Who is paying for all this incorporation stuff?
There are two ways to make a city outlined in the Florida Statutes. The first is to directly form a city [1] and the second is to convert an already existing government entity, like Indian Trail Improvement District (ITID), into a city. [2] The two procedures are similar, but they do have some significant differences.
To convert ITID into a city, you need a feasibility study, a charter, and a petition with signatures of 40% of the registered voters in The Acreage. This is a significant hurdle considering we have a population of over 40,000 people [3] with approximately 27,000 registered voters. [4] This equates to more than 10,000 signatures on a petition.
In addition, ITID would have to retract its boundaries to exclude areas that are already inside a city. Many people think that ITID is the same as The Acreage, but the fact is that ITID is actually quite a bit larger. ITID provides services to Bay Hill, Rustic Lakes and portions of Royal Palm Beach which are not part of The Acreage.
Its much easier to form a city directly. All you need is a feasibility study, a charter, and three citizens. The main obstacles with this method are the legal fees and the cost of the feasibility study.
Back in 2021, ITID, by and through State Representative Rick Roth, filed a special bill (HB 1185) [5] with the state that reduced the petition requirement to only 10% of the registered voters and allowed ITID to form a committee, expend the necessary funds for a feasibility study and create a charter. The petition reduction portion was later removed during the legislative process and did not become law.
After the Governor signed ITID's bill (now Florida rule 2021-250) into law [6], ITID immediately started the conversion process and set up the Feasibility and Charter Review (FCR) committee. I was on that committee. At the time, I believed that converting our area into a city might be a good thing, however, after seeing what was really going on, I no longer support the current attempt at incorporation.
The biggest expense in forming a new city is the feasibility study which generally needs to be done by professionals experienced in the specialized research that needs to be done. The next biggest expense is the legal fees associated with the attorneys who work on the charter itself.
Because of the new ITID law, the ITID taxpayers paid for all of that. According to public record [7], the entire FCR committee process cost the ITID taxpayers about $50,000. About $28,000 of that was the feasibility study itself. Another $6,000 went to the attorneys.
However, there was one little oversight. The 40% petition. No petition was ever attempted before the FCR committee was formed. That means that incorporation by conversion would not be legal and would be summarily dismissed by the legislature. This oversight was blamed on bad legal advice, however this is unlikely because ITID rule 2021-250 makes no mention of any changes to the petition requirement.
At the last committee meeting [8], an allegedly random citizen, Lou Colantuoni, Jr., who was a first time attendee, asked during public comment for ITID to turn the incorporation process over to him so that he could pursue direct incorporation. Nobody really expected the chair, Betty Argue, to do so, but she did. After noting the lack of a petition, she disbanded the committee and turned the process of incorporation over to three pre-selected individuals - Lou, Bob Morgan and Elizabeth Accomando. The last two had also served on the committee.
So by initiating incorporation as a conversion, knowing full well that they had not satisfied the petition requirement, ITID was able to fund the most expensive elements of incorporation. Then by handing the charter and feasibility study over to a "citizens group" for direct incorporation, they were able to usurp the law and use taxpayer funds for a citizens direct incorporation process that did not require a petition.
This was nothing short of political funny business. It may be totally legal, but certainly not ethical. Knowing that this is who the people are that are pushing incorporation, its one of the many things that turned me against incorporation.
Your neighbor,
Dennis Hawkins.
References
1. Chapter 165 Section 061 - 2022 Florida Statutes. (2022). Flsenate.gov. <url>
2. Chapter 165 Section 0615 - 2022 Florida Statutes. (2022). Flsenate.gov. <url>
3. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: The Acreage CDP, Florida. (n.d.). Www.census.gov. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from <url>
4. Link, W. S. (2023, January 3). December Active Voters by District/Precinct. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. <url> ; Compilation from website data: pages 26 & 27.
5. Roth, R. (2021). HB 1185 [Review of HB 1185]. Florida Senate. <url>
6. CHAPTER 2021-250. (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2023, from <url>; Committee Revision.
7. Stevens, G., Records Retention Clerk. (2021, September 20). Public Information Request [Email Public Information Request].
8. FCR Committee Meeting - Sep 1st, 2021. (n.d.). Itid.granicus.com. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from <url>