There is some futility in trying to defy rising seas’ erosive power. But if the Dutch thought so, they wouldn’t exist today. Their Low Countries would be a big North Sea gulf and Amsterdam’s red-light district–the eighth wonder of the world–would be under water along with most of a country the size of Florida’s Panhandle.
Instead, the Netherlands’ 18 million people have the world’s greatest dyke and flood-control system. It’s expensive. But everyone is taxed to keep it going. The Dutch government spends about $1.3 billion a year on the system, according to the New York Times, and local governments spend “hundreds of millions more.”
Like many other county and city governments in Florida, Flagler County has been discovering since 2016 that it will not preserve its shoreline unless it spends massive amounts of dollars. It already has, with two rounds of dune-rebuilding since Hurricane Matthew. The biggest beach-rebuilding project in the county’s history kicks off next week, a 50-year project that will cost Flagler County scores of millions of dollars over the next decades.
So far Flagler has been lucky. Local taxpayers haven’t spent a dime for any of it, at least not directly, even though it adds up to (by my guess: the county has been careful not to issue an official tally) well over $100 million. It’s all been federal and state dollars.
Those won’t continue at this rate, not without a substantial local contribution now that–the DeSantis administration’s denialism aside–sea rise is accelerating and federal and state costs from fighting climate change are exploding: the federal government spent $136 billion–$1,000 for every taxpayer–in 2017 alone in recoveries from climate-related disasters, according to a Congressional Research Service brief. So you’re already paying for it.
This week we learned that the county needs between $7 million and $10 million a year to pay its share of beach maintenance. That’s probably lowballing it. But it’s a start. The County Commission is crafting what would be a countywide taxing district that would levy a tax on all residents similar to Holland’s water-system tax, but scaled. People closer to the shore will pay more. Some people on the west side will pay nothing.
The details are being worked out, and we’ll learn more at a workshop on Monday. The county administration is hoping to line up approving resolutions from every city over the next four weeks, hold public hearings and enact the new levy by fall. Good luck.
The county has the right idea. But the execution is hurried, the plan is poorly thought-out, it is riddled with holes and inconsistencies, and it has included zero public participation and zero preparatory discussions with other governments. That’s a recipe for failure, deservedly so: the county is taking the public and its sister governments for granted, if not punting to the cities to do the heavy lifting. The plan will go nowhere if the cities don’t approve. If cities resist, the county has only itself to blame. That’s unfortunate, because it’s doing the right thing. It’s just doing it badly. (The county claims it’s had innumerable meetings and workshops leading up to creating a beach-management plan. Those are commendable. But they don’t count in this context: this is a new phase that requires its own procession of accountability.)
When the state transportation department is about to rebuild a road–just a road–it holds public meetings to lay out what it wants to do. It solicits input. It meets with local governments. It then holds more meetings to update the public, and finally gets started on the work.
The county is proposing what would amount to the single-largest, broadest new tax in the county’s history. A permanent tax. It should have started by sending its county administrator to make the case for it to each of the local governments, in public meetings, with detailed presentations, then teamed up with the cities to sell the plan to the public at a dozen outreach meetings, soliciting public input along the way. Only then could it finalize its plan and submit it formally to the cities.
The county, which has had a serious messaging problem for years, did none of that. Just as it flubbed two previous, horrendous attempts at getting the sales tax increased by half a cent–another necessity getting demolished by the county’s own doing–it sprung a planned tax that could add anywhere from $100 to $500 a year to residents’ bills in one workshop this week. It will refine it at one or two additional meetings. Then it will simply ask that the cities jump in and do the rest. In an election year, no less.
This is not a County Commission problem, exactly. It’s a county administration problem. To their credit, commissioners know what should be done and are going for it. (They’re also scared shitless that an anti-tax zealot like Ed Danko, currently on the Palm Coast City Council, might get elected to the commission in November and prevent any such thing from ever happening. But that’s giving one man’s vote too much weight: three-vote majorities are enough to override ideological deniers.) What commissioners aren’t doing is directing their administration to have a better strategy selling the plan across the county. Actually, to have a strategy, period. Right now it has none.
