Florida counties are rushing to repaint crosswalks to comply with new state mandates on color, leaving taxpayers to cover the cost of the paint jobs. The issue stems from a statewide concern over non-neutral colored crosswalks.

The mandate battle began on Aug. 21, when the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse Nightclub was painted black. State Department of Transportation crews then repeatedly washed away rainbow-colored chalk that appeared on the crosswalk.

Seminole County, among others, was informed that its green sidewalks, which indicated connections to exercise trails, had to be repainted or the county risked losing state funding.

County crews used additional county funds to repaint the sidewalks black after initially using penny tax money for the green paint. With the added cost of

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