The Marion County Board of County Commissioners approved several potential Marion County legislative priorities for the 2022-2023 session during the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday.
These priorities include requesting the appropriation of funds for different projects and improving Marion County’s natural resources. The commissioners anticipate that each of these priorities will help benefit residents throughout Marion County and the state of Florida.
Three sections are involved within the legislative priorities, and each section consists of different elements that can help improve the overall quality of life within Marion County.
Section 1 is compiled of requests for the appropriation of funds to support infrastructure within the county. This includes cleaning up municipal drinking water within North Marion County (Lowell), requesting roadway and utility infrastructure improvement connecting State Road 200 to Interstate 75, and requesting funds for District 5 and 24 Medical Examiner building updates.
Section 2 is full of proposed priorities that would benefit Marion County. These include allowing swimming once again in Silver Springs, securing grant funding for the Florida Crossroad Commerce Park, supporting septic to sewer programs, continuing support of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs state veterans home, and supporting the mission of the Fort King Heritage Foundation.
The proposed priorities for Section 3 contain statewide support that will be submitted to the Florida Association of Counties before Friday, August 12. These include expanding House Bill 447, allowing code enforcement officers to respond to anonymous complaints, modification to existing laws to allow for enactment of Transportation Sales Surtax on non-charter counties, examining CCNA continuing contract thresholds each year to take into consideration rising costs, and creating legislation that requires a utility service boundary agreement within unincorporated areas.
Matthew Cretul, Marion County’s Legislative Liaison, stated, “These priorities will help fund and benefit the citizens of Marion County and exponentially help our county stay on top of the growth and prosperity currently happening all over the county.”
Cretul added, “As we break down each section, it is important to understand that each section of priorities works independent of one another. Creating or supporting these priorities helps our Marion County Commissioners expand opportunities within Marion County and the state.”
For more information, visit the Marion County website.