Sumter County, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Under Sumter County Code § 3-1, it is unlawful to consume any alcoholic beverage, including liquor, wine, or beer, in, on, or around any building owned by the county, the land under a county building, or any vacant land owned by the county, including parks. The prohibition covers unincorporated Sumter County's community centers, administrative buildings, and county parkland unless the Board of County Commissioners specifically approves consumption at a sanctioned event, an approval granted purely at the board's discretion. A petitioner seeking that approval, whether an individual or a corporation, must satisfy five conditions before the county administrator will forward the request: proof the corporate entity is in good standing with Florida's Secretary of State, or, for an individual, agreement to a criminal background check; a liability insurance policy of at least $2,000,000 naming Sumter County as an additional insured; a signed hold-harmless agreement drafted at the county administrator's discretion; payment of a petition fee set by board resolution, which the board may waive at its sole discretion but is never obligated to; and proof the petitioner has met all Florida state alcohol-licensing requirements, submitted concurrently with the application.

Failure to provide that state-licensing proof results in automatic rejection of the petition, without exception. The ordinance dates to 1984 and was amended in 2009 and 2010, and it sits in Chapter 3, Alcoholic Beverages, alongside Sec. m.