Transparency is an issue. The county’s consultant claims that 3,000 people participated in the survey that showed most people are willing to pay a supplemental tax for beach protection. It was based on text and web results–neither the most reliable way of surveying a local tax base, both easily manipulated, exaggerated, shaded. So I’m skeptical about those results. I haven’t seen the actual survey’s complete results and methodology. It should have been included in the county’s public documentation at its meeting last Monday. It wasn’t, and commissioners weren’t probing enough about it. (I’ve requested it: I haven’t received it yet).
For all the necessity of a new tax for beach protection, there’s something patently unfair in levying it so uniformly that the owner of a $2 million house will pay the same tax, within certain zones, as the dweller in a $100,000 shack. That’s because the county intends to apply a taxing mechanism that can be euphemized as a “fee” rather than a tax, and to avoid the labyrinth of property tax exemptions. Everyone pays a garbage bill. Not everyone pays a property tax. The beach levy would be like the garbage bill.
You can’t blame the county for going that route. Everyone would (and should) pay. Or at least pay something. But the disparities are indefensible, and other than exempting whole swaths of the west side from paying, the administration had no plan about that, either. (The wholesale exemption of western properties makes zero sense: what makes the west more exempt than, say, Palm Coast residents between U.S. 1 and I-95?)
More questions pile up: will the “fee” be indexed to inflation, as it should be from the start , or will this be yet another assessment that loses its value year after year? Can the county assure residents and other governments that specious overhead will not erode revenue as surely as the Atlantic is eroding the barrier island? Can revenue be bonded? Does the county have a Plan B or C should the cities decline?
The seas will have the last word. They’re rising, and we’re doing very little, as a nation and as a planet, to slow down, let alone reverse, the march to irreversible and catastrophic warming that will start melting Greenland and the Antarctic (sea rises so far have occurred more because of warming seas, which expand, than because of added water.) That’s still not an argument to do nothing, if the inevitable can be delayed for a few generations.
So climate change taxes are as inevitable as climate disasters. But the way the county is proceeding with this tax, don’t be surprised if the cities don’t go for it and sink the whole proposal. You probably wouldn’t go for it, and you’d be right–not because we don’t need this tax and its revenue. We do. If we want a barrier island, if we want Flagler Beach–the ninth wonder of the world–we have no choice. But the county commissioners’ case for it hasn’t gone beyond their own echo chamber.
The mere fact that commissioners think they can get this through by late summer is an indication either of self-delusion or terrible advice from the administration. All commissioners and their administration have is an idea, and it’s not even half-baked yet. What they need is a plan, a convincing case, a timetable respectful of the public and other governments, and a sales pitch.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
Shark says
Why do we have to pay a climate change tax if it doesn’t exist according to Ronnie and the Florida leadership. And if we do just raise the gas tax to the already highest gas prices in Florida
me says
Of course Death Santis claims there no climate change, so now the property owners have to pick up the tab. And just think he wanted to be President.
Tim says
Public meetings or not, I find the first submission to be fair. We live beachside and agree that beachside residents should take on more of the burden.
Beachbum says
We live beachside too. Livi g here doesn’t mean we use the beach more than those visiting the beach. Taxing us more is a ridiculous idea. We are already pay taxes on the land east of A1A. The city recently implemented a new ordinance to fine people that walk on the dunes but if you call the city to complain about dune walkers, they just talk to them with no real consequences. We are told that we don’t own the sand even though we have a deed and pay taxes on it. The only fair tax is a sale Use Tax. Everyone pays I clouding out of county visitors. I agree with the co..ents about MD beaches. This problem is not unique to Flagler county.
JimboXYZ says
Live long enough, we’ll all be taxed or fee’ed for the air we breathe on planet Earth by a Government. Democrat dreams, just look at Newsom & California. NYC, NY is that way too. 2 locations I hope to never visit again in my lifetime.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Ummm, this is your local Republicans looking to tax you. Not the Democrats, surely not Gavin Newsom or California yet you just keep dreaming there.
Jim says
TO: Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
You’ll have to forgive JimboXYZ. He believes that Democrats create all bad things (like taxes) and Republicans never do such things. He can’t accept that the Republicans running the governments around here are the ones raising our taxes….. And JimboXYZ, forwarded your comments to New York and California and they both said tell you “Thank you” for never coming to either again!
