Rural areas are preparing for a much needed makeover to their infrastructure thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday.
A fiscally constrained county is one that doesn’t generate enough local tax money to pay for major infrastructure projects like roads, sewer and schools. There are 29 of them in Florida, and all are considered rural.
So, what has changed?
The new law (HB 1209) expands the existing state Rural Infrastructure Fund (RIF). Under the changes, counties designated as fiscally constrained would see 100 percent of their project costs covered. That eliminates a prior rule that required them to pay for the projects first before they could seek reimbursements from the state.
In most cases, state grants and assistance programs never covered the entire bill, leaving counties to fend for themselves.
'This bill takes care of a lot of those issues…'
Richard Williams is with a group called Opportunity Florida, which represents some of the poorest counties in the region. He says the new law gives these communities a fighting chance at growing their economies.
"They haven’t had the funding resources to be able to build the infrastructure that you find commonly in other places," said Williams. "There has been impediments to them being able to utilize grant funds because of cost reimbursement issues and matching funds that were required that they simply didn’t have.”
Jobs on the rise in rural areas?
According to the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Gadsden County had the highest unemployment rate in the Capital Region last year. County Commission Chairman Kimblin Nesmith says he plans to address that by acquiring more infrastructure projects, like the purchase of a 52-acre plot of land in Quincy earlier this year.
NeSmith, in an interview earlier this year, discussed how programs like the Rural Infrastructure program, help counties like his.
“We’re looking at constructing a new governmental complex to better serve the residents of Gadsden County," said NeSmith. "Along with that, we’re looking at possibly developing an industrial area [as] part of that property, as well as an affordable housing area. In order to attract the best staff to work in Gadsden County, in order to attract residents to move to Gadsden County; they need to live in affordable housing.”
Gadsden joins a growing list of rural communities across the panhandle that stand to benefit from the newly expanded grant program.
Just last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced towns in Suwannee, Polk, and Jackson County were allotted $15 million to support community economic development projects.
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