Flagler County government has devised a plan to generate $8.2 million a year in local dollars to rebuild and maintain the 11.6 miles of beach north of Beverly Beach to the border of Marineland. The County Commission intends to vote on that plan, which includes a new tax for portions of the barrier island, on Nov. 4.
Taxes
Palm Coast Council Approves Budget and Tax Rate and Rejects Latest Attempt to Nullify Debt Referendum
The Palm Coast City Council on Wednesday gave final approval on a 3-1 vote to a $358 million budget and a slight reduction in the property tax rate starting Oct. 1. The 50-minute hearing, which had been rescheduled from last week, when two of the council members were ill, turned indecorous again in its last 10 minutes. Council member Ed Danko challenged the city attorney over a lawsuit just filed against the city to stop a referendum on November’s ballot, and urged two of his colleagues to rescind their vote supporting the referendum, so the legal action is made moot. They declined.
Fringe in Check, Palm Coast Approves More Expansive Budget with Slightly Lower Tax Rate, No Rollback
Palm Coast City Manager Lauren Johnston’s proposed budget and tax rate for the year starting Oct. 1 survived almost intact Thursday evening as the council, keeping its swaggering fringe in check, approved in a series of 3-1 votes a $61.2 million general fund budget with a $5.3 million increase and a slightly lower tax rate, but nowhere near the so-called rolled-back rate.
Council Votes 7-2 to Deplete Tourism Fund’s $11 Million Reserves and Build Flagler Visitor Center on SR 100
It was as audacious a plan as any that Flagler County Tourism Director Amy Lukasik presented to the Tourist Development Council this morning: take out $10.3 million out of two tourism funds’ reserves, reducing those reserves to $1.2 million, and appropriate the money for construction of the Flagler County Visitor and Eco Discovery Center on State Road 100, near the metallurgic foot bridge. The council went for it, voting 7-2 to recommend moving forward with Lukasik’s plan.
‘I Don’t Want to Wrestle With Pigs’: Palm Coast Rejects Danko Push to Lock City Into $2.3 Million Budget Cut
Overcoming what Council member Nick Klufas called fellow Councilman Ed Danko’s “pontification,” the Palm Coast City Council today rebuffed an attempt by Danko to remove $2.3 million from the city’s proposed budget and adopted instead a slightly reduced tax rate for next year while preserving funding for the addition of nine new sheriff’s deputies and three new firefighter-paramedics.
Reviled Daytona North Special Tax Will End as County Adopts Proposed 2025 Budget with Modest Tax Increase
The Flagler County Commission this afternoon adopted a proposed tax rate for next year that, absent further decreases before two September hearings, will be a hair lower than the existing rate. County Administrator Heidi Petito, in a shift from last year, is proposing suspending the increasingly reviled special tax in Daytona North (or the Mondex), eliminating $260,000 in revenue to the general fund that will be more than made up by tax collections.
4 Palm Coast Council Members Uninterested in Rolling Back Taxes Yet Still Inexplicably Defer to Danko’s ‘Starting Point’
Four of the five Palm Coast City Council members voiced opposition today to adopting the rolled-back property tax rate as they did last year, with one week to go before they have to vote on a tentative rate. Nevertheless, the fifth and lone dissenter, Ed Danko, inexplicably carried the day staving off a decision and keeping the rollback proposal alive.
Palm Coast Administration Proposing Flat Tax Rate to Pay for Increases in Sheriff and Fire Services
The $61 million general fund budget would include an increase of $5.6 million over the current budget but no increases in city staffing paid through the general fund. That staffing stands at 271. By far the single-largest line item increase in the budget would be for public safety, starting with policing through the city’s contract with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and the addition of nine deputies to the city’s contract, for a total of 57.
Sales Tax Is Lifted On Slew of Recreational Items For All of July
Sales taxes won’t be collected in July on many supplies for boating, fishing and camping and tickets purchased for live music events, sporting events, fairs, festivals, theater performances and movies. Last year, the state offered the tax holiday for three months, but it will be limited to July this year.
Some Hammock Residents Tell Flagler County: Tax Us for Beach Protection, and a Commissioner Sees Opportunity
Even as cities’ unhappy reactions have forced Flagler County quickly to retreat from a proposal to create a new tax for almost all residents and businesses in the county, Flagler County Commissioner Donald O’Brien is encouraging his colleagues on the commission to consider a special taxing district that would target just the northern 10 miles of the barrier island in the unincorporated part of the county.