County Money for Flagler Beach’s Lifeguards Survives for One More Year After Outcry

To Flagler Beach’s relief, the Flagler County Commission today agreed to reverse course from a plan to eliminate paying for half the salaries of Flagler Beach’s lifeguards, as the county has been doing for years.

The commission agreed to the one-year extension of what will be a $106,000 payment even as it directed County Administrator Heidi Petito to continue talking with the city to prepare it for an end to the county subsidy. 

The decision today was part of a budget overview as Petito presented the tentative budget for next year. The budget includes a symbolic decrease in the property tax rate that will amount to an $8 saving for a homesteaded $150,000 house. It includes a 2 percent across the board inflation raise, down from 4 percent when the budget was initially proposed. The reduction was necessary to eliminate a deficit. The county is allocating $500,000 for merit-pay increases in addition to that. 

It also includes the transfer to county government of 28 employees currently working in the 911 dispatch center, a transfer that diminishes the sheriff’s budget by $2.9 million. The transfer “is designed to streamline the 9-1-1 operations in accordance with the Stoneman-Douglas Commission recommendations,” the sheriff’s budget states. The governor appointed the state commission in the aftermath of the Parkland high school massacre. 

The sheriff’s budget is increasing by 5 percent, with the addition of three deputies to the county’s ranks (Palm Coast will add nine, paying for them separately). 

The budget will add 15 firefighter paramedics as the county prepares to open a new fire station on the west side. Petito is projecting a reserve of $7.3 million. 

“These budgetary decisions reflect our commitment to fostering growth, improving quality of life, and it ensures a prosperous future for our community,” Petito said. 

“I have to take exception to some of that,” Commissioner Greg Hansen said. “Some of the reductions we’ve made in this budget are going to hurt the public. Some of the reductions they’re going to feel right away. For instance, reduced services at the library, they’re going to feel that right away.” Stormwater services have also been cut, road services are “not sufficient,” and the county also cut the beach management funding, Hansen said. “I worry about that,” Hansen said. “We haven’t sufficiently made infrastructure gains in this budget.” 

Library services in Palm Coast will be reduced significantly, with a 23 percent cut in library hours. But library services overall in the county will see a significant jump when including the opening of the south side Nexus Center library, which requires a net increase of three library employees. The Palm Coast branch’s staffing will be sharply reduced, however, as several of its employees will be shifted to the Nexus Center in Bunnell. 

And of course the commission could not agree on adopting an increase in the sales tax, effectively killing a comprehensive beach-management plan yet again. The county will cobble money and re-nourishment of beaches in parts of the unincorporated shoreline. (There were are also continuing but unfocused discussions about a special $160-per-property tax in Flagler Beach.) But next year’s plan is a far cry from the intended managed approach Petito had devised at the commission’s behest. 

“We do have some funding set aside for the beach, stormwater and roadways,” Petito said. “he total amount I think we have set aside between all three of those is somewhere around $14.1 million. However, to your point, it might not be ongoing. It is using some one-time funds.” 

The county administrator has been under pressure from some of the commissioners to cut the budget. Petito had stunned commissioners and the city earlier this month when she revealed that the budget had included lifeguards among the “legacy” costs the county would withdraw. City commissioners were incensed, and the city manager was surprised. Petito had said she’d told him of the cut.

“I do not recall comments from Ms. Petito articulating that such a decision was imminent,” City Manager Dale Martin said. “She did inquire as to what the City’s likely response would be to such an action.”

Martin, in an email to FlaglerLive, added: “It is somewhat distressing to see County support for beach-oriented programs be vulnerable (although recognizing the County’s management of the Corps of Engineers’ beach construction effort last year). County funding for future beach construction efforts appears have been lost and the roughly $100,000 for lifeguard operations (.07% of the approximately $150,000,000 County budget) is similarly at risk. As is well-documented, the popular “beaches of Flagler County” are irrefutably based in Flagler Beach.”

Flagler Beach city commissioners were also uniformly stunned.

Today, Commissioner Kim Carney asked for a reconsideration of the plan to cut the funding after “we got hit on that,” she said. County Commissioner Pam Richardson was surprised that the county was paying for lifeguards in Flagler Beach. “ I didn’t know that it was our duties to supply Flagler Beach with lifeguards,” she said. 

“It’s not our duty. That’s on our list of things we don’t have to do,” Hansen said. 

“I’m OK for the one year,” Commission Chair Andy Dance said. “We continue to negotiate to have those discussions about adequate funding for them.”