Note: This is the second of two articles today on Thursday evening’s hearing before the County Commission on next year’s property tax rate, budget and special taxing district. See the first article here: “County Commission’s Kim Carney Peddles False and Misleading Claims in Opposition to Sales Tax for Beach Protection.”
In spite of near-unanimous opposition from an overflow crowd at the Flagler County Commission Thursday, the commission adopted by a 4-1 vote a controversial special taxing district covering all unincorporated property owners on the barrier island, including the Hammock, to help pay for beach protection.
The opposition was unrelenting but civil. Forty people spoke in a 90-minute segment. There was not one voice in support of the taxing district as an unmixed funding mechanism. There was not one voice opposed to a sales tax increase for that purpose, and many supported the taxing district in conjunction with the sales tax increase.
(In the crowd, there were some, like west-side resident Marvin Clegg, opposed to the sales tax, and what had filled the chamber was a proposed tax strictly affecting the barrier island. A sampling of Palm Coast or west side residents’ opinions would have likely been different.)
The support for the sales tax, at least from the barrier island, was an unambiguous rejection of a three-member commission majority that blocked the imposition of a new half-cent sales tax as the central pillar of an “elegant” long-term plan–in Commissioner Greg Hansen’s word–to fund beach management. Without the sales tax, the plan collapsed.
Commissioners Kim Carney, Pam Richardson and Leann Pennington oppose the sales tax. Commission Chair Andy Dance and Greg Hansen support it.
The 34th person to address the commission, an Ocean Hammock resident, said: “Everybody in this room seems to think that the half-cent sales tax is the right way to go, and I happen to agree with that. Wasn’t sure I did before, but now I do. And my question is for the people that voted it down: You said no. What was your solution to the funding problem after you said no. What did you come to the table with after you said no.”
There was no answer. There was plenty of exculpation, at least from Carney and Pennington–Carney claiming, with false and misleading statements, that she could not approve a sales tax even if she wanted to, and Pennington, citing a Petito memo and claiming more accurately but disingenuously, that “even if codified in an ordinance or an interlocal agreement, future boards retain the power to amend, repeal or redirect the funding. One board cannot legally bind another to a permanent spending decision.”
“Doesn’t mean you don’t do it,” Dance said.
Pennington’s approach, echoing Carney’s, would by that reasoning let future unnamed and unknown commissioners veto initiatives of the current commission. Neither Carney nor Pennington explained why they did not apply the same reasoning to the rest of the budget they were willing to approve.
“In my opinion, and based on the show of force here tonight,” Dance said, “I think if a half penny was passed with language that dedicated its use for beach nourishment and for the different things that we’ve allocated, there’s pretty good consensus that future boards are going to listen to the same people that are here and would abide probably by those same plan if it’s multi year.”
Opposition to the special taxing district took on a more emblematic purpose by highlighting the tensions that stopped the commission from adopting a long-term beach-management plan, and the questionable claims by commissioners who sank it.
That’s likely why opposition to the taxing district was sharp even though there will not actually be a tax levied next year. It’s a placeholder for a future tax. It worries property owners all the same, if not more: the open-ended nature of the place-holder, residents fear, could turn into a tax of several hundred dollars for each property, especially in the absence of a sales tax to lighten the burden.
The special tax wasn’t even the biggest concern for residents. The unfairness and inequity of it is. As they see it, they are shouldering the cost of beach management and protection without anyone else in the county doing so.
That’s not exactly accurate. The county is appropriating a portion of the property tax, the existing local sales tax and a large portion of the tourism sales surtax to beach management, all of which applies uniformly across the county. That adds up to $8.2 million for beach protection in 2025-26. So all county residents are paying something. But the special taxing district would single out unincorporated barrier island residents to pay more, and it would not include Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach and Marineland. At least not yet. Dance said he is supporting the taxing district in hopes of continuing negotiations with the cities to pony up.
As crafted, the proposal would apply to 10 miles of the barrier island–all the properties outside of Marineland, Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach.
The technical term of the special tax is Municipal Service Benefit Unit, or MSBU, on the assumption that the money raised will provide a specific service benefiting the properties being taxed. The benefit in this case is protection from beach erosion, “because we’ll be building back wider, higher dunes,” County Administrator Heidi Petito said. “We’ll be restoring beaches to act as buffers against waves, storm surge and erosion, which should protect homes, utilities, roads, notably A1Aand any other public infrastructure. We’ve got six county parks on the barrier island. It’ll also provide environmental and habitat benefits.”
A consultant is conducting a study that would set the rate to be levied in 2026-27 according to a “scientific” process, Petito said. “You’ll know how much you’re being asked to pay, and you’ll also be told how much that cap is going to be.” The crowd did not like the “trust us” tone of that promise.
