Polls have closed in Alachua County and most of the state, minus some counties in the Florida Panhandle. Although lots of attention is on state constitutional amendments, voters are also deciding on multiple local amendments across North Central Florida.
Here’s what to know about these amendments in various counties and the results as they come in:
Alachua County: Filling City Commission Vacancies
Gainesville’s charter amendment would change how a replacement is chosen when the city’s mayor or a commissioner leaves their position before the term’s end.
Currently, commissioners must appoint someone to fill out the position temporarily if an election is already scheduled in less than six months. But if no election is scheduled, the city must call a special election for voters to choose a replacement.
If approved, the amendment would make it so in either scenario, commissioners would be able to appoint someone to fill a vacancy.
Commissioner Bryan Eastman wrote on Facebook Sept. 30 that he pushed to get this measure on the ballot, saying that this would save taxpayers up to $500,000 on special elections.
“There’s a trade off, voters will need to wait longer before voting. But I think it’s a good change and I’m voting yes,” Eastman’s post said.
Marion County: Parks, Trails, Clean Water
A local ballot item in Marion County, which needs a simple majority to pass, proposed up to $140 million in funding for future parks, trails, clean water protection, and land conservation projects.
Voters would decide whether the county could use these funds for keeping parks and trails maintained, and the money would be paid using a fee on homeowner property taxes – capped at $35 per $100,000 of taxable property value.
Some of the projects include land acquisition to protect wildlife habitats, support local agriculture and increase connectivity of vital ecological corridors. Other projects would be to create new parks and improve existing parks.
Marion County: School District Operating Millage Renewal
Voters will choose whether or not to continue an added tax for four more years, starting July.
It consists of a one-mill ad valorem tax which would go to the school system. That is, property owners pay $1 per every $1,000 of taxable property value.
Losing this funding would make it tougher for the school district to maintain existing programs and to pay staff.
The tax revenues pay operating costs for art, music, physical education, library and media services and vocational positions. It also pays for outreach to recruit highly qualified teachers and provides for Safe School initiatives.
The renewal proposes the addition of support for early learning for the district’s youngest students.
To guarantee that the money is being spent properly, the Independent Citizens Referendum Oversight Committee, a group of local citizen volunteers that reports to the Marion County School Board, meets four times a year to issue an annual report on how the referendum money is allocated.
Marion County: Dunnellon Charter Amendment on Police Chief
Dunnellon residents will have a say on its city’s law enforcement services.
A referendum on the ballot for these residents would remove a requirement for the city to appoint a police chief.
If passed, that could give the city more options in its local police, such as through potentially contracting services with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Polls close at 7 p.m. local time in Florida, 8 p.m. ET in the western Panhandle. See all other Florida election resultshere and complete Florida voting coveragehere.
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