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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to local government salaries and 2
benefits; amending s. 145.012, F.S.; revising 3
applicability; amending s. 145.031, F.S.; revising 4
requirements for the board of county commissioners 5
salary formula to apply to noncharter counties; 6
requiring the county population to be used to 7
calculate the group rate beginning on a specified 8
date; providing for the determination of salaries of 9
members of boards of county commissioners of certain 10
counties; amending s. 145.19, F.S.; providing 11
procedures for calculating salary adjustments for 12
members of boards of county commissioners of certain 13
counties; creating s. 145.20, F.S.; requiring a 14
referendum for a board of c ounty commissioners to 15
increase the salary, retirement benefits, or other 16
compensation paid to its members; requiring referendum 17
election costs to be paid by the county; providing 18
applicability; amending s. 166.021, F.S.; requiring a 19
referendum for the gov erning body of a municipality to 20
increase the salary, retirement benefits, or other 21
compensation paid to its members; requiring referendum 22
election costs to be paid by the municipality; 23
providing applicability; creating s. 189.0165, F.S.; 24
requiring a referendum for the governing body of a 25
HB 1581 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
special district to increase the salary, retirement 26
benefits, or other compensation paid to its members; 27
requiring the referendum election costs to be paid by 28
the special district; providing applicability; 29
providing construction; providing an effective date. 30
31
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 32
33
Section 1. Section 145.012, Florida Statutes, is amended 34
to read: 35
145.012 Applicability. —This chapter applies to all 36
officials herein designated in a ll counties of the state, except 37
those officials whose salaries are not subject to being set by 38
the Legislature because of the provisions of a county home rule 39
charter and except officials (other than the property appraiser, 40
clerk of the circuit court, sup erintendent of schools, sheriff, 41
supervisor of elections, and tax collector who if qualified 42
shall receive in addition to their salaries a special 43
qualification salary as provided in this chapter) of counties 44
which have a chartered consolidated form of gov ernment as 45
provided in chapter 67 -1320, Laws of Florida. 46
Section 2. Section 145.031, Florida Statutes, is amended 47
to read: 48
145.031 Board of county commissioners. — 49
(1)(a) Each member of the board of county commissioners of 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
a noncharter county shall receive as salary the amount 51
indicated, based on the population of his or her county. In 52
addition, compensation shall be made for population increments 53
over the minimum for each population group, which shall be 54
determined by multiplying the population in e xcess of the 55
minimum for the grouping times the group rate. 56
57
Pop.
Group County Pop. Range
Base
Salary
Group Rate
58
Minimum Maximum
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I -0- 9,999 $4,500 $0.150
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II 10,000 49,999 6,000 0.075
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III 50,000 99,999 9,000 0.060
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IV 100,000 199,999 12,000 0.045
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V 200,000 399,999 16,500 0.015
64
VI 400,000 999,999 19,500 0.005
65
VII 1,000,000 22,500 0.000
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66
(b) Effective October 1, 2025, the population of the 67
county as of April 1, 2025, shall be used to calculate the group 68
rate under this subsection. 69
(2) Each No member of a governing body of a chartered 70
county or a county with a consolidated form of government shall 71
receive as salary the amount provided in the county charter. If 72
a county charter authorizes the governing body to set its salary 73
by ordinance, each member of the governing body shall receive as 74
salary the amount provided by an ordinance adopted on or before 75
April 1, 2025 be deemed to be the equivalent of a county 76
commissioner for the purposes of determining the compensation of 77
such member under his or her respective charter . 78
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or s. 79
145.19, each member of the board of county commissioners may 80
reduce his or her salary rate on a voluntary basis. 81
Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 145.19, Florida 82
Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is added to that 83
section, to read: 84
145.19 Annual percentage increases based on increase for 85
state career service employees; limitation ; exception.— 86
(2) Each fiscal year, the salaries of all officials li sted 87
in this chapter, except boards of county commissioners, s. 88
1001.395, and s. 1001.47 , shall be adjusted. The adjusted salary 89
rate shall be the product, rounded to the nearest dollar, of the 90
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salary rate granted by the appropriate section of this chapter , 91
s. 1001.395, or s. 1001.47 multiplied first by the initial 92
factor, then by the cumulative annual factor, and finally by the 93
annual factor. The Department of Management Services shall 94
certify the annual factor and the cumulative annual factors. Any 95
special qualification salary received under this chapter, s. 96
1001.47, or the annual performance salary incentive available to 97
elected superintendents under s. 1001.47 shall be added to such 98
adjusted salary rate. The special qualification salary shall be 99
$2,000, but may shall not exceed $2,000. 100
(3) The salary adjustment for each member of a board of 101
county commissioners of a noncharter county or a charter county 102
that has adopted the salary rate for noncharter counties by 103
charter or ordinance shall be calculated as provided in 104
subsection (2) until September 30, 2025. As of October 1, 2025, 105
any future adjustment shall be made only as provided in s. 106
145.20. 107
Section 4. Section 145.20, Florida Statutes, is created to 108
read: 109
145.20 Referendum to increase salary, r etirement benefits, 110
or other compensation. — 111
(1) A board of county commissioners may not increase the 112
salary, any retirement benefit, or any other type of 113
compensation paid to its members unless such increase is 114
approved by a majority of the electors of t he county voting in a 115
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
referendum held at a general election during a presidential 116
election year. The election costs of the referendum shall be 117
paid by the county. 118
(2) This section does not apply to any increase in a 119
retirement benefit received as part of the governing body's 120
participation in the Florida Retirement System. 121
Section 5. Subsection (10) is added to section 166.021, 122
Florida Statutes, to read: 123
166.021 Powers.— 124
(10)(a) The governing body of a municipality may not 125
increase the salary, any retirement benefit, or any other type 126
of compensation paid to its members unless such increase is 127
approved by a majority of the electors of the municipality 128
voting in a referendum held at a general election during a 129
presidential election year. The election costs of the referendum 130
shall be paid by the municipality. 131
(b) This subsection does not apply to any increase in a 132
retirement benefit received as part of the governing body's 133
participation in the Florida Retirement System 134
Section 6. Section 189.0165 , Florida Statutes, is created 135
to read: 136
189.0165 Special districts; compensation of members of 137
governing body.— 138
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 139
governing body of a special district may not increase the 140
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
salary, any pension or other retirement benefit, or any other 141
type of compensation paid to members of the governing of a 142
special district unless such increase is approved by a majority 143
of the electors of the special district voting in a referendum 144
held at a general election during a p residential election year. 145
The election costs of the referendum shall be paid by the 146
special district. 147
(2) This section does not apply to any increase in a 148
retirement benefit received as part of the governing body's 149
participation in the Florida Retirement System. 150
(3) This section does not authorize a referendum to 151
increase the salary, any pension or retirement benefit, or any 152
other type of compensation paid to members of the governing body 153
of a special district if the special district's charter 154
prohibits such members from receiving compensation or benefits. 155
Section 7. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 156