Is it any wonder we have the kind of politics we all endure nowadays??!!!
JimboXYZ says
Is it just me, or has the Federal required the State of FL and Flagler County into going this direction or they won’t fund any beach rebuild/dune replenishment going forward ? That would be Biden-Harris and everyone they have in place ? I think anyone in Flagler Beach needs to let this go and move somewhere where it doesn’t flood or require this level of denial that what they’re requiring is a waste of time, efforts & resources that nobody was ever compensated enough to be affordable, if it were even feasible. 363 days out of the year, it’s no a problem, 2 Hurricanes/Tropical Storms on separate days wipes out millions of dollars, months & years of labor & material resources. Even the winter NorthEasters take out beaches. I don’t support the tax nor fee approach for any of it. But it’s going to happen t0 all of us anyway. Imagine if FL & Flagler County were California & Newsom, not FL & DeSantis, it would be another level of stupidity at this point.
Here’s the last time a USA city sought the Dutch advice on flood management of FL’s coastline that I was around ? Miami consulted the self proclaimed Dutch experts, they still have a problem down there don’t they ? That actually goes all the way back to at least 2010 under Obama-Biden, when I lived in North Miami. Used to cycle up to Hallandale Beach, Hollywood & Dania Beach and the full moons cycles flooded their streets. Same this goes on in the Tomoka Loop every full moon cycle each month. Don’t believe me, next full moon drive the Loop and see where the roads are covered with the Tomoka River.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uu7g-CObI8
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/dutch-sea-level-rise-expert-miami-will-be-the-new-atlantis-a-city-in-the-sea-7628340
https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2024/04/16/miami-needs-5-billion-to-fight-flooding/
Jan says
Yes, we all need to contribute to the replenishing of sand on the beach. That includes residents, visitors, short-term renters, and hotel guests. Anyone who uses the beach.
I grew up going to beaches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (still visit family there), and sand is pumped from dredge barges through a series of pipes and the sand is placed on the beaches. After the water drains, the sand is pushed into formation using bulldozers. Expensive, but it works. We need to do that here.
Beach Tim says
I think we all pay or no one does . Know we all don’t have to pay the same amount, but we all need to put in .
Truck loads of sand do nothing says
I do not agree with this at all. Here’s why:
#1) If you look at the numbers, the beach side residents pay less than half of the total costs. That’s right, less than half. Up front you think they are holding the majority of the cost, but when you break it down by numbers of residents, NOPE!!
#2) This is a beach. IT CHANGES. That what beaches do, they CHANGE over time. Go to bone yard beach.. hmm? Spending any money at all on rebuilding to keep the beach where it is is a total joke. I dig a hole in my back yard to plant a palm tree. 2 feet down, a thick layer of pristine white sand. Hmm.. was that a beach?
#3) The Dutch are not spending money to protect a beach, they are spending money to prevent having to wear scuba gear to work. That’s not the same and not sure why FlaglerLive is using that to support this vein, biased, cause.
Any money taken, or stolen dare I say, from non-beach side residents should go towards eminent domain and the rebuilding of A1A to account for the new location of our beach as the shoreline changes.
Denise says
Hmmmm, they haven’t mentioned exactly what efforts will be taking place to “prevent” the erosion. Lived here for 37 years and you’d think SOMEONE would know this by now….. throwing big rocks and piling up THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS of sand DOES NOT KEEP MOTHER NATURE QUIET! Sea wall or else, Flagler County will just be throwing yet more money into the ocean!
Roger says
I am glad the County is working on a plan to keep our beach intact into the future and preserve the infrastructure on the barrier island. Yes, the beachside residents should pay more than those further away, but we should all pay something. The barrier island protects the mainland, and the fact that Palm Coast is a beach town surely increases the property values for all. The amounts the property owners will be required to pay is minimal compared to the value we all derive from being close to a beach.
Denali says
And just what is this “value” you or anyone else derive from being close to a beach?
You (and many others) need to get your facts in order. The county has no plan to ‘save the beaches’. They are only dumping good money after bad; not to protect the mainland by ‘saving the barrier island’ but rather to protect the property values of a few residents and businesses. The island will survive, the structures built by man in his ignorance will not. The mainland will still be protected; until the water rises enough and then all bets are off. Quite honestly, it makes no difference to me if that stretch near Varn Park gets washed back to the Fox Cut or A1A disappears. It is going to happen eventually no matter how much sand they pump into the area.
