The confirmation by Amazon.com that it will build a pair of massive “fulfillment” centers along the Interstate 4 corridor means that sometime in the next two years Floridians will have to start paying sales taxes on purchases from the online retail giant.
Economy
Pantry Alert: Cuts in Food Stamps Benefits Will Affect 3.6 Million Floridians Staring Nov. 1
Florida’s food hardship rate is more than 21 percent, meaning that one in five Florida households reported that in the past year they struggled to buy enough food for the family. The state is one of the hardest-hit for food security.
Always Up For Strange Cases, City Repertory Theatre Does Halloween With Jekyll and Hyde
With “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which opens at 7:30 tonight for a two-weekend run, Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre at Hollingsworth Gallery is back to its dark delights with a scary, profound and edgy play of the Robert Louis Stevenson Classic.
Flagler Beach Again Punts on Mobile Food Vendors, Opting to Redraw Looser Regulations
In their latest wrangles over whether to allow mobile food vendors or not, Flagler Beach commissioners appeared confused about who would be allowed where, and how to balance the rights of property owners with the rights of business owners and entrepreneurs to freely compete, without the city’s interference.
Nothing Flagler Can Do About Divisive Vacation Rentals, Attorney General Bondi Confirms
The expedited Attorney General’s opinion cited Flagler County’s own absence of regulation of vacation rentals before 2011 as one reason the county’s hands are tied in controlling what has become a center of conflict for permanent residents of the Hammock. Since 2011, a state law prevents local governments from imposing new regulations.
School Board Members Don Aprons and Wait Tables in All-Day Fundraiser at Bob Evans Today
Until 9 tonight, 15 percent of sales attached to the Flagler school district’s fundraiser at Bob Evans in Palm Coast will go to a special fund for needy students. School board members, the superintendent and other top district staffers are participating in hopes of drawing patrons.
State Rakes In Cash From Seminole Casinos and Rethinks Gambling Landscape
Under the current deal with the Seminoles, which ends in 2015, the tribe makes the payments to the state in exchange for having the exclusive right to offer banked table games, such as blackjack, along with a monopoly on all slot locations outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The Seminoles agreed to pay a minimum of $150 million in each of the first two years, $233 million in the third and fourth years and $234 million in 2015.
Shutdown-Delayed Unemployment Report: Rate Down to 7.2% But Only 148,000 New Jobs
The September unemployment report due on Oct. 4 was released only at 8:30 this morning, delayed by the 16-day government shutdown. But it could have been predicted, as it follows the pattern of most reports of the past three years: anemic job growth, very slow decline in the unemployment rate, and checkered signs of improvement (or retreat, depending on your point of view) ahead.
Taking Competition Seriously, FPC Focuses Its Own Promotional Video on Economic Impact
An eight-minute promotional and marketing video about Flagler Palm Coast High School, produced by students, reflects the intense competition even public schools now face to stay relevant, and is catching the eye of economic development officials, who see it as a means of broadening the county’s story and potential to prospective residents and businesses.
When Domestic Violence Hits the Workplace: Businesses Contend With Collateral Damage
Gathered in a community where the city and county have approved workplace policies banning domestic and sexual violence, experts said Thursday that all employers should be aware that workplace violence affects not only victims but business profits.
Disabled But Employed, Or Employable: What Businesses Can Do To Break Down Barriers
Stewart Marchman Act’s Enrichment Program’s 150 participants in Palm Coast and Daytona Beach are a reminder that Americans with disabilities are an underutilized reservoir of ambition, talent and skill ready to make great contributions in the workplace, writes Chet Bell.
Pink Army’s Legions Take to Palm Coast for Breast Cancer Battles Past, Present and Future
Some 800 runners, walkers and cheerers gathered for Florida Hospital Flagler’s annual Pink Army Run through Palm Coast’s Town Center Sunday morning in the continuing battle against a disease that claims the lives of 40,000 women a year.
