(A) Every candidate for office in municipal elections shall be a registered and qualified elector of the city at the time of qualifying as a candidate with the City Clerk, by filing qualifying papers in accordance with state statutes and paying the qualifying fee and election assessment provided for in division (B) below. The application shall be filed and the qualifying fee paid during regular business hours any time after 12:00 noon on the first filing date, which shall be 71 days prior to the municipal election, but not later than 12:00 noon on the sixty-seventh day prior to the municipal election, excluding Saturday and Sunday.
(B) All candidates for City Commission member and for Mayor, qualifying as provided in division (A) above, shall pay a qualifying fee of $25. In addition, all candidates qualifying for municipal office shall pay an election assessment equal to 1% of the annual salary of the office sought.
(C) Pursuant to F.S. § 99.093(2), candidates who are unable to pay the election assessment without imposing an undue burden on their personal resources or resources otherwise available to them shall, upon written certification of that inability given under oath to the City Clerk, be exempt from paying the election assessment.
(D) The qualifying fee and the election assessment shall be paid to the City Clerk and be deposited by the Clerk into the general fund of the city. Within 30 days after the close of qualifying, the City Clerk shall forward the elections assessment to the Department of State.
(Ord. 5, passed 11-l2-73; Am. Ord. 488, passed 2-1-90; Am. Ord. 563, passed 9-19-91; Am. Ord. 788, passed 4-18-96; Am. Ord. 1122, passed 3-4-04)
Statutory reference:
Registration of voters, see F.S. §§ 97.011 et seq.