Columbia County commissioners on Aug. 7 voted to send a package of legislative policy requests to the Florida Association of Counties and to the county’s legislative delegation, directing staff to pursue state help for detention center improvements, sheriff funding for small counties and relief for homeowners facing new septic-tank rules.

The board voted, by voice, to accept staff recommendations presented by county staffer Stas and to ask county staff to prepare delegation materials that include funding requests for the county detention center and advocacy on sheriff pay and homeowner relief tied to new septic-system rules.

The policy package Stas described includes asking the state to provide property-tax revenue replacement if homestead exemptions are changed. "If the homestead property, again, were to be, eliminated, we would lose 15 and a half million dollars," Stas said. He also recommended pushing for a revised definition of "fiscally constrained" counties (raising the threshold for a 1-mill yield), continued study and policy on replacing fuel-tax revenue as electric vehicles increase, and a proposed change to state law so that abandoned utilities default to special utility districts where one exists.

Commissioners also directed staff to add detention center facility improvements to delegation presentations. The board made a separate, successful motion to ask staff to include questions for the full Legislature about how septic-system BMAP (basin management action plan) rules would be rolled out and to seek relief programs for homeowners who may face costly upgrades. "It is coming. You can guarantee it," Commissioner Hollingsworth said of the tighter BMAP-driven septic requirements.

Board members discussed why the items matter to a rural county such as Columbia: higher pension and salary levels set by the state for law-enforcement officers can strain small counties' budgets, and changes to property-tax rules could materially reduce local revenue. Stas said Columbia is nearing the population and revenue thresholds that affect millage calculations and grant eligibility, and recommended the county press for protections that reflect those realities.

All motions described above were approved by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting minutes provided. The board asked staff to return with any additional requests for the portal before the delegation meetings later in September.

The board also separated formal legislative policy positions from specific legislative requests, so the county will present both policy principles (for FAC) and targeted funding requests (to the delegation) during the fall cycle.