“Girl Rising”: Karen Barchowski’s Movie Event for Palm Coast, In Education’s Name
Karen Barchowski, the co-owner of Sally’s Ice Cream in Flagler Beach, succeeded through word of mouth and more than a little conviction in organizing one showing of “Girl Rising,” the groundbreaking documentary about the importance of girls’ education, at Epic Theater in Palm Coast on Oct. 13.
For Taxpayers, A Rain of Excuses From Deficit-Ridden Palm Harbor Golf Club Contractor
Since Palm Coast began running the Palm Harbor Gofl Club on taxpayers’ dime in 2009, the facility has cost close to $6 million in capital and start-up costs, and annual deficits since. Contractor Kemper Sports told the city council Tuesday that it aims to break even next year, but greater success may be elusive as golfing faces numerous challenges.
Bank of America Robber Kevin Cotterman Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison, No Parole
Kevin Cotterman, the 42-year-old serial bank robber who stole $805 from the Palm Coast Bank of America branch on Palm Coast Parkway in May 2012, was sentenced today (Oct. 8) to 15 years in prison, with no possibility of parole, by Flagler County Circuit Judge J. David Walsh.
A Tiff, and Broader Implications, In County’s Hope of Eliminating Voter Voice in Economic Development
In a reflection of government-backed economic development’s dim luster, Flagler County want to eliminate voters’ role in giving local governments authority to extend tax breaks to companies. That proposal led to a clash Monday between government critic Dennis McDonald and Commissioner Barbara Revels.
Flagler County Buys 276 Minutes on Electronic Billboard Near Times Square, for $15,000
The 10-second spot will run once an hour, 18 times a day, through Jan. 2, on a billboard on 42nd Street, four and a half blocks south of Times Square, and is paid for half by the county’s tourism bed tax and half by the general fund, through the economic development department.
Runs, Flags and Shirts: Pink Armies Invading Flagler County for Breast Cancer Awareness
Highlights of this month’s Pink Army events in Palm Coast and Flagler include a 5K run or walk on Oct. 13, pink flag-raising ceremonies, and allowances, on Oct. 13, for school district students who participated in the run to wear their pink shirts instead of the required uniform.
FPL Customers in Flagler Will Again Pay Nuke Surcharge for Plants at Least 10 Years Off
A residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will pay about $5.5 extra a year, but the cost is part of a broader controversy over a law that allows utility companies to charge customers for power-plant construction that hasn’t even begun yet, and may never be completed.
Shutdown Hits Home: Castillo de San Marcos and Ft. Matanzas Among Parks Off Limits
Starting Tuesday, the National Park Service closed all 401 national parks, including Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments in St. Augustine, affecting the local tourism economy. Potential foreign visitors’ visas are facing processing delays.
Ex-Judge Candidate Josh Davis Resigns Clerk of Court Post to Start His Own Palm Coast Law Firm
Josh Davis, a former assistant state prosecutor and candidate for county judge last year, has resigned as manager of criminal courts for Flagler County Clerk of Courts Gail Wadsworth and will soon be opening his own legal practice in Palm Coast.
Flagler Democrats Will Demonstrate For Obamacare in Front of Health Department Tuesday
The noon demonstration by the Flagler County Democratic Club marks the first day of Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, and protests Florida’s sustained opposition, and various obstacles, to the law, including the prohibition against use of local health departments to make it easier for the uninsured to get coverage.
Nostalgia Sprinkle: Flagler Beach Bans Mobile Vendors Except for Ice Cream Trucks
Thursday evening, the Flagler Beach City Commission swirled Solomon with nostalgia in a 4-1 vote to ban all mobile vending in the city, except for ice cream trucks, a victory for Sandy Kenny’s operation.
Palm Coast’s City Repertory Theatre Opens 3rd Season With Webber’s Amazing Technicolor
City Repertory Theatre in Palm Coast launches its third season–seven plays this year–with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” a musical very loosely based on the story of Joseph and his brothers from the Book of Genesis.
Reviving Sore Issue, Flagler Beach Readies to Ban Ice Cream Trucks Outright
The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday will take up a proposed ordinance that prohibits mobile vendors, including ice cream trucks, outright, reviving an issue the commission has attempted to deal with twice in the last 19 months, only to shrink in the face of substantial opposition.
