified electors within the county shall be held to determine whether the proposed charter shall be adopted. Notice of the election on the proposed charter shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county not less than 30 nor more than 45 days before the election.
(2) If a majority of those voting on the question favor the adoption of the new charter, it shall become effective January 1 of the succeeding year or at such other time as the charter shall provide. Such charter, once adopted by the electors, may be amended only by the electors of the county. The charter shall provide a method for submitting future charter revisions and amendments to the electors of the county.
(3) If a majority of the voters disapprove the proposed charter, no new referendum may be held during the next 2 years following the date of such disapproval.
(4) Upon acceptance or rejection of the proposed charter by the qualified electors, the charter commission will be dissolved, and all property of the charter commission will thereupon become the property of the county.
Charters are unique
There is no “one size fits all” formula for counties in Florida. There seems to be only one commonality among the 20 county charters: a 4-year length of term for county commissioners. But charter counties vary widely, based upon the wishes of their citizens, in most other respects. Some examples:
- How commissioners are elected. Some counties elect commissioners by district, in others commissioners serve at large, while in some there is a combination.
- Some counties require partisan elections, others do not. In some counties the charter is silent on this point.
- Term limits may or may not be specified.
- Some counties elect to follow the state statute in setting salaries for commissions, others set salaries by ordinance.
- All except two counties, which remain silent on the item, have a provision for recall of commissioners.
- All provide for a county executive, but that person may be elected or appointed.
Constitutional Officers
Most Charter counties have changed the existing status of constitutional officers (Clerk of Courts, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Superintendent of Schools, Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector), while some have opted to leave these positions largely unchanged. Some counties have chosen to convert constitutional officers to charter officers or otherwise amalgamate them into county government. Where they remain elected officials, some counties have made their elections all or in part nonpartisan.