Citrus County and municipal leaders presented a package of infrastructure and resilience requests to the county's state representative, underscoring coordinated priorities for water quality, public safety and government capacity as the county grows.

Rebecca Bays, chairwoman of the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners, said Citrus County is "identified by water" and urged state support for replacing aging septic systems in Floral City. "We're requesting a $7,000,000 investment for the Floral City septic to sewer expansion," Bays said, framing the project as both environmental protection and a public-health investment.

Bays and other officials also sought state support for a regional public safety training center that would consolidate training across law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services and school safety teams. On the training center, the school district had earlier secured initial planning funds for an indoor gun-range component; county and city leaders said a consolidated facility would improve cross-agency preparedness.

The county requested support for judicial and government space expansion in downtown Inverness as caseloads and judges increase. Citrus County officials said additional judges and court activity expected in the coming years will require more courtroom and public-facing government space.

Inverness city leaders and the county emphasized Whispering Pines Park and cooperative, state-local partnerships to protect the regional park and support intermodal transportation investments, including continued progress on Highway 41 North.

Audra Kurtz, Crystal River city manager, described repeated flood damage to Crystal River City Hall and a council decision to demolish and rebuild a raised, resilient facility. Kurtz said the city obtained $1.35 million for designs and engineering and expects insurance proceeds of about $2 million; current architect estimates place the building cost at approximately $8.488 million with total site costs approaching $10 million. "The ask we're hoping for this year is going to be around $5,000,000," Kurtz said, requesting resilience funding to lift and harden the new facility.

Officials framed many requests as partnerships with the state: they sought project-specific appropriations for state-owned properties and asked for continued state grant programs for cybersecurity, springs and other conservation priorities. Representative Groh told officials he will continue to pursue transportation concurrency legislation and work with legislators in both chambers on appropriation requests.

County and city leaders said they would continue coordination with the delegation and with state agencies during the legislative session to advance the projects presented at the meeting.