Bike MS: 2,500 Riders Course Through Flagler This Weekend in Annual Fund-Raiser. Be Alert.
The 27th annual ride by the North Florida Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is a major fund-raiser for MS research, and will fill A1A, SR100 and John Anderson Highway with bikers Saturday and Sunday. Police are asking drivers to be cautious.
Eighteen Months In, Palm Coast Observer Retrenches Back to Once a Week
After scoring a series of successes in the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s backyard and launching an ambitious effort to go head-to-head with the twice-weekly News-Tribune a little over a year and a half ago, the Palm Coast Observer is doing what most newspapers have had to do to survive: it’s cutting back.
Dispute Over Possibly Improper Rate Hikes Pits FPL’s 1% Against 99% of Customers
The state Supreme Court took up a challenge Thursday to hundreds of millions of dollars in rate increases approved last year for Florida Power & Light ij an agreement one Justice said reflected the wishes of 1 percent of commercial users against the wishes of 99 percent of FPL’s remaining customers.
Despite Slight Fall in Unemployment Rate, Flagler and Florida Lose Jobs in August
Florida’s unemployment rate fell a fraction, to 7 percent, in August, and fell to 10.1 percent in Flagler County, but Florida actually lost a net 4,700 jobs in the past month, and Flagler lost a net 181 jobs as the workforce shrank significantly.
Sen. Dorothy Hukill Proposes Cutting Sales Tax on Commercial Rental Property to 5%
Senate Finance and Tax Chairwoman Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange’s proposal could cut $250 million a year from state revenue. Business leaders want the tax, currently at 6%, eliminated altogether as Gov. Rick Scott travels the state on a tax-cutting tour.
Homes Sales and Inventory Decline a Bit in Flagler as Interest Rates Continue to Rise
After July’s buoyant home-sale figures in Flagler County, which hit a post-recession high of 243 closed sales for the month, August’s numbers are somewhat less bubbly, but the trend remains solidly positive even as interest rates creep up.
Resisting Obamacare, Florida Becomes National Aberration as Scott Battles Sebelius
Florida officials are callous and secretive, willing to keep information from citizens that could save their lives, according to the Obama administration’s top health official., while Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials are ramping up their attack on the federal online Marketplace and the “Navigators” who will help the uninsured use it to enroll in a health plan for 2014.
Where Fast Food Workers Make Twice the US Minimum Wage, and Have Benefits
Critics say a living wage of around $15 an hour would drive fast-food restaurants and other retail firms out of business — and millions of their employees out of work. Australia’s experience, where workers make $15 an hour, shows why that argument is bunk, argues Salvatore Babones.
Immigration Reform’s Latest Cheering Section: Florida College and University Presidents
Florida college and university presidents are calling on Congress to pass immigration reform this year, saying it would be better for the state’s economy if foreign students could stay after graduation, instead of being forced to take their diplomas and leave.
Palm Coast Data Parent Warns Grimly: Don’t Expect “Profitability in Near Term Or at All”
In the most sobering annual report to investors to date, Palm Coast Data parent Amrep Corp. raises numerous questions about the long-term viability of its operations as debt, recurring losses and competition burden its prospects–and those of what was once Palm Coast’s largest private employer.
Florida Festivals and Events Association Hosting Workshop at Palm Coast’s Hilton Garden Inn
The Florida Festivals and Events Association (FFEA), the state’s primary professional organization for producers, vendors, and sponsors of festivals, fairs and special events, is hosting a workshop and seminar at the Hilton Garden Inn Palm Coast on Thursday, October 10, for all those interested either in learning the ropes or capitalizing on special events.
Aveo Engineering Set to Sign 40-Year Lease for Flagler County Airport Sites
Aveo Engineering, which plans to hire some 300 people by 2016, will pay $1,089 a month per acre, and intends to build two structures on up to a dozen acres at the south end of the airport, including a design and manufacturing plant.
Life Sentence for Rest-Stop Murder That Shattered Florida Tourism Is Reduced
Audra Akins was 14 when he murdered British tourist Gary Colley at an I-10 rest stop near Tallahassee 20 years ago. His life sentence was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. He was re-sentenced to 40 years, making him eligible for release in 12 years.
