The Palm Coast City Council voted 4-1 today to approve the largest net raise for council members and the mayor in the city’s history.
Council members’ salary will rise from $9,600 a year to $24,097, a 151 percent increase. The mayor’s salary will go up from $11,400 a year to $30,039 a year, a 164 percent increase. The new salaries go in effect in November, after the election.
The approved figures are substantially less than those Mayor David Alfin proposed last month. He had proposed a raise to $44,670 for council members and $46,470 for the mayor, or 365 percent for council members and 307 percent for the mayor. Those figures provoked near-universal and staunch public criticism, leading Alfin himself to open the door at a workshop last week to scaling back the proposal–which may have been his strategy all along, starting high and ending up perhaps not where he started, but significantly higher anyway.,
The raise will not be as substantial, but the cost to taxpayers will still be closer to that of the original raise Alfin proposed, adding close to $175,000 a year in costs, because part two of the approved raise is the addition of health benefits to the council members’ compensation package. If a council member already has health coverage, as most have to date, he or she could get the benefits’ cash equivalent. That had not been part of Alfin’s initial proposal, though the “opt-out” from benefits, the city attorney said, would amount to $750 a year.
The new ordinance also calls for council members and the mayor annually to get raises equal to the raises staffers will be getting–a mathematically questionable approach that leaves out a key difference between council members and staffers: for staff, raises are awarded to specific individuals. Once that individual leaves the position, the salary for the position itself may revert back to a lower pay, according to the next hire’s experience. The council raises will be awarded to the position, eliminating individual experience. Thus, the raises will be perpetual, accruing from council member to council member.
Assuming a 2.5 percent annual raise, in 10 years council members will be making $29,374, and in 20 years, they’ll be at $39,500, continuing to compound from that new annual baseline year after year.
The revised figures were put forth by John Fanelli, newly appointed to the council to fill the seat vacated by Victor Barbosa. Fanelli showed his ability to make a mark quickly, pragmatically and without a hint of playing the rookie in his new position. Fanelli also extended Alfin a lifeline out of the tangle the mayor had created for himself by pitching the raise proposal clumsily, out of the blue, without preparing the public or doing so at a workshop, where the matter could be hashed out. He did so instead at the end of a night meeting, to an empty chamber, with no evidence.
Fanelli said he looked at the salaries of council members and mayors in 16 cities with populations averaging 102,000. He took out any city with a strong mayor form of government, so the remaining cities would be comparable to Palm Coast’s government. And he took out Palm Coast. He then averaged out the salaries for council mayors and the mayor, and came up with the figures he proposed as the baseline for Palm Coast’s new salaries.
Fanelli also called for the health benefits and the cumulative annual cost of living raises to be part of the new ordinance. Fanelli said the approximate cost of benefits is $6,000 to $8,000 a year.
Oddly, none of the council members bargained the new numbers: either they knew of Fanelli’s proposal in advance or they immediately found it more politically palatable than the one they’d supported previously. In fact, the comparative numbers, had appeared in a chart in background material attached to Alfin’s proposal at a previous meeting. Fanelli himself had not conducted that original research, and it’s not yet clear who had conducted it (the city has not responded to a request regarding that detail):
Council members reiterated the positions they’d taken in previous weeks, Eddie Branquinho still adamantly opposing the raise, saying it’s not the time. He also objected to the revised numbers’ addition of benefits. Council member Nick Klufas–who had previously favored a more gradual increase in pay–spoke most adamantly in defense of the higher pay, making a direct link–still never documented by Klufas or any member of the council–between better pay and a higher quality of candidates, or candidates from different walks of life.
“People who have a family, who have a wife and kids, the benefits could be more beneficial than not,” Klufas said. “Retirees do not necessarily have the same necessities that someone in a working class can have, but they still represent a large cross-section of our community, so I think it’s important that we’re inclusive and offer the opportunity for everyone to participate in local government, and not just individuals, which I’m fortunate to be one of, who have enough time and flexibility in their lives to be able to participate.”
Alfin spoke along similar lines. “Should a resident’s ability and availability to serve as a city council member be dependent on their financial wealth? That’s the question I put out,” Alfin said, crediting fellow-council members alluding to the same question. “Do we restrict our candidates from running for office and serving the community because we are tying it to their financial wealth and ability to serve without a adequate or actually a limited compensation.”
The Fanelli numbers did not seem to sway most of the many people who, again, spoke in opposition to the raise.
“I have the utmost respect for my mayor. I’ll take a bullet for my mayor,” Robert McDonald said. But mayor, this ain’t gonna work now. It ain’t gonna work.”
