Increased fines, jail time: Marion County adds teeth to litter enforcement ordinance

After nearly 10 months of work from the Litter Task Force, Marion County commissioners have adopted a final report and ordinance that change how the county will handle littering going forward.

While the report spells out a marketing campaign to change the hearts and minds of Marion County regarding litter, the ordinance adds some teeth to enforcing litter code by means of higher fines and jail time.

“Although this is the end of one segment, this is really the beginning of all the work,” Commissioner Craig Curry, who spearheaded the creation of the task force, said at Tuesday’s commission meeting. “We have to make sure that this program of action that we’ve put together is successful.”

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The task force, led by Beth McCall, had first presented its report to the commissioners in May. It included a “No Horsin’ Around with Marion” campaign to educate students and adults and encourage them to change their behavior and mindset surrounding littering.

'No Horsin' Around' campaign will target littering

A committee on community outreach identified locations for speakers to discuss litter and suggested a litter awareness week, litter hero award, litter-free pledge, youth ambassador program, children’s books, decorated trash cans and a video contest.

Other committees assessed the county’s existing litter ordinance, projected expenses and came up with the marketing campaign ideas, including logos.

They also suggested using surveillance cameras for enforcement, landscaping medians on major roads, using more inmates for litter pickup, increasing the accepted items at landfills, creating an app for reporting violators, increasing Adopt-A-Road efforts and creating a shared database about prior violators for enforcement officials.

On Tuesday, the commissioners approved the report and chose an official logo for the campaign, which features a white and blue horse named Marion standing in front of a rendition of the Marion County seal with the words “Step Up, Pick It Up, Don’t Litter” at the bottom.

A $150,000 budget for the litter campaign will also be included in the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, and a final marketing plan will be created and ready to kick off in October.

Ordinance adds more litter enforcement officers

The biggest action taken on Tuesday was amending Marion County’s litter ordinance, which outlines litter enforcement and punishment. The state also has a litter law written into Florida Statutes.

“Marion County has had a litter ordinance for a number of years, so as part and parcel of the work being done by the Litter Task Force, that included a review of the current county code to determine whether there were deficiencies or opportunities to enhance the county regulations,” County Attorney Matthew "Guy" Minter said.

Minter noted there were some areas where the existing ordinance conflicted with state code or was unenforceable.

The new ordinance adds animal control officers and building inspectors as litter enforcement officers who can issue citations. County code inspectors, solid waste enforcement officers and parks and recreation employees also fall under this category, and county and city law enforcement officials can arrest people for littering.

The task force also recommended adding an additional code enforcement officer.

The ordinance expands the definition of litter, now adding cigarette butts, masks, syringes, drug paraphernalia and temporary political signs in place 60 days after the last applicable election. This is in addition to the prior definition that included garbage, cans, bottles, boxes, tires and other typical trash.

Public highways and lands, private property and bodies of water are also outlined as places where littering is not allowed.

The ordinance further states that articles of litter with identifying information, such as a person’s address or contact information can be used as evidence in a case.

“The idea of all of this is to bring about a sense of pride in the community and voluntary compliance," Minter said. "The idea is not for Marion County Board of Commissioners to be exerting a heavy hand on the citizens of Marion County, but we all recognize by so much litter being out there that some people aren’t voluntarily doing what they should do right now, so those tools and those teeth are there if necessary.”

Fines, jail time increased

The primary "teeth" are updated penalties for littering.

The fine has been upped from $50 to $150 for the first conviction and $250 to $300 for the second conviction.

Previously, the fourth and subsequent violations were punishable by jail time of up to 10 days and/or community service. Now, the second violation can garner incarceration for up to 10 days and litter pick up or other community service.

For the third conviction, Minter said incarceration would be 10-30 days and/or community service, plus a fine of $500.

For the fourth conviction, punishment would include incarceration of 10-60 days, community service and a fine of $500.

A new addition also provides for restitution payments the offender would owe to the county to make up for the cleanup costs.

“Enforcement is the only thing that’s really going to work,” Commissioner Jeff Gold said.

He has previously advocated for jail time for violators and mentioned publicizing “litter bug mug shots” of violators on Tuesday.

Cities in Marion County may join

The ordinance will be effective in public and private unincorporated Marion County, but the cities may come on board too.

“I’d also like for us to reach out to all of our municipalities,” Commissioner Kathy Bryant said. “I think it would speak volumes for our community if we were all in lockstep on something like this.”

One community member commented that he would like to see more emphasis on telling people the proper ways to dispose of trash as well.

“That is a part of the plan, the education to get our school children involved, the education to let our community know where the dump sites are, when they’re open,” Beth McCall responded. “There is an entire community outreach working with the other municipalities to get them on board with adopting what we’re doing here today.”

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Marion County, Florida makes littering cost more in fines, jail time