Joe D says
Wow…lots of money, and lots to consider:
BEACH = tourists
TOURISM = Money (for ALL of Flagler County, not just Flagler Beach)…vacationers come for the beach, but they ALSO stay in Palm Coast, and frequent Palm Coast businesses and restaurants, and attend Palm Coast and Brunnel festivals.
TOURIST MONEY = NO 3-5% STATE INCOME TAX (as MOST other states have, having NOTHING to do with a Beach maintenance tax). Unfortunately Disney and the Amusement Parks are NOT in Flagler County…the Beach, and local events (LOVE the DOG surfing!!!), are all we have to bring in money.
NO BEACH =No TOURIST $$$$
This all being said, since they want to label it as a FEE and not TAX, there has to be SOME way of moderating the AMOUNTS….a $million Beach MANSION and a small Beach Condo or TOWNHOUSE should NOT be paying the same FEE!
And for: “Truckloads of Sand”….
where do you think Palm Coast and Brunnel would be if 200-300 years ago, the Flagler Beach “BARRIER ISLAND”….note the meaning of the term BARRIER…were not in place to keep the sea from making your Palm Coast or Brunnel home “BEACH FRONT”…in another 100 or so years? Maybe those new 6000 (?) properties in the Brunnel area had the right idea…eventually the BEACH will simply come to them!
The Dutch had the RIGHT idea…to keep the Ocean at Bey….I heard several Palm Coast Marine shops have SCUBA gear on sale now….better hurry 😉.
This DELICATE and EXPENSIVE process has to be done in a more WELL THOUGHT OUT MANNER…and rushing it through by “end of summer,” is foolish…and likely to either FAIL, make LOTS of people ANGRY….or BOTH! A Flagler County WORKSHOP is a good first step of maybe 10 STEPS spread out over the next YEAR at LEAST!…not in 3 months…REALLY!?!
Truck loads of sand do nothing says
Technically, barrier island or not, not much would be different believe it or not. Now if you went back 11,700 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch, yea, things would look a lot different. No dikes or beach renourishment needed during that time!! But you knew that 😉
https://fdep.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=992bf1a70b734dbea8487aabb6ed5bee
Good luck with your truck loads of sand!
dave says
Well we all can complain, but we all know the history of Flagler Cty Govt, they will do what they do and hell with the taxpayers. Hell its no different than all residents of Palm Coast regardless of what part of Palm Coast you live paying for this. ”
May 2023: Palm Coast City Council this morning adopted a stormwater fee increase of residents’ monthly bill from $22.27 currently to $39.10 by 2028, or 76 percent. It is less than the 102 percent increase that the city’s stormwater department and a city consultant sought. It will still add up to nearly $500 a year in stormwater fees for single-family households by 2028, when city taxes are not that much higher for some.”
Joe D says
For Dave:
Yep, everything is getting more expensive…ridiculously so. So we either accept less services (Heaven forbid), or pay increased costs.
However I do have to take exception to your comments about the Flagler Beach City Government doing what it wanted and ignoring taxpayers. Being retired, I have the luxury of watching or attending the Flagler Beach City Commission meetings…
I was PARTICULARLY impressed with the Council’s one day (Grueling as it was …please divide into 2days) departmental updates (each)…and each departmental budget ( what is was, where the money went, what the increase should be, and why)… some departments got increases, some got modified increases, and some proposals were delayed to be considered the next year.
I repeatedly watched MOST of the Commissioners asking how the expenses were determined, were group purchases being used, were there competitive bids, were prior contracts inspected to determine the citizens got their money’s worth.
I NEVER saw a blanket “How much do you want?”…with a rubber stamp “YES”…from our LOCAL Commission…unfortunately, I can’t say the same thoughtful process for the COUNTY.
Think smart says
Just do want Jekyll Island does and charge $10 for every vehicle that goes over the bridge. I was there last week and the beach was packed. Obviously, the access toll isn’t hurting their tourism.
dave says
Heck yes, and also increase the Flagler cty TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAX from 5% to say 10%. If these people are renting out their beach front homes or have rentals, let the tourist help pay.