“The fact that you all are sitting there proves that people are willing to work for $9,600 a year,” Michael Martin, a resident conducting a petition drive to change the charter’s provision on council salaries, told the council. “The fact that we’ve had a city council since the city was incorporated proves that people are willing to work for the current salary, because there was no salary originally.” (There was no salary originally only because the charter left it up to the founding council to set one in accordance with the charter’s allowance to that effect.)
“Ms. Bevan sits there and runs the city day to day. She makes those decisions,” Martin said of Denise Bevan, the city manager. “None of you put in the hours that she does. The reason that salary is set the way it is because we have a weak mayor, weak council” type of government.
Alan Peterson, who served on the council at the time when it passed its last raise, disputed Alfin’s claim that council members’ duties have changed since, or that the nature of the budget has changed, even though its size has. “I think that you will have a very extremely detrimental reaction in the future of people willing to serve and willing to provide their time and their expenses to serve this city if they think that you as a council are more interested in money for yourselves, than they are for community service that you that you’re not providing to the residents,” Peterson said. He favored a raise closer to $12,000 to $15,000 a year.
“The biggest drawback to getting certain working class people who work full time during the day is the fact that the meeting is held in the morning,” Petersen said. “If you held meetings at night, you might get more representatives.” The many more comments over the next 40 minutes followed the same path.
tulip says
They have a choice to opt out of benefits and get an extra $750.00 a year. I bet no one will opt out because hospital bills and other medical expenses cost thousands more than that, so it would make sense for the greedy councilmen to accept the benefits of potentially thousands of dollars worth of care. And most of them are older and the older you get, the chances are of needing more expensive medical care. Not only that but we don’t know whether the benefits just cover a person singly or whether it’s spouse and kids, which makes it even more “profitable” for the council people. It’s all about themselves and not the fact that the city needs important things add and/or fixed, but somehow they can’t seem to find the money for that, but Sheriff Staly and the city council always get what they want.
Well none of them are up for election for a couple of years so by that time people will have “forgotten” this raise episode and vote then all back in again. same ol same ol
BARBARA ROYERE says
This city this county is all about the money.now more money in their pockets. shameful,disgusting too. stop all this building in our county.what do you want us to look like orlando. then comes greed & crime
vote them all out
Jim says
I guess it is a little better than my 5.9 percent s.s. raise .Take your raise and shove it.
Julie says
We have to come together as a community and vote the mayor and all who voted yes on this raise out of office!!!!!!
K. Mineau says
I agree with Julie. This is ridiculous
Tom Sedlak says
It’ll be easy to get elected to the council now. Run on the platform that:
#1- Your salary will be donated back to the city coffers.
#2- You will next work to nullify these raises.
Do you realize this is money from the taxpayers!
BlueJammers says
“No taxation without representation.” Please remember these words at the polls.
Nbr says
The foxes are still in the hen house. Raises for PC Mayor and council members, should be done by independent committee and based on merit and performance. This lends itself to other questions. How would the committee be formed, and by whom. A merit and performance matrix and threshold would have to be established. The raise by position should be eliminated.
Silver Fox Anon says
I supported the incorporation of Palm Coast 20 years ago. Had I seen Palm Coast turning into a honeypot for useless city commissioners, I would never have done so. Is there some way that we can have a do over vote and unincorporate? Citizens would have a less expensive tax bill, leaving us with only the almost as useless county commissioners to deal with. At least they can’t vote themselves a raise. Only the state can set their exorbitant salaries.
Shark says
You know what to do in November !!!!!
Carvalho says
f you think this is bad just google – flaglercountysalaries,com. You will be amazed what they are paying the rest of the circus act running this town !!!!
FlaglerLive says
That salary site is not reliable.
Jerome says
It’s close enough !!!
A.j says
Good job. Big pay raise. How much work will get done for the people of P.C.? Probably little to nothing. I suspect a huge tax bite is coming soon. Pretty sure most if not all are white lazy Repubs. The good thing is the raise take effect after the Nov. election. Give me a good chance to vote against all those greedy lazy Repubs.
Meredith Martin Davis says
The entire problem here is it has not been done with full transparency , with public awareness instead of after -the-fact patchwork efforts. This is a bottom line issue and should be from and center. Hold off until it can be made so. And change the meetings and work to evenings if you need a better group of people to be part of this.
Jimbo99 says
I think the cash equivalent for benefits (healthcare) is absurd. Take any dual income family that are with 2 separate employers. They have the option of healthcare with either employer, not both and there is no cash equivalent compensation for that. Sounds like a double dip concept for a cash equivalent. That is council members opt for what they perceive as the better healthcare option and using tax payer money to pay for/subsidize their employers healthcare plan. In a case where one is self-employed (and quite often that’s been the case). Pick a benefit program, not cash equivalent. If the salary for the council is what it is, Part time employees usually pay for their own healthcare.