“I know there was some confusion when people received notices, even though this is something that we’ve been talking about at least since I’ve been your County Administrator the last four years,” Petito said.
There was confusion because when the MSBU was talked about previously, it was always either as part of a larger mix of funding sources, including a new sales tax, or as an assessment that would apply countywide, if at varying rates. The barrier island’s rate would be a flat $160. Here, the barrier island felt it was being singled out to bear the mystery cost by itself.
Petito conceded that the MSBU is targeting only the barrier island, “because that’s the only area that we have jurisdiction over,” she said–again to grumbles, as Petito’s interpretation was as if deliberately avoiding mention of the failed sales tax initiative that the barrier island residents do support. “There’s a lot of confusion out there where people are assuming that the entire beach management program would be on the backs of only those in the unincorporated, and that is not true. It has always been looked at as a blended funding plan that includes all of these things.”
Except that there isn’t a blended plan. Not anymore. Petito is not to blame.
The $8.2 million the county is appropriating next year to beach management isn’t enough to bear the actual recurring cost, and especially not enough to build up the necessary reserve for future beach renourishments. So the only residents who would face an additional levy would be those on the barrier island, at least in principle, based on today’s “blended” approach.
“I’m actually okay with the MSBU as long as it’s reasonable and constrained,” said Dennis Clark, a member of the Hammock Community Association who often synthesizes Hammock concerns and advocates on its behalf. “What I have not heard, what I don’t understand, is how we plan to pay for the majority portion of the beach management cost.”
Like the 34th speaker earlier, Clark did not hear that plan Thursday, either.
Clark reminded the commission that only last February Petito had presented the actual blended, comprehensive plan that would have paid for all beach management needs, with everyone in the county paying for it. The MSBU would have generated only 12 percent of the revenue. The new sales tax would have generated 80 percent.
“But we don’t have a half-cent sales tax. We don’t have anything,” Clark said. “There’s 80 percent of that beach renourishment that has no funding.” He asked: is the sales tax still a possibility? And if it is rejected either by the commission or by voters in a referendum, what will provide the bulk of the necessary funding? Others asked the same questions.
Ron Boyce also asked for another vote on the sales tax option. “I believe your staff really worked really hard, and that was turned down by this board not too long ago,” he said. “Now, I watch these meetings every month from my own home, and I came down here tonight to ask you to rethink, rethink about it and put it up for another vote.
“The only fair way to come up with this money is the half in sales tax,” Don Albertson, who followed him, said. “Everybody uses that beach. It is not private. It should not be paid by the people, including myself, that live on the ocean. It should be paid for everybody.”
The commission also received a stack of emails. Stanley Tavanese and Waldtraut Chavez Tavanese wrote: “The proposal of an MSBU assessed to only the unincorporated barrier island residents is preposterous and unfair. On the other hand, the proposal whereby sales tax is increased by ½ cent is more feasible and equitable.”
So it went as the 40 speakers addressed the commission–a chamber so full that Dance had to ask 30 people to leave it and watch from a television monitor in the lobby. The word “inequities,” was heard, as were pleas “a funding plan that goes on year after year after year,” for less vagueness in the MSBU proposal, for more fairness in the county’s application of any funding plan, and so on. “All of Flagler County should be paying this,” one resident said. “Do not let this go to a referendum. Vote on it again.” Some suggested a toll increase on the Hammock Dunes bridge. (The county tried: Hammock Dune’s Community Development District rejected the request.) James Foster, a Hammock Beach resident, said he’d gathered 1,100 petitions opposing the MSBU.
Seizing on the comments in aggregate, Richard Hamilton called the process “defective” and vulnerable to legal challenge, and urged the commission to pull the MSBU proposal from the agenda and rework it at a later date.
Commissioners then spoke, Carney saying that “all municipalities, Flagler Beach, Marineland and Beverly Beach, need to come to the table and at least help us.” But they have. They’re willing to help–and support a sales tax.
“At least give us credit for trying to step up and do something, because no one before us has done it,” Carney said, again peddling an inaccuracy.
She was elected in November. The commission has been developing a beach management plan for four years, and spent the years after Hurricane Matthew and Ian in 2016 and 2017 rebuilding the shore with emergency sands, and enacting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ renourishment of 3 miles of shore in Flagler Beach. To say no one before had stepped up is a gross mischaracterization.
Carney continued: “We’re here. We’re almost here. We hear you. We hear you loud and clear. But we got to get more data to make this thing sound right or make it look right. We need more data.”
Pam Richardson just thanked the audience. Hansen reiterated what he’s been saying all years, almost plaintively now, about the elegance of the half-cent solution. Pennington spoke of future boards using sales tax revenue somewhere else. And Dance tried to put a bow on it all, before the commission voted on what by then seemed like an afterthought: the approval of the special taxing district.
