Planning amendment statement revised after justices rejected itBy BILL KACZOR The Florida Supreme Court ruled the initial statement was misleading in a 5-2 opinion July 12. The proposed Hometown Democracy Amendment to the Florida Constitution would require local governments to hold elections so voters can decide whether to adopt new comprehensive land use plans or make changes in those designs. The impact statement is required to give voters an idea of how much an amendment may cost. The Supreme Court objected to the second of five sentences in the original statement: "Over each two-year election cycle, local governments cumulatively will incur significant costs (millions of dollars statewide)." The statement, drafted by the state's Financial Impact Estimating Conference, failed to indicate the estimate is dependent upon how many times local governments have to hold special elections to adopt or amend land use plans, the majority wrote in the unsigned opinion. The conference, made up of legislative and executive branch economists, revised the offending sentence to include a statement that "probable" costs will depend on the frequency and method of the elections. It also reworked a following sentence to indicate the potential costs include such expenses as ballot preparation and election administration. Portions of the statement saying local costs cannot be precisely determined and state expenses would be negligible were left unchanged. It also still includes the parenthetical comment that costs might be "millions of dollars statewide." "I don't think they get it," said Hometown Democracy President Lesley Blackner. "You already have the ballot. All you have to do is put a little more ink on it." She said there's nothing in the amendment to prevent cities and counties from waiting until the next regular election or a special election called for another purpose to add a planning referendum. In a letter to the commission earlier this week, Hometown Democracy lawyer Ross Burnaman argued local governments could pass election costs on to developers and other parties that request planning amendments. Blackner said the amendment also could save billions of dollars if voters reject developments that would require local governments to provide more services such as police and fire and build roads, schools and other infrastructure. The commission has separately said the minimum cost of holding special elections within a two-year period would be $2.4 million assuming elections are held by mail - the cheapest method - and ballots are sent to 25 percent of Florida's 10.5 million-plus voters. The attorney general's office next will submit the new financial statement to the Supreme Court. Florida Hometown Democracy so far has collected about 45 percent of the about 611,000 signatures from registered voters that it will need to get the amendment on the November 2008 ballot. --- On the Net: Office of Economic and Demographic Research: http://edr.state.fl.us |