And an automatic annual raise ? Tie it to performance, how many moldy buildings were bought, how many broken splash pads built, how many pickleball courts that have or will waste resources ? This wreaks of government that does little more than align policy to benefit certain businesses & industry. Real Estate, while many have seen substantial valuation increases is almost the same level of property flipping that happened under GW Bush. This economy is heading deeper in that direction. When the economic experts are predicting recession for 2023. Honestly, we’re already in that recession, have been there since the coup of 2020. When I go to the Speedway location on FL-100 and the pumps are taped off like a crime scene, the store itself is cash only. Tell me what that is that is going on in by Easter 2022 under the Biden-Harris regime ? Even the story on the additional airport hangars, Government subsidized spending projects is what is keeping this nation from a full blown recession. That bait & switch is 80/20 or 90/10 the DOT paying the larger portion, airport paying the smaller portion for additional hangars to delay the project even further.
https://www.yahoo.com/video/wall-street-predicting-2023-recession-080000694.html
Laurel says
Sorry PC, these guys just don’t give a damn what you think, nor do they give a damn that they work for you.
Pat F says
How does the Sunshine Law come into play on the Fanelli-offered Ordinance and three Amendment? Who asked the only councilman working full time with school-aged children do the research for find 16 Florida cities with 102.000 citizens each to determine their Council’s salaries? Which 16 cities? What exact salaries? Palm Coast does NOT have 102,000 citizens every day of the year. Nor does it have 102,000 eligible voters. Did Alvin do a realtor-style trick on us? Aim high and negotiate lower but also add in benefits with refunds? Did Eddie know about Fanelli’s proposal ahead of time? Did anyone know ahead of time? Are councilmen allowed to meet privately and ignore its citizenry? Will we ever know? I invite the Mayor to join us common folks in this discussion.
Land of no turn signals says says
With these jack asses in charge hold on to your tax bill.
James says
I think this guy Fanelli is going places… good move dude.
Lets face it, running for political office IS the only job left in this town… especially if you’re a Republican.
Get all you can… fast… and move on.
As for me, I’m tired of feeding these gators with my tax dollars… time to move on. Where?… Don’t really know, but when you visit the zoo, you don’t spend your whole day at the monkey cage.
Darlene L Shelley says
This is just the latest example of this Mayor and City Council ignoring We the People, not listening to the Concerned Citizens of Palm Coast, and neglecting the Health, Welfare, and Safety of the local residents. Truly shameful. Public service is just that, and is not meant to be compensated as a full time job. Benefits?? You are not city employees! Disgraceful and a blemish on Palm Coast. Greed, development at any cost, and ignore the voice of the people is the order of business with this Mayor and Council. Outrageous.
David Schaefer says
Those idiots just screwed us and there is nothing we could do. None of them will be in office next time around.
Laurel says
David Schaefer: Ah, but maybe their friends and associates will.
Morgan Monaco says
DICTATURE. Salary compensation etc should be taxpayers to vote for. It’s a part time job, what have you done for the people of this town to deserve such money ?? ..About garbage going to the roof !!!
Mike Martin says
We have lost one battle, we can still win this war! Go to charterpetition.com, download the Charter Petition (at bottom of page), print the Petition, fill it out completely (both date of birth and date signed are necessary), and mail it back to me, Mike Martin. My address is on the Form. This will give the power to us, the voters, to set the Mayor and Council’s salaries. Then spread the word to you friends and neighbors and ask them to do the same. Don’t get mad – get even! Take this power away from them. As soon as this Raise Ordinance gets its Ordinance number I will create a new, second Petition to revoke the actual Raise Ordinance and force the Council to either change it or revoke it. If they do nothing it automatically goes on the ballot in November! Please help us, and keep checking charterpetition.com for the second Petition. Working together, spreading the word, signing Petitions, we will win this fight.
Mark says
Thank you Mike for all you are doing! Signed the petitions and mailed them yesterday.
Mike Martin says
Thank you, If everyone who is angry about this will sign the Petition we CAN reverse this! go on charterpetition.com an download the Petition Form, fill it out and mail it back: my address is on the Form.
JustMe says
Thank you for this petition, just filled it out and am mailing it today.
Darlene Shelley says
Thank you Mike for taking the time to stand up and say NO to this greed and disregard for the voice of the people. Pam Coast residents, we must take a stand against this absurd injustice to the citizens. Get involved, sign the petitions, share the link with your neighbors, show the Mayor and City Council that they work work for We the People! They are not city employees and should NOT be eligible for benefits. It is not good enough to wait to vote them out. We need to take action so no future council can again vote themselves a ludicrous raise!
charterpetition.com
Jack Howell says
Well, we all saw it coming! This is pure nonsense and a slap in our faces. I did get a good laugh when I read about council member Fanelli crying about having to take leave from the school board while attending city council meetings. My retort is that he knew what he was getting into when he put his hat in the ring for the appointment. Stop the crying Fanelli and man up. You did this to yourself Mr. Educator! And while you worked up the financial figures for raises, it’s ironic that you will still have to take leave while attending council meetings. No sympathy from me. Sympathy is next to syphilis in the dictionary!
