Title: Power of County Commissioners to Levy Special Assessments

Summary: Deleting special assessments as a source of funding for certain municipal facilities and services; deleting the ability of the legislative and governing body of a county to levy and collect special assessments; deleting special assessments as a mechanism to finance services or programs rendered specially for the benefit of property or residents in unincorporated areas, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to the power of county commissioners to levy special assessments; amending s. 125.01, F.S.; deleting special assessments as a source of funding for certain municipal facilities and services; deleting the ability of the legislative and governing body of a county to levy and collect special assessments; deleting special assessments as a mechanism to finance services or programs rendered specially for the benefit of property or residents in unincorporated areas; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Paragraphs (q) and (r) of subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection (5), and paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of section 125.01, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 125.01 Powers and duties.  (1) The legislative and governing body of a county shall have the power to carry on county government. To the extent not inconsistent with general or special law, this power includes, but is not restricted to, the power to: (q) Establish, and subsequently merge or abolish those created hereunder, municipal service taxing or benefit units for any part or all of the unincorporated area of the county, within which may be provided fire protection; law enforcement; beach erosion control; recreation service and facilities; water; alternative water supplies, including, but not limited to, reclaimed water and water from aquifer storage and recovery and desalination systems; streets; sidewalks; street lighting; garbage and trash collection and disposal; waste and sewage collection and disposal; drainage; transportation; indigent health care services; mental health care services; and other essential facilities and municipal services from funds derived from service charges,special assessments, or taxes within such unit only. Subject to the consent by ordinance of the governing body of the affected municipality given either annually or for a term of years, the boundaries of a municipal service taxing or benefit unit may include all or part of the boundaries of a municipality. If ad valorem taxes are levied to provide essential facilities and municipal services within the unit, the millage levied on any parcel of property for municipal purposes by all municipal service taxing units and the municipality may not exceed mills. This paragraph authorizes all counties to levy additional taxes, within the limits fixed for municipal purposes, within such municipal service taxing units under the authority of the second sentence of s. 9(b), Art. VII of the State Constitution. (r) Levy and collect taxes, both for county purposes and for the providing of municipal services within any municipal service taxing unit,and special assessments;borrow and expend money; and issue bonds, revenue certificates, and other obligations of indebtedness, which power shall be exercised in such manner, and subject to such limitations, as may be provided by general law. There shall be no referendum required for the levy by a county of ad valorem taxes, both for county purposes and for the providing of municipal services within any municipal service taxing unit. 1.   Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a county may not levy special assessments on lands classified as agricultural lands under s. 193.461 unless the revenue from such assessments has been pledged for debt service and is necessary to meet obligations of bonds or certificates issued by the county which remain outstanding on July 1, 2023, including refundings thereof for debt service savings where the maturity of the debt is not extended. For bonds or certificates issued after July 1, 2023, special assessments securing such bonds may not be levied on lands classified as agricultural under s. 193.461. 2.   The provisions of subparagraph 1. do not apply to residential structures and their curtilage. (5)(a) To an extent not inconsistent with general or special law, the governing body of a county shall have the power to establish, and subsequently merge or abolish those created hereunder, special districts to include both incorporated and unincorporated areas subject to the approval of the governing body of the incorporated area affected, within which may be provided municipal services and facilities from funds derived from service charges,special assessments, or taxes within such district only. Such ordinance may be subsequently amended by the same procedure as the original enactment. (6)(a) The governing body of a municipality or municipalities by resolution, or the citizens of a municipality or county by petition of percent of the qualified electors of such unit, may identify a service or program rendered specially for the benefit of the property or residents in unincorporated areas and financed from countywide revenues and petition the board of county commissioners to develop an appropriate mechanism to finance such activity for the ensuing fiscal year, which may be by taxes,special assessments, or service charges levied or imposed solely upon residents or property in the unincorporated area, by the establishment of a municipal service taxing or benefit unit pursuant to paragraph (1)(q), or by remitting the identified cost of service paid from revenues required to be expended on a countywide basis to the municipality or municipalities, within months of the adoption of the county budget, in the proportion that the amount of county ad valorem taxes collected within such municipality or municipalities bears to the total amount of countywide ad valorem taxes collected by the county, or by any other method prescribed by state law. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.