County government’s top staff burned the midnight oil since Thursday and through this weekend after the County Commission last Wednesday forced its own administration to cut between $1.9 to $2.4 million from the budget by Monday. A silver lining: the county is getting an unexpected infusion of $600,000 in new revenue because of a glitch in property appraiser calculations.
Flagler County Sheriff
Flagler School Board Won’t Arm Civilians or Staffers This Year as Questions and Divisions Persist
The state gave the Sheriff’s Office only seven days to complete an application required to tap into training grants for arming civilians on campuses, and the Flagler County School Board still has a series of unanswered questions. Election re-alignments also add another level of uncertainty about whether there’s a real desire to go the route of armed civilians in schools.
In Latest Switch, County Will Cut Tax Rate, Fund Sheriff’s Full Request, and Take a $1.9 Million Hit on Budget
The Flagler County Commission this evening voted 3-2 to cut the tax rate by a tenth of a point and fully fund the sheriff’s budget request, closing what had been a $700,000 difference between the county’s proposal and the sheriff’s request. The result will be a $1.9 million hit on the budget the administration had submitted to the commission ahead of today’s public hearing, the first of two to adopt next year’s budget and tax rate.
700 Flagler County Residents, Mostly Kids, Participating in PAL This Summer
As part of its mission to serve the youth of Flagler County, the Flagler Sheriff’s Police Athletic League (PAL) welcomed over 700 people – mostly kids – to its various events during the summer of 2022.
Flagler Sheriff’s Cpl. Rob Myers, Who’d Been Drinking and Driving, Demoted Following Heated Stop
Flagler County Sheriff’s Cpl. Rob Myers, a nine-year veteran of the agency, was demoted to deputy and placed on 18 months’ internal probation following an internal investigation that found he had been drinking and driving and drove alarmingly close to a deputy who was conducting an unrelated traffic stop. He was only given a warning at the traffic stop, and had a ride arranged for him to get him home.
Fundraiser Gets Handyman and Everywhere Cyclist Frank Diaz, 79, New Bike 2 Weeks After Crash
Two weeks ago Francisco “Frank” Diaz was thrown off his bike, injured and hospitalized after an SR100 crash with a car that totaled the bike. Sheriff Rick Staly had responded to the call at the time, and was instrumental in a fundraiser by The Bike Man non-profit that raised $2,300, paid for a brand new bike and left some money over for Diaz to pay his medical bills and a $166 traffic ticket.
County Resists Sheriff’s Request for Additional $700,000 in Surprise 3-2 Vote, Heralding Shift
With Joe Mullins’s surprise vote providing the majority, the Flagler County Commission this afternoon resisted Sheriff Rick Staly’s request for an additional $700,000, opting instead to hope for “savings” during the coming year, either on the sheriff’s side or on the county’s side of the ledger, that could fill that gap.
Arming School Staffers on Flagler’s Campuses Raises Questions of Cost, Training and Numbers
The Flagler County School Board is considering whether to add armed civilians, possibly school staffers, on school campuses, but a workshop on the issue raised almost as many questions as it answered, with numerous issues still undecided–if the board were to go that way. That, too, is uncertain for now.
Sheriff and County Administrator Duel Over Policing Budget Before Commissioners Nod Staly’s Way
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and County Administrator Heidi Petito dueled in front of a standing-room-only meeting room Monday night over the sheriff’s claim that the county was underfunding him, and the county’s counter that it has increased the sheriff’s budget by 48 percent since 2018, not including spending on facilities like the new Sheriff’s Operations center. But in the end, Petito’s bosses showed readiness to go Staly’s way.
Sheriff Plans Show of Force, and Threatens Appeal to Governor, Over Budget Stalemate With County
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and the Police Benevolent Association, the union representing deputies, are organizing a show of force that would pack the county commission’s chambers this evening in hopes of swaying commissioners to give the sheriff more than the additional $4.45 million they are so far providing for next year’s budget.