Port St. Lucie may increase candidate filing fees. More local governments should do this.

Participating in this great democracy of ours carries both rights and responsibilities.

One of our most sacred rights is the one that allows us to choose the people who represent us at all levels of government, from the U.S. president all the way down to the boards of those obscure local taxing districts few people really understand.

I would argue voting is not only a right, but also a responsibility. Citizens should, barring extenuating circumstances, exercise their rights to vote when they are afforded opportunities to do so. And when they do, they should make choices based on informed and sound reasoning.

Then there are the political candidates, who have responsibilities, too.

All of this brings me, indirectly, to a preliminary decision the Port St. Lucie City Council made last month to increase the fees candidates pay to qualify to run for city offices. (The council will consider the formal language of the required ordinance changes on the first of two required readings Monday.)

At a special meeting March 20, Councilman Anthony Bonna brought forth a proposal to change the qualifying fees from $569.71 for council candidates and $890.17 for mayoral candidates to $1,634.13 and $2,595.51, respectively.

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"I brought this item forward because I believe public service is an important trust," Bonna told his colleagues. "I believe it's a serious matter. If you seek to serve in public office, you should have some skin in the game and work toward achieving that goal, to show you're serious about serving the community."

State law requires candidates to pay an assessment, equal to 1% of the salary for the positions they're seeking. The law allows local governments to charge additional filing fees, up to 3% of the salary for the positions sought.

At Bonna's request, the City Attorney's Office prepared a survey of the qualifying fees other Florida cities have been charging. In Fellsmere, for example, the fee is only $73. In Stuart, it's $180. In Fort Pierce, it ranges from $278 to $363, depending on the position sought.

The staff didn't include Vero Beach or Sebastian's fees in the information presented to the council, but those are $158 and $61, respectively.

So if you just look at what other Treasure Coast cities are charging, Port St. Lucie's fees seem like they're way out of whack.

However, we have to remember Port St. Lucie (population 217,000-plus) is much larger than its neighbors in the region.

In larger Florida cities, the fees range from $2,179 to $7,001 in Orlando (population 309,000-plus) and $2,082 to $7,026 in Tampa/Hillsborough County (population 387,000-plus), according to the Port St. Lucie city attorney staff's data.

Bonna pointed out the qualifying fees also run into thousands of dollars for those seeking seats on the St. Lucie County Commission, or one of the county's constitutional offices.

"Charging a reasonable fee to qualify to run for office helps everyone to take the process more seriously," Bonna said.

Bonna got some pushback on his idea from council members David Pickett and Jolien Caraballo, both of whom voted against increasing the fees during the initial discussion.

Caraballo said increasing the fees won't do anything to improve the quality of candidates seeking city offices.

"I've seen great elected officials and I've seen crappy elected officials," Caraballo said. "That fee didn't make the crappy elected officials any better."

In an email exchange after the meeting, Pickett told me he would try to avoid the fee by qualifying via the petition process, as he did in his previous election. That process allows candidates to qualify by getting signatures from a small percentage of the registered voters living within the areas they wish to represent.

"Since I have a re-election coming up, I was not thrilled knowing that the price that I would have to pay to run for reelection had increased, but I understand the need to raise the fees," Pickett wrote. "The increased fee means that I will go out knocking on doors and setting up booths at city events, asking for residents to sign a petition to have my name placed on the ballot, just like I did for the 2020 election."

This is exactly why I'm in favor of the fee increases. I understand the argument about higher fees potentially making it harder for some candidates to qualify for office. Some people I deeply respect share that view.

However, I believe we would get a better crop of candidates if more of them were qualifying via the petition method, which the council's actions would encourage.

People who qualify via petition are demonstrating A) they're willing to put some effort into their candidacies, and B) they have at least a small base of support from potential voters.

In every election cycle, there are candidates who get their names on the ballot, but are ill-prepared for, and maybe even disinterested in, doing the hard work required of public servants.

Maybe they feel some measure of validation by getting their names out in the public arena and gathering some minuscule amount of support on Election Day. But, the truth be told, they're a drain on the system.

Although they're not serious candidates themselves, they waste the time and energy of responsible people who thoroughly research all the candidates on the ballot. They may even siphon away enough votes to influence the outcomes of close elections.

I'm not against having the filing fees as an option. There may be extenuating circumstances where that's the best choice ― for example, if a popular candidate drops out of the running too close to the qualifying deadline to allow other would-be office seekers enough time to gather the required number of petitions.

And, as Bonna pointed out during the meeting last month, candidates who truly cannot afford the fees can fill out a form stating the fees would place an undue burden on them due to their financial circumstances.

Our democracy needs well-qualified candidates who are committed to serving the public's interests. If they are truly committed, then neither the filing fees nor the petition requirements will stand in their way.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Port St. Lucie's talk about increasing filing fees is model to follow