JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Does Florida have too many counties? <\/p>\n
One local state lawmaker is making the argument that it\u2019s time we start seriously asking that question. <\/p>\n
Florida has 67 counties, and 29 – or almost half of them – are considered fiscally constrained<\/a>, which essentially means they\u2019re strapped for cash.<\/p>\n If the Governor gets his way and drastically slashes counties\u2019 ability to generate revenue through property tax, those counties stand to lose the most.<\/p>\n State Representative Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville) explained many of the fiscally constrained counties are more or less a vestige of Jim Crow\u2026 Born in the early 1900s as part of a power struggle between the segregationists in North Florida and the more progressive South over representation in the state house.<\/p>\n \u201cAny area of the state had a vested interest in becoming a county because it gave them a member of the Florida House of Representatives,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the way regions secured house members shifted to one based on population, rather than one based on county status.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are left with the artifacts of that mindset in the form of all of these counties,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n The result is 29 counties – some with populations lower than 10,000 – that now struggle to raise the tax revenue necessary to provide the services required of an area with county status.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s five constitutional officers. It\u2019s a school district. It\u2019s a prison farm. It\u2019s fire rescue,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n Now, with the Governor proposing $300 million in the state budget to backfill the budgets of fiscally constrained counties in the event voters agree to reduce or eliminate property taxes in 2026, Duggan argued lawmakers should seriously consider whether the state really needs 67 counties in the modern era.<\/p>\n \u201cShould this county even exist by itself, or should it be combined with some other county, so we can lower the overhead that we have to backfill?\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n And he said eliminating or consolidating counties is something the legislature has the ability to do on its own, as county boundaries are defined in state statute<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think it\u2019s time for a perhaps a conversation around reexamining those assumptions, and do we continue to go forward with 67 counties? Maybe we should only have 40,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n Duggan noted that state lawmakers could not change at least some county names, as they\u2019re mentioned in the state constitution.<\/p>\n Duval, thanks to the legislation that consolidated the county and the City of Jacksonville in 1968, is among them.<\/p>\n So, Jags fans need not worry, the \u201cDuval\u201d chant is safe.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n