Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
During the regular meeting of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, July 8, State Representative Allison Tant was on hand to speak about the most recent session of the Florida Legislature. In her comments, Rep. Tant spoke of the many funding proposals for Madison County that were passed in this year’s state budget and were approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Part of the state’s $117.6 billion budget includes $11,170,000 in funding for Madison County and its municipalities. This includes:
• $5 million for Camp Cherry Lake
• $2 million for the construction of a new rodeo arena/agricultural center
• $1 million for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to consolidate offices into one central location
• $1 million for the City of Madison for water and sewer lines
• $785,000 for the Town of Greenville road enhancements
• $125,000 for the purchase of a grapple truck for the Town of Greenville
• $375,000 for the Town of Lee for storm shelter enhancement
• $500,000 recurring funding for North Florida College
• $385,000 for North Florida College welding program
Rep. Tant stated much of the success in having these projects survive the budget process was the result of work performed by county staff in seeking other funding sources, such as grants, for some of the projects, notably the rodeo arena. The success of the rodeo last spring also served as an example of the possible economic impact a new arena could have on the area.
Rep. Tant also spoke briefly about the proposed property tax reduction amendment that will appear on the November ballot. Rep. Tant stated that the amendment would not affect the amount of ad valorem taxes going to fund schools. If passed, it would have a significant impact on county budgets and the services provided by county governments, especially in counties that depend on ad valorem (property) taxes for funding.
County attorney Tom Reeves presented a proposed ordinance calling for a temporary moratorium on the “acceptance, review, processing or approval of any new applications for any land use change, rezoning, conditional use permit, development permit, site plan approval, building permits or other developmental approval for the construction, expansion or operation of data center facilities.” Upon the first reading of the ordinance, the floor was opened for public comment on the proposed ordinance. Several citizens spoke in opposition to the placement of these data centers within the county. Among chief concerns are the amount of electricity consumed by these centers and the amount of water needed for their operation. No action was taken on the ordinance, since this was the first reading. The ordinance will be voted on during the regular meeting of the County Commissioners on Wednesday, July 22. The Planning and Zoning Board had previously given the ordinance their stamp of approval during their meeting on Wednesday, July 1. The moratorium, if it is passed, would be for a year, giving the commissioners time to decide what kind of regulations to place on data centers, or even if they will be allowed within the county. The Florida legislature previously passed legislation granting counties the authority to regulate these data centers that are used to house data computers to drive artificial intelligence, which requires a tremendous amount of computing capacity. Another major criticism of these data centers is the amount of space required, along with the electricity required for powering the computers and water required for cooling. It has also been speculated that these data centers bring little, to no, economic benefit, since they provide few, if any, jobs.
The next regular meeting of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 22, at 6 p.m. The meeting will take place in the Madison County Courthouse Annex, located at 229 SW Pinckney St., in Madison.