Swipe 4 the Kids: Clerk of Court Gail Wadsworth Lauds New Credit Card Venture
It was an unusual endorsement from Gail Wadsworth, Flagler County’s clerk of court, before her Rotary Club Tuesday, but using her own office as an example, she touted the power of a new credit card transaction-fee company’s mechanism as an effective way for local businesses to raise large sums of money for their favorite children’s programs–at no new cost to businesses or customers.
Flagler Celebrates Arts in Education Week as Congress Again Targets Cultural Funding
Flagler arts organizations have a line-up of events all week to celebrate Arts in Education Week, which Congress started three years ago. The same Congress a few weeks ago began debating a measure that would reduce funding to the National Endowment for the Arts to its lowest level since 1974.
Unemployment Rate Ticks Down to 7.3% But Job Creation Is a Hazy 162,000
The 7.3 percent unemployment rate for August is the lowest rate since December 2008, but job creation remains anemic, and June and July figures were revised downward by 74,000 jobs. The economy is still generating barely half the jobs necessary to return to pre-recession health.
Lawmakers File Bill to Prohibit Red-Light Cameras in Florida as Palm Coast Snaps On
GOP Sen. Jeff Brandes blames red-light cameras “as backdoor tax increases,” but the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday reasserted its commitment to its 43 cameras even as they siphon out more than $3 million a year from the local economy–in taxes to state government, and in revenue to ATS, the Arizona-based company that runs the system.
Flagler Chamber Signals More Political Engagement With New Government Affairs Director
In the latest signal of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s growing political profile, the chamber on Tuesday announced that it was creating the position of government affairs director, and appointing Gretchen Smith to fill it. Smith has been the chamber’s communications director since joining the chamber five years ago.
Giant Gambling Wish List and Seminole Compact on Florida Lawmakers’ Table
Slot machines, blackjack and roulette are back on the table as lawmakers prepare once again to tackle the high-stakes issue of gambling in a state that everyone agrees is already one of the industry’s biggest cash cows.
Flagler Tourism Office Rebuffs Consolidation With County, Hinting at More Autonomy Instead
County Commissioner George Hanns and Administrator Craig Coffey had talked of absorbing the tourism office–currently a branch of the chamber of commerce–into county government. It won’t happen. Rather, Tourism Director Georgia Turner is talking of having a stand-alone tourism office in a few years.
County Rejects Roma Court for Sheriff’s Office as “Unworkable,” Citing 10 Issues
County Administrator Craig Coffey ended the Roma Court option’s prospects with a 10-point memo listing a series of structural and logistical concerns about the 57,000 square-foot property on Palm Coast Parkway, about half of which would have been leased to the county for the sheriff’s uses in a 15-year arrangement.
Pessimism Creeping Into Floridians’ Consumer Confidence as Index Declines
Consumer confidence among Floridians remained in August at 77, the same as the July after that number was revised downward, the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research reported today. Three of the five components that make up the index declined while two increased, suggesting increased pessimism.
Palm Coast Food and Wine Festival Returns, This Time With Wine, and Free Admission
The Palm Coast Food and Wine Festival at Town Center’s Central Park is scheduled for noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, with no gate admission, a dozen wines and more than a dozen food vendors from several countries, along with cultural and other entertainments.
Palm Coast Tax Holds Even, But Council Tiring of Deficit-Ridden Golf and Tennis Operations
The Palm Coast golf course had a $50,000 deficit this year, the tennis center a $100,000 deficit, both covered by taxpayers, with more deficits expected ahead. Palm Coast City Council members are wearying of carrying both centers. But they’re not ready to end the subsidies, either.
Equality Florida Calls on Cities to Suspend Ties With Russian Sister Cities Over Gay Bashing
Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach are in the clear, but Equality Florida, the gay-rights organization, is asking the more than half a dozen Florida cities with sister cities in Russia to suspend those mostly symbolic ties for now, in protest against rising anti-gay violence and the enactment of strict anti-gay legislation.