Councilman Eddie Branquinho is the only member of the city council that sees the big picture. When Eddie and I ran for city council and subsequently won, we were well aware of the low salaries. That was never an issue for me. My goal was like Eddie’s to make the city better and impose better financial frugality. Unfornately, I had a bigger battle to fight with cancer…which I’m winning!
I know there is a group of citizens trying to change the city charter. While that is a good start, I think that the 164 per cent pay raise is justification for immediate recall action.
Mark says
The people of Palm Coast should NOT forget this!!! Any candidate who is smart should run on the grounds that they would motion to terminate the ordinance established by this council and mayor upon being voted in. I think the people have made it clear that a modest increase is due since the last increase that was established in 2007 with an acceptance of a COLA adjustment annually aligned with city employees.
Eileen Araujo says
Amazing..the word circus is an understatement….they must have said “ask for a 365% raise and we will settle for 159%”They really do believe we are stupid…put it to the peoples vote….you’ll get zero…..again, they do what they want…and get away with it.
Citizen C says
Maybe it’s time to consider consolidating city and county governments. This is what was done in Duval county. The city of Jacksonville has the majority of Duval’s population just as Palm Coast has the majority of Flagler’s population. The consolidation would streamline government and could end duplication of services. I believe county commissioner’s salaries are set by the state, removing that bone of contention. It might not be right for our county but it is worth some thought as to it’s practically.
Edith Campins says
As predicted. They announce an outrageous amount, everybody reacts ( except for Danko’s constituents, who apparently thought it was fine), then they enact a marginally less outrageous amount but everybody breathes a sigh of relief because the worst has been averted. Very transparent tactic that they must have learned from real estate developers. We sill need to sign the petition to change the charter to prevent them from doing this again and again.
Duane says
It’s nice they took the average of comparable cities, sound like a logical and reasonable method.
However, they did not take into account the cost of living in those other cities to find they are significantly higher than Palm Coast.
To think that offering a higher compensation package will attract lower income candidates to run with an opposing view is just silly.
Joseph says
Well ad the taxpayers of Palm Coast have witnessed Alfin doesn’t give too craps about what the citizens feel about giving himself a raise. He selfishly gave himself one anyway. He is a one time Mayor for sure and it will be written a con/scam artist for sure. You are a disgrace to this community and not well liked.
HJC says
Why do they have public participation if they are not listening to what is being said. And I do not believe that this deal was done in the SUNSHINE they brokered this deal behind closed doors when they appointed Fannelli.
Steve says
The average PC employee (the people who actually do the work that keeps the city going) has been LUCKY to get a 3% yearly raise – no matter how long they work for the city. How do these idiots justify a 151% raise when most of them haven’t done any real work and haven’t been on the council for more than a year or 2.
Mark says
Eddie might get my Vote in whatever direction he takes in the future but the rest of the Council can go pound sand. Whatever future endeavors the others take I will always Vote against them, their incompetency is on full display at every meeting.
Mythoughts says
Time for the taxpayers in the City of PC start protesting and hold up paying our property taxes until we can take a vote on the new mayor who is showing us what he is made of and it is called a thief and con artist. He from the start had all intentions of doing this from the get go. We now know what he is made of. He is a disgrace to this City and its voters.
Silver Fox Anon says
Palm Coast income per capita is $23,187. I wonder if Fanelli factored this into his secret document. That means that we are paying the city council members about double, including benefits, for a part-time job, then the median income of a Palm Coast resident who may not even have any benefits. Remember, none of these jokers is up for reelection this November.
Some excellent suggestions are posted here: See Mike Martin’s post and sign his petition(s).
Look into a recall.
Merge Palm Coast with Flagler County. See Citizen C’s post.
Sue them each personally for violating Florida’s Sunshine law. https://floridadep.gov/sites/default/files/FloridaSunshinePublicRecordsLaws.pdf
Vincent A. Liguori says
Mike Martin: Thanks for all the good work your doing. Hopefully, registered voters will sign and submit the petitions needed to correct this situation.
Sherry says
@ Edith. . . couldn’t agree more! This was their ploy all along. . . a completely disrespectful SHAM!
Sad to say says
Fanelli is obviously not going to run for office. He just blew his opportunity to ever be taken seriously.
GerryvHebert says
Truly a farce! Politicians are taking it upon themselves to assume they can get anything and the repercussions will in short term usually blow over! Unfortunately they are correct! Charter petition is our recourse. Let’s hope enough of us understand our potential to stop this disgusting exercise of presumed power