DaleL says
Pierre, you make some good points. I submit though that it is short term rental properties and close to the beach businesses that benefit most from the beach. However, I don’t think Florida will allow short term rentals to be treated (taxed) differently than regular homes.
Here is my “spitball” suggestion. I suggest there be two revenue sources for beach “preservation”. One would be a fee and the other a tax, to be collected concurrently.
First would be a flat fee based on each property based on the proximity to the beach, setup in zones. Beach side, beach adjacent, and then all other properties east of say I-95. It should be applied to all properties, whether business or residential within each respective zone.
Second would be a tax millage on property value. The millage rate would be based on the proximity to the beach in the same zones as before. This would reduce the obvious disparity of the owner of a two million dollar property paying the same fee as the owner of a three hundred thousand dollar cottage.
Disclosure, I do live beach adjacent. My wife and I were able to kayak through our neighborhood after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. As a result, I am willing to help pay to keep the dunes intact for the next few decades.
Brian Riehle says
The Netherlands don’t dredge up sand and and give it back to the sea every year. They build SEAWALLS and structures to keep the water out. When the Dutch want to go to the beach they fly to the Canary Islands. They learned generations ago to give up being stupid about stopping the ocean.
Pig Farmer says
Well, they could use the material dredged from the canals that need dredging to help with building up the beaches. The canals would have to be dredged 30′ deep and the smell on the beaches wouldn’t be too good, but they would be solving two problems at once.
/s
joy Massie McGrew says
here’s some commonsense thoughts…
(just remember, commonsense and GOVERNMENT don’t work together…this coming from a long time resident and past commissioner….just saying.)
WHY would our County Commissioners want to TAX JUST FLAGLER COUNTY RESIDENTS???
Are we the only people that use our beach?
WHY should FB residents CARRY THE BURDEN IN OUR TAXES FOR garbage, police & rescue, walkovers maintenance, animal control, dune up-keep, etc. ????? WHY should those who have lived/live in FB pay MORE??????? just because you don’t live here, doesn’t mean because WE do that we should. most people in FB that go to the beach WALK, BIKE, OR GOLF-CART IT… those of us that do live here are the ones picking up the trash, dog poop, bottles, diapers, fishing line(hooks) food, ballons, cigarette butts, beach chairs and tents, and more .. SO ACTUALLY, those that use the beach and DON’T LIVE HERE should pay more.
if you drive a vehicle to the beach, park and walk to the beach, you should pay some amount $$$ in a fee structure.
wake up people!!!! EVERYONE that visits the beach should have to pay something….it doesn’t matter if you come
read a book, sunbath, bring a picnic, fly a kite, bring fishing pole(s), swim/surf, get married….if you use the beach for some kind
of pleasure, or a purpose, then you SHOULD help pay to keep it, restore it, AND TRY TO protect it. Do you think the people from places up north (St. Augustine is north) or south (Daytona is south) don’t have to pay to go to the beach??? ?? does that stop them???? REALLY???!!!!! NO IT HASN’T.
there have been MANY studies done on beach user fees in almost EVERY STATE THAT HAS A SEASHORE!!!!!!!! why reinvent the wheel. PC Observer did an excellent article on fee structures in every county that has a beach in the state of FL. do some research. enough funds are collected to pay for enforcement, maintenance, patrols (police & lifeguards) and more.
it’s not ROCKET SCIENCE COMMISSIONERS, MAYORS, & VOTERS. if there is a tax/fee to be imposed, make it
FAIR… it should include EVERYONE THAT VISITS OUR BEACHES not just county residents.
Positive thinker says
Now is the time for Flagler beach to put in paid parking and reimburse the Flagler beach residents against this higher paid tax. The beachside people walk to the beach and pay for the beach cans to be emptied daily( no county money given for this) when we pack it out and take our chairs and empty cups back home while the visitors dump all the trash including the cheap styrofoam coolers they bought on the way in that can’t be Recycled. Let the parking be paid to fund renourishment and trash pick up.
Deborah Coffey says
Good arguments, Pierre, but frankly, it would eventually be cheaper to just move A1A inland by a mile. “The seas WILL have the last word.” Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to stop the seas will not solve the climate problem. All that money could be much better spent. Beach dwellers and businesses probably should have moved inland years ago. The inevitable is coming….
