This month, Mayor Bobby Wagner and Public Information Director Dr. Tamara Young sat down to discuss home rule and its significance for Destin.
TY: Home rule can sound abstract. In plain terms, what does it mean for a resident of Destin?
BW: Home rule means the people closest to a problem get to solve it. Florida voters wrote it into the state constitution in 1968, and the Legislature spelled it out in 1973: A city can govern itself on local matters unless state law says otherwise. For Destin, that is the whole reason we exist. This community incorporated in 1984 because folks here wanted a say in their own future instead of waiting on decisions made somewhere else.
TY: What decisions does Destin get to make for itself today because of home rule, and what would change if that authority were weakened?
BW: Today we set our own zoning and building heights, run our own police through the sheriff contract, manage our harbor and beaches, write our budget and set our millage rate. Every one of those is a decision made in a public meeting you can walk into on a Monday night. If that authority were weakened, those calls would move to Tallahassee or Okaloosa County, made by people who may never have walked the harbor boardwalk or sat in traffic on 98 in July. The rules would get more generic, and generic is the enemy of a place as specific as Destin.
TY: Why is this such a hot topic now around the state of Florida, not just Destin?
BW: Because the pace of preemption has picked up. This past session alone, the Legislature expanded the Live Local Act to further limit how cities regulate height and density, passed HB 399 restricting what local governments can weigh when reviewing a development and extended SB 180, which freezes cities in hurricane-affected counties from adopting stricter land-use rules through October 2027. I hear it from mayors in towns of 800 people and cities of 80,000. What I find hardest to square is that much of this has come from a Legislature led by the party of limited government. I believe most of those leaders mean it when they say it, and I share that value. But a rule written in Tallahassee that overrides a decision made on our own streets is more government, not less, no matter who signs it. Limited government has to include trusting the government closest to home. Nobody is asking for less accountability. We are asking to stay accountable to our own residents.
TY: Can you give an example of a decision where local control made a real difference for Destin?
BW: Building height is the clearest example I know. In 2020, this council put a charter amendment on the ballot that caps new construction at six stories and requires 60% of Destin voters to approve anything taller. It passed with nearly 83% of the vote. Think about that. Residents did not just weigh in on a zoning case. They wrote the rule into our charter themselves, and now no council, no developer and no future mayor can quietly undo it. That is home rule in its purest form. Compare that to this year’s Live Local changes, which tell cities how they may and may not regulate height. When the decision stays in Destin, the people who live with the skyline get the final say.
TY: What does “fighting for home rule” look like day to day? Is it lobbying, legal action, coalition-building or public engagement?
BW: All of it, but mostly relationships. Legal action is the last resort and the most expensive. The real work happens in Tallahassee during session, where I sit down with our delegation and explain what a bill actually does to a beach town. It happens when neighboring cities compare notes and decide to speak with one voice instead of several quiet ones. And it happens right here, because a legislator will listen to 500 Destin residents long before they listen to one mayor. When you show up to a council meeting, sign a petition or email your representative about a bill, you are fighting for home rule. That is not a figure of speech.
TY: Is there a common misconception surrounding home rule that you’d like to correct?
BW: The biggest one is that home rule means cities want to be left alone to do whatever they please. That is not it. We follow state law, we welcome oversight and we post every dollar we spend. Home rule simply means that when a decision is local, it stays local. The second misconception is that this is a fight between governments. It is not. It is a question about you. Do you want the person deciding what gets built next to your house to be someone you can look in the eye at Publix or a legislator from Miami who has never set foot in the Panhandle? I know my answer. That is worth fighting for.
