Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to incorporate?
Incorporating simply means turning a community into an official city, town, or village. This means that the community gets to set its own rules for self-governance, such as zoning rules and running its own infrastructure.
What is the process for becoming a city?
This process normally involves a few steps (reference):
A group within an unincorporated community develops a proposal on the feasibility of becoming a city and measures community interest in becoming a city.
If there is public interest, the group presents the proposal to their state House and Senate members.
If the proposal is approved by the community’s House and Senate representatives, then it is filed with the rest of the legislature.
If the proposal passes a House and Senate vote, then a date is set for a binding referendum to be voted on by the community.
If the binding referendum is passed by the community, then the legislature will set an effective date to begin city governance.
On the effective date, the new city government begins.
How far along is Navarre in this process?
We are currently at Step 1 in the above process. Preserve Navarre has researched and developed a feasibility study and a proposed city charter. We are currently working on measuring community interest in incorporation through a straw vote.
What is this vote I keep hearing about?
We are conducting a vote on Oct 12th that is a non-binding referendum (sometimes called a straw-poll) to gauge public interest in incorporation. This vote will not decide if Navarre becomes incorporated or not. If the majority votes yes, we will present the proposed charter and feasibility study to Navarre's House and Senate members for review.
If Navarre becomes a city, what would change?
Navarre residents would get to elect their own public officials to represent themselves on a city council to make decisions about about zoning, traffic, businesses, infrastructure, tourism, and much more.
Would my taxes increase?
Incorporation does bring a small increase to property taxes (~$35/month on average, or the cost of a single family dinner at McDonalds!). For this low cost, city officials will work for residents on: