Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1762 By Senator Gruters 22-01402A-25 20251762__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to local government salaries and 3 benefits; amending s. 145.012, F.S.; revising 4 applicability; amending s. 145.031, F.S.; requiring 5 the use of the county population on a specified date 6 to calculate the group rate element of the salary 7 formula applicable to county commissioners of 8 noncharter counties beginning on a specified date; 9 providing that the salaries of members of the 10 governing body of a chartered or consolidated county 11 government shall be provided in the county charter or 12 as set by ordinance by a specified date; amending s. 13 145.19, F.S.; providing procedures for calculating 14 salary adjustments for members of boards of county 15 commissioners of certain counties; creating s. 145.20, 16 F.S.; requiring a referendum for a board of county 17 commissioners to increase the salary, retirement 18 benefits, or other compensation paid to its members; 19 requiring referendum election costs to be paid by the 20 county; providing applicability; amending s. 166.021, 21 F.S.; requiring a referendum for the governing body of 22 a municipality to increase the salary, retirement 23 benefits, or other compensation paid to its members; 24 requiring referendum election costs to be paid by the 25 municipality; providing applicability; creating s. 26 189.0165, F.S.; requiring a referendum for the 27 governing body of a special district to increase the 28 salary, retirement benefits, or other compensation 29 paid to its members; requiring the referendum election 30 costs to be paid by the special district; providing 31 applicability; providing construction; providing an 32 effective date. 33 34 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 35 36 Section 1.Section 145.012, Florida Statutes, is amended to 37 read: 38 145.012Applicability.This chapter applies to all 39 officials herein designated in all counties of the state, except 40 those officials whose salaries are not subject to being set by 41 the Legislature because of the provisions of a county home rule 42 charter and except officials (other than the property appraiser, 43 clerk of the circuit court, superintendent of schools, sheriff, 44 supervisor of elections, and tax collector who if qualified 45 shall receive in addition to their salaries a special 46 qualification salary as provided in this chapter) of counties 47 which have a chartered consolidated form of government as 48 provided in chapter 67-1320, Laws of Florida. 49 Section 2.Section 145.031, Florida Statutes, is amended to 50 read: 51 145.031Board of county commissioners. 52 (1)(a)Each member of the board of county commissioners of 53 a noncharter county shall receive as salary the amount 54 indicated, based on the population of his or her county. In 55 addition, compensation shall be made for population increments 56 over the minimum for each population group, which shall be 57 determined by multiplying the population in excess of the 58 minimum for the grouping times the group rate. 59 60 61 Pop. Group County Pop. Range Base Salary Group Rate 62 Minimum Maximum 63 I -0- 9,999 $4,500 $0.150 64 II 10,000 49,999 6,000 0.075 65 III 50,000 99,999 9,000 0.060 66 IV 100,000 199,999 12,000 0.045 67 V 200,000 399,999 16,500 0.015 68 VI 400,000 999,999 19,500 0.005 69 VII 1,000,000 22,500 0.000 70 (b)Effective October 1, 2025, the population of the county 71 as of April 1, 2025, shall be used to calculate the group rate 72 under this subsection. 73 (2)Each No member of a governing body of a chartered 74 county or a county with a consolidated form of government shall 75 receive as salary the amount provided in the county charter. If 76 a county charter authorizes the governing body to set its salary 77 by ordinance, each member of the governing body shall receive as 78 salary the amount provided by an ordinance adopted on or before 79 April 1, 2025 be deemed to be the equivalent of a county 80 commissioner for the purposes of determining the compensation of 81 such member under his or her respective charter. 82 (3)Notwithstanding the provisions of this section or s. 83 145.19, each member of the board of county commissioners may 84 reduce his or her salary rate on a voluntary basis. 85 Section 3.Subsection (2) of section 145.19, Florida 86 Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is added to that 87 section, to read: 88 145.19Annual percentage increases based on increase for 89 state career service employees; limitation; exception. 90 (2)Each fiscal year, the salaries of all officials listed 91 in this chapter, s. 1001.395, and s. 1001.47, except members of 92 boards of county commissioners, shall be adjusted. The adjusted 93 salary rate shall be the product, rounded to the nearest dollar, 94 of the salary rate granted by the appropriate section of this 95 chapter, s. 1001.395, or s. 1001.47 multiplied first by the 96 initial factor, then by the cumulative annual factor, and 97 finally by the annual factor. The Department of Management 98 Services shall certify the annual factor and the cumulative 99 annual factors. Any special qualification salary received under 100 this chapter, s. 1001.47, or the annual performance salary 101 incentive available to elected superintendents under s. 1001.47 102 shall be added to such adjusted salary rate. The special 103 qualification salary shall be $2,000, but may shall not exceed 104 $2,000. 105 (3)The salary adjustment for each member of a board of 106 county commissioners of a noncharter county or a charter county 107 that has adopted the salary rate for noncharter counties by 108 charter or ordinance shall be calculated as provided in 109 subsection (2) until September 30, 2025. As of October 1, 2025, 110 any future adjustment shall be made only as provided in s. 111 145.20. 112 Section 4.Section 145.20, Florida Statutes, is created to 113 read: 114 145.20Referendum to increase salary, retirement benefits, 115 or other compensation. 116 (1)A board of county commissioners may not increase the 117 salary, any retirement benefit, or any other type of 118 compensation paid to its members unless such increase is 119 approved by a majority of the electors of the county voting in a 120 referendum held at a general election during a presidential 121 election year. The election costs of the referendum shall be 122 paid by the county. 123 (2)This section does not apply to any increase in a 124 retirement benefit received as part of the governing bodys 125 participation in the Florida Retirement System. 126 Section 5.Subsection (10) is added to section 166.021, 127 Florida Statutes, to read: 128 166.021Powers. 129 (10)(a)The governing body of a municipality may not 130 increase the salary, any retirement benefit, or any other type 131 of compensation paid to its members unless such increase is 132 approved by a majority of the electors of the municipality 133 voting in a referendum held at a general election during a 134 presidential election year. The election costs of the referendum 135 shall be paid by the municipality. 136 (b)This subsection does not apply to any increase in a 137 retirement benefit received as part of the governing bodys 138 participation in the Florida Retirement System 139 Section 6.Section 189.0165, Florida Statutes, is created 140 to read: 141 189.0165Special districts; compensation of members of 142 governing body. 143 (1)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 144 governing body of a special district may not increase the 145 salary, any pension or other retirement benefit, or any other 146 type of compensation paid to members of the governing of a 147 special district unless such increase is approved by a majority 148 of the electors of the special district voting in a referendum 149 held at a general election during a presidential election year. 150 The election costs of the referendum shall be paid by the 151 special district. 152 (2)This section does not apply to any increase in a 153 retirement benefit received as part of the governing bodys 154 participation in the Florida Retirement System. 155 (3)This section does not authorize a referendum to 156 increase the salary, any pension or retirement benefit, or any 157 other type of compensation paid to members of the governing body 158 of a special district if the special districts charter 159 prohibits such members from receiving compensation or benefits. 160 Section 7.This act shall take effect October 1, 2025.