Hernando Sun warns county public notices arrive after meetings, costing more

A packet of seven public notices arrived at the Hernando Sun on April 6, but five and a half of them were already for meetings that had taken place. By then, the chance for residents to prepare comments, rearrange work schedules, or show up before the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners had already slipped away.

That timing gap is at the center of a broader fight over how Hernando County tells the public what government is doing. The column said the county is spending about $12,000 more under the new system than it would have under traditional newspaper publication, while delivering a notice process that reaches people later and with less certainty. It also raised concern that the county’s digital notice system can be edited after publication, leaving residents who rely on a webpage unable to tell whether a notice was changed unless they saved a copy themselves.

Florida Statute 50.0311 allows counties to publish legal notices on a publicly accessible website if that option costs less than newspaper publication. The law also requires those notices to be searchable and to show the date they were first posted online. It further requires at least annual newspaper notice telling residents they can register for first-class mail or email delivery. Hernando County’s own website says Chapter 50 changed the notice rules as of January 1, 2023, and the county now treats its public notices page as the official hub.

The county’s shift to web posting became official after the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners adopted an ordinance on October 14, 2025, allowing legally required notices to appear on the county website instead of in newspapers. At that meeting, staff said the county and several constitutional officers were spending roughly $50,000 to $60,000 a year on legal notices. Commissioners also asked staff to keep running a public-education notice in the newspaper through year-end, complete a printed-notice option for residents who opt in by mail, and finish subscription features before a January launch.

The county’s own online portal now says Hernando County government and the Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller have launched a new system for meetings, agendas, and notices. The meeting calendar says commissioners generally meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 9 a.m. at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 N. Main Street in Brooksville. The public notices page also shows recent items dated April 14, April 17, and April 21, 2026, including a notice of the board’s intent to consider a land exchange of real estate between HCUD and WREC.

The dispute is no longer about whether Hernando County can post notices online. It is about whether the county’s system gives residents enough lead time to participate before decisions move forward, or whether the burden of finding government information has been shifted onto taxpayers after the fact.