DaleL says
I just looked at Google Maps and measured some distances. The Flagler Beach Publix on Route 100 on the west side of the intracoastal waterway is 1.25 miles from the beach. The barrier island at the Hammock Publix of 16th Road is slightly less than a mile wide. Moving A1A one mile to the west (inland) will take it off the barrier island entirely.
Deborah Coffey says
Thank you for your research. Then, A1A should be moved off the barrier island entirely because it won’t exist…shortly.
James says
How about everyone go down to Home Depot and buy a sack of sand before they go to the beach.
Bring it with them. And then dump it there before they go home.
Just a suggestion.
Local double taxpayer says
This is not an effort to save the beaches. This is an effort to save the houses on the beach. The beach will always be there. The barrier Island may not always be there. But the beach will it will just move inland. Barrier Island homeowners and tourist should be responsible for this.
Atwp says
Taxing for the results of something they say don’t exist. It reminds me of atheist that fight against God but they don’t believe he exist. Very funny and immature.
Celia Pugliese says
Agreed with Local double Taxpayer. No houses should be built less than one block from the beach…those that have them already when the hurricanes come and destroy them and get their insurance pay should not be allowed to build in the same location but move them one block back at least, The beach front should be only for parking and storm barrier. Since I moved here in 1991 I never had any storm insurance claim either for my car insurance, but keep being gouged with outrageous increases…why because we are forced to pay for the water front millionaire mansions and their luxury yachts and jewelry and valuables loss in every hurricane. Lets face it! Now they want also to further tax us to protect these millionaire mansions ocean front, again. We already fund them with our fed and state taxes into hundreds of millions here in Flagler County., after every hurricane.Have the ones in the barrier Island and ocean front fund the 7 to 10 millions a year ( that actually won’t even be enough if they do not move those properties a block back off the beach) . Now conservatives talk climate change finally, but when it only comes to further tax us to fund their ocean front mansions. NO, NOT FAIR!
Laurel says
Celia: It looks like jealousy abounds in Flagler County! For starters, oceanfront homes pay way, way, way more in insurance and taxes than those living inland. So, you inland people (I’m not beachfront) never, ever have hurricane or flood issues? Ever? If that’s true, why all the blue tarps? I’ve seen flooding in Palm Coast, and as far inland as the center of the state. Do you recall all the furniture and belongings piled up all along A1A after Mathew? Were they all yacht owning millionaires? No, they weren’t. Were the folks living along the finger canals in Flagler Beach all yacht owning millionaires?
It was unscrupulous roofers that caused your insurance to go up.
So you think people should just pick up and move their houses across the street, right? Gee, isn’t someone already there?
You do not fund oceanfront houses.
Billy says
Are the people living beachside going to pay for my canal seawall??
Laurel says
Billy: Do the people living beach side use your seawall?
Celia Pugliese says
No Laurel. But we sure forked hundreds of millions with every devastating hurricane like Mathew in our taxes Fed, Fema and TDC to repair the beach front that I totally agreed with. But this additional county wide I do not agree, sorry. This is for the TDC tourist tax that should be increased 1 cent to produce almost one more million a year. In 2023 TDC 5 cents tax collected 4.6 millions have 3 of those millions for the beach repair as tourist invades our beaches. I sure know the beach front properties pay fortunes in taxes and is for them to find out where the funds go…We in our canal front lots are responsible to pay for our seawalls around $400 or 5$00 a foot and have to endure all the visiting boaters speeding often and damaging them. So should be same for ocean front properties, have the tourist pay for it…We can’t have the many outsiders canals users to pay for anything.
Ban the gop says
Ban any notion of erosion that’s the republican solution
Laurel says
I can blame the county. The county is not acting, it’s reacting, with little thought. That’s usually what municipalities do, and this reaction is knee jerk as they are trying to push it as fast as they can. Bad idea.
It was mentioned, earlier, in comments that short term rentals will be taxed the same as other residences. No they won’t. Short term rentals are commercial businesses, as defined by Flagler County, and therefore will be taxed at close to a third of what the homeowners will be taxed (fee). The residents will pay nearly three times as much as the businesses that cater to transients, and the businesses can write off this fee while the residents cannot. Flagler County always wants the residents to pay for everything, which is sad because many of these residents are retirees who are on fixed incomes. It is a betrayal. We pay, Margaritaville benefits.