Most of the crowd filed out after that.
PeachesMcGee says
Living beachside is an expensive privilege all over Florida.
You pay extra for paradise. Don’t like taxes? Use the toll concept.
Wanna visit the beach side? $25 a day per vehicle.
Shark says
Seawalls and jetties are the only solution otherwise it’s just shoveling sh-t against the tide !!!
Leila says
We need to find a candidate willing to run against Pennington, else we won’t get a damned thing done on this commission. There will be many when Carney comes up for re-election.
This is a nightmare.
hjc says
All of the beaches in the hammock used to be open to the public. Now there are gated communities and golf courses that block access. When all that started happening Flagler county residents were told they would not lose access to any part of the beach. That was not quite the truth thank you county council. Now we spend millions to truck sand in from Jacksonville only to be washed into the ocean. I personally do not want a tax increase of any kind only to be wasted on SAND. Go to the beach when the next hurricane passes by and watch millions go down the drain.
CPFL says
Yes, charge $25 a day per vehicle and see how fast beach side businesses close up due to not enough people visiting them. That is a genius idea, then lose even more money in those communities.
Greg says
It pretty sad that the county leaders seem to want the island just wash away. Where the hell is the leadership? Flagler Beach is the jewel of the county. Just do a penny sales tax increase and be done either way it
Ed P says
After Thursday’s meeting, a few emails back and forth to commissioners, I believe FlaglerLive has been 100% correct and factual about the funding process for beach nourishment.
The gas lighting that everyone in the county does not use the beach or that a healthy beach is not beneficial to everyone has been exposed and can no longer be touted as a reason for not wanting to contribute to the project. No one including me, wants to pay more, or waste any tax dollars for any reason. But the time is now.
Everyone needs to educate themselves on the project, and Flagler Live has done a stellar job thus far. Multiple articles have explained the intricacies of the process and have not been political hit jobs. Go back and read the last 6-7 articles on the beach.
Disregard the comments and make your own judgement.
With all this said, I firmly believe the board will not put the 1/2 % ( 1 cent on $2.00) tax on the agenda, vote to approve and protect the county. The path of zero resistance amongst Commissioners is a referendum. Even Chairman Andy Dance stated a referendum would be a Herculean lift. Without an ongoing revenue source, the project does fall into a coma.
Let’s all ask the commissioners why they won’t address the tax and unilaterally enact it for the betterment of our county. It’s their responsibility to protect the beach. It their charge to save the beach.
The island residents will still pay a special beach MSBU, still share in all the other funding sources, including paying the sales tax.
The city of Palm Coast through inter local agreement will derive at least 2.7 million dollars for their own infrastructure while the county retains just 2.4 million dollar.
So to the residents of incorporated Palm Coast, it’s a literal home run for the city.
Support is a non brainer. As the county population grows so will that dollar amount.
In summary, the easiest and best path is convincing the county commissioners to do the right thing, unilaterally enact the tax and start doing their jobs. The referendum path is probably going to pull the plug on this comatose project.
Ray W. says
Thank you, Ed P.
FedUpWithFlaglerCounty says
This county commission has proven many times that they don’t listen to the majority and will do whatever is in their best interest. They don’t work for us, they work for their own self-preservation and job security. It’s truly sickening.
Richard Hamilton says
Thank you for such a comprehensive analysis. Until Thursday I felt sympathy for the Commissioners. I thought they were sincere about finding an acceptable compromise between competing interests. I see now that I was completely wrong.
I recommend readers look at your articles from February this year. A solution was so close, a combination of sources including sales tax, some property taxes, tourist taxes and a small levy on coastal properties. All it required was a little more analysis, some education, and a compromise to bring the cities along.
Instead the commission balked – all of them – there are no heroes.
This Monday they have another chance. At a Workshop we will hear a presentation on Flooding and Resiliancy, not just on the shoreline but inland too, requiring more investment. We will find out if they intend to spend $10million of Tourism money on a new building. And in the evening maybe, just maybe, they could try again to find a compromise to move forward. I have low expectations.
Paul Larkin says
Ditto and a double thank you to Ed P for so persuasively and cogently summarizing the essentials of this beach funding issue- hard to understand why three of our five commisioners cannot acknowledge and embrace this simple logic.
Laurel says
Ms. Petito claims putting sand on the beach will protect the homes on the barrier island, and the commissioners seem to agree. What a load of bullshit! Ms. Petito, and the commissioners, should come over here and watch the King tide, on the west side of the island, rising up to our docks, and during storms, over the docks, onto some properties, and then tell me how our homes will be protected by sand on the beach to the east a mile away. Those of us on the west side of the island, will be charged this ridiculous, and grossly unfair MSBU tax, will NOT benefit from this nonsense. Also, A1A will be protected by FDOT, so that’s another bullshit statement. The parks, which she claims will be protected, is enjoyed by all. Not just a small group of us here in the Hammock. Pile on top of that, Ms. Petito stated Palm Coast wouldn’t be assessed because “Palm Coast doesn’t have a beach.” Maybe not, but Palm Coast sure uses, and enjoys the beach regularly.
