Inverness says history backs it as county seat

The elections supervisor predicts a referendum on the commission moving would cost at least $60,000 and attract few voters.

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 14, 2001

INVERNESS -- In the wake of the County Commission's 3-2 decision Tuesday to hold a referendum on moving its offices and meetings to Lecanto, City Manager Frank DiGiovanni had plenty to talk about Wednesday with staff, City Council members and City Attorney Jim Neal.

Inverness has not decided how to respond to the county seat challenge.

"The positions we take and the steps we make will all be measured and thought through. We're not going to do anything emotionally or in a reactive state," DiGiovanni said.

"What we're looking at is to preserve the integrity and the historical values and the investment this county as a whole has made in its county seat over the last 100 years," DiGiovanni added. "I don't think anything should be reduced or moved for any reason."

A divided commission decided Tuesday to hold a non-binding referendum this fall to gauge voter support for moving their offices and meetings to Lecanto, a location that some say would be more central and efficient. As part of a 1999 resolution to expand the county seat boundaries to Lecanto, the commission agreed that it would not move any offices there without first holding a referendum.

The commission still needs to set a date for the referendum. Supervisor of Elections Susan Gill said the referendum could fall on any day except for the Nov. 6 Crystal River elections and the Dec. 4 Homosassa Special Water District elections.

Gill estimates the cost of holding the one-question referendum would be between $60,000 and $80,000, which should be included when the commission approves her budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

"I'll try to keep (the cost) as low as I can with minimal staff at the polling places," Gill said. "With the low turnout we would probably see, there's no sense in us loading up at the polls."

The special referendum the county held in April 1997 on raising the sales tax by 1 cent saw a 19 percent turnout, Gill said.

"The question then becomes, are there more people that care about the 1-cent sales tax or more people that care about where the County Commission meets?" Gill said. "It's going to be low, you know that."

Inverness City Council Vice President John Sullivan said that he was disappointed by the commission's decision and that the referendum will bring "a great expense for no reason."

"We feel very strongly that the law is on our side; that the county seat is here and needs to stay here," Sullivan said. "We have almost 100 years invested in having the commission meeting here, and I don't know how they can throw that all away."

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