Some commenters think that the beach only benefits those living closer to the beach, but that is not true. All one has to do is drive along A1A nearly any day of the week, and see the excessive amount of parking there. Clearly, those cars do not belong to the people living nearest the beach. Now, who is it benefiting? When I lived in Boca Raton, parking was $10 per car at any of the three parks, unless as a resident you purchase an annual pass. Now, I think it’s $35 per car per day. The reason the rate is high is because 1.) These parks are absolutely beautiful, and 2.) People regularly drove up from as far away as Miami. So to say the beach only benefits those nearby is false. Outsiders pay the higher price while the residents buy a pass. That’s fair. People drive from all over to here too. Especially vacationers (though I’m not sure why). Fact of the matter is, businesses and tourists should pay the price while the residents finally get a break, not the other way around. Tourism is no benefit to residents unless they own a business. It’s just more parking, more crowds and more trash to clean up. Tybee Island became so overrun by people who do not live there, that they have meters everywhere, and I mean everywhere, and charge $4.00 an hour for parking. So, the “I don’t live near the beach” argument has no merit.
To think the county is trying to save a handful of houses near the ocean is absurd. To think that A1A can be moved west is also absurd. Who’s buying out all those homes and businesses?
What has the county researched regarding wave action? Anything? If you look offshore in most parts of the county, you’ll see a natural sand bar. Can that be modified? Flagler beaches have some of the most rip current action I’ve seen in Florida. What about an artificial reef? Now there is something that could be a benefit to all. What have other cities and counties learned? What do the oceanographers say? Can we think outside the tax box? This knee-jerk reaction from the county is doomed to fail. At least, I hope so.
Joe D says
Laurel
I agree, it’s NOT just Flagler Beach using the beach, and yes the taxes are higher, and the fees are higher if they are used as rentals, and even higher if they rent on less than 6 month leases. One thing you SHOULD be checking in Flagler Co, is making sure your neighborhood short term (even 6 month rental) is REGISTERED with your CITY…if not they should be paying large fines. You can contact Flagler City and check…not sure where to check for Brunnel and Palm Coast.
The other thing to consider, when the temptation is to BASH tourists… tourist fees/taxes, are paying into the state enough YEARLY to PREVENT Floridians from paying a 3-5% (or more) STATE INCOME TAX on your income, like MOST other states do…
Laurel says
Joe D: Most of my younger life, for the longest time, Florida kept taxes low through tourism and agriculture at the rate of 4%. Then, the tourists became residents, and the New York tax happy people, who were used to 7%, quickly moved up the rate to 6%, 6.5%, 7%, and now 7.5%. The agricultural land was turned into subdivisions, so we became less dependent on farming vegetables and citrus, cattle and nurseries, and more dependent on more tourists and more taxes. The taxes were necessary as growth didn’t pay for itself.
Go down to my hometown of Ft. Lauderdale. It’s not recognizable. It’s incredibly expensive to live there, and nowhere as beautiful as it once was. Is this what Flagler County residents want? The tourist tax and bed tax are vastly used to attract more tourists. How will that continue to preserve our quality of life? Good luck finding a parking space at the beach.
FlaglerMan says
I don’t think anyone actually disputes climate change – Florida has been completly under water a few times and other times twice the land size- it’s called Ice ages and the Sun.
The dispute is human cause climate change – which science is beginning to show is mininmal, and the seas will rise in betwen Ice ages…. DUH
anyway we need the beaches, maybe they will have to come in a bit naturally – a real shame for beach property ppl but not for me 7 miles inland.. too bad
Adam Frank says
I don’t think that Flagler County can tax just beachside residents for beach renourishment until they set up a special tax district.
If the sand used for beach renourishment is pumped from under the sea, it would abate the sea level rise that has been occurring at least since Doggerland (between the UK and Europe) was submerged. Would this situation result in a credit to the beachside residents who are being taxed for this operation?
A special tax should be imposed on Cruise, and other ships that contribute to sea level rise due to their displacement of water.