Clearly, the Hammock is poorly represented, which was made obvious with the large crowd that showed up and was ignored. Ms. Petito, Mr. Hansen and the rest of the commissioners, do not live here. They reside safely in Palm Coast, which is rejecting the 1/2 cent sales tax. They all want a free ride, and put the pressure on people here, many of whom are not wealthy, with homes, condos and clubhouses right on the ocean.
We need real representation in the Hammock, that represents us all. Not a favored few.
Jack Flaggler says
I agree with Richard Hamilton, we should all attend the meetings on Monday as we did the last meeting, let’s keep the pressure on these self centered commissioner (Remember what happen in St. Johns).
We had a blended funding supported by the cities back in February 2025. And Kim Carney derailed it, those are the facts, she needs to resign!
We should push for a vote on the 1/2 cent sales tax on Monday. Kim and Leanne, if you are unwilling to support the 1/2 cent during this meeting, then resign from your seat. You do NOT represent us anymore.
Republican Dave says
When you buy a piece of property, you should have the ability to maintain it. When I buy land, I pay the taxes, and maintain the property. When I buy a house, I maintain the yard, and the cost of upkeep such as painting, fixing, etc.. When I buy a house on the ocean, I accept the cost of saltwater effects on the house such as replacing the air conditioning unit more often. I also protect my property from erosion.
Why, as Republicans, are you asking the government to step in, to help save your property from erosion, and tax the many for the advantage of the few? You knew there was the possibility that the ocean would eat up the beach behind you. The ruse is to claim protection for the whole county, the barrier island and A1A. Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps!
Why should the government add several feet of sand, and build dunes, behind private property? You, your clubs, and your companies should maintain your own properties and protect them from erosion. The government should protect the public beach parks only. Think about it, Republican commissioners.
Ed P says
Republicans Dave,
Tourism infuses the Flagler County economy with about $900,000,000 (900 million) in revenue (dollars) at our retail stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and STVRs. The tourism tax nets about 4.3 million dollars. Locals do not pay the 5% tourism tax.
What do you suppose happens if the beach is not healthy and available?
Nourishment is much more than pouring sand onto the dunes or beach. The beach is extended seaward, widening it similar to Flagler beach, 140 feet wide.
Do you believe every other Florida coastal community, such as Miami who has been performing nourishment since 1970 would continue if the nourishment didn’t deliver results and worth the investment?
A healthy beach benefits the entire county.
Republican Dave says
Ed P, I agree with many things you have written. Drive to Marineland Acres, and tell me how to access the beach on the public roads. They are only accessible to those who can walk to it. Hammock Dunes “A private beach and golf community” should be able to maintain the beach that has very little access to the public. Let those who use the facilities pay for it, such as the resort, club, golf course and short term vacation rentals. Don’t expect the barrier island residents to pay.
My gripe yesterday was, as a Republican, the majority of Republicans here voted for a government against SNAP, feeding children in schools and cutting other resources for those who need it, but now, when it effects them, they want government to step in. I am not against rebuilding the beach, I just believe it should be done in an equitable manner.
Tofer says
A 1/2 cent sales tax increase will go far and barely if at all affect county residents to any great degree. The initial ‘shock’ of that 1/2 % will soon dissipate to ,life as normal, while the funds continue to increase from all of our spending including the visitors to our beautiful area. Pass on some of the cost, I came for the beaches, so do most of the tourists.
john stove says
1/2 cent for Beach…maybe 1/2 cent for paving streets…maybe another 1/2 cent for storm water….1/2 cent for blah, blah, blah
This will never end, how about some cost cutting with City and County? No new vehicles, no new buildings, delay major purchases etc etc
NO TO SALES TAX FOR BEACH
Ed P says
Republican Dave,
We need everyone on board. Your willingness to debate and listen proves that you could be a solid ally. All beaches in Florida are public. You can park at multiple parks, in particular, Bay Park or Malacompra, in the vicinity of Marineland acres.
A public infrastructure like the beach lifts real estate values throughout the county.
Islanders have been paying a disproportionate amount of taxes prior to this push and we will continue after. We are also assessed a MSBU in addition to any sales tax increase as well. Palm Coast will receive more financial benefit (2.7 million) than the county (2.4 million). An actual no brainer.
I haven’t heard many islanders who aren’t willing to pay, we just not willing to pay 100% because we are only 5% of the population. Should we bear the burden of supporting the other 95%. Would that be equitable?