Flagler County commissioners should know this: If they plan any taxing method to pay for beach protection that taxes the barrier island more than it does the rest of the county, Flagler Beach will not sign off.
Four of the five city commissioners are opposed to any such plan, and the fifth is reserving judgment until he has more information, but even he is skeptical of the county’s approach. Some of the city commissioners are especially resentful of the county for even discussing various proposals, however preliminary the discussions, without having included Flagler Beach in the discussions from the start.
The city’s opposition has as much to do with the county’s unilateral approach as it does with the merits of two proposals floated so far, neither of them fleshed out. The opposition also underscores what has been a recurring problem at the county, at least from the administrative side: clumsy, half-baked rollouts and messaging of new ideas–if there is any messaging at all–that end up making the commissioners look more half-cocked than they actually are. County Commission Chair Andy Dance has aske for a broader, more inclusive discussion.
“We’ve been asking the county for 20 years to get a beach management plan, and they haven’t done it. now that they did it,” Flagler Beach Commissioner Eric Cooley said in an interview this week. “Now all of a sudden it’s a fire drill. Now it’s hurry up and ‘we got to all of a sudden do this.’ But after they got that presentation”–when the county’s consultant presented a plan earlier this month that would levy taxes in four zones, with the barrier island paying the most– “the very first thing that should have been said is: let’s bring our partners into this discussion and talk about potential scenarios. They absolutely didn’t do that. They were working in a silo with no feedback from the municipalities. And that’s not okay.”
Cooley brought up the matter toward the end of the June 13 Flagler Beach Commission meeting, when he delivered a forceful rebuke against the county’s methods, and drew support from a majority of commissioners. Last year Cooley successfully led the effort to start periodic joint meetings with Palm Coast and the county. Two such meetings were held. He also serves on the countywide Tourist Development Council.
Cooley was bewildered that with all these forums available, the county not once either brought up the beach-management plan in the works or proposed a joint meeting to discuss it. That’s what Cooley is now proposing. “I suggest let’s have Flagler Beach be the adult in the room and request a multi municipality meeting on this exact topic,” he said. He is interested in a joint agreement that spells out in writing who will contribute what.
Cooley is suspicious of Flagler Beach paying into a fund that would get used mostly for needs north of the city. That’s before getting into the methodology of such a levy. He considered the county’s chosen approach (a special tax) the worst of the lot.
Central to Cooley’s and other city commissioners’ opposition to the county’s method is the fact, backed up by evidence from the county’s own Tourist Development Council, that 62 percent of beach users are from Palm Coast, while only 13 percent are from Flagler Beach. None of the commissioners were aware of that disparity. Most county commissioners or Palm Coast City Council members are likely not aware, either.
The numbers are drawn from data provided by Arrivalist, which uses cell phone location data anonymously to crunch consumers’ behavior. It is theoretically more accurate than any survey, since it aggregates more data and pinpoints it geographically, down to very specific locations. The data shows that the owners of cell phones with Palm Coast zip codes account for that 62 percent proportion of local users of the beach, with Bunnell a distant third, at 8 percent. Palm Coast residents also spend more time on the beach than do Flagler Beach residents (whose average is likely lowered by beach-side residents who walk their dogs on the beach or take quick runs there).
Overall, 59 percent of beach users are local. The rest are day-trippers, primarily from the Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Orlando zones, then Jacksonville and southern Georgia, then Atlanta.
“To have 13 percent of the total beach usage and then paying the majority of it is just insanity,” Cooley said.
It’s that sport of data that convinced Flagler Beach commissioners that Cooley’s resentment wasn’t just about being sidelined. Cooley himself reserved sharp barbs against Palm Coast as he discussed the numbers. “If Palm Coast doesn’t want to contribute to the coast, then why are we calling it Palm Coast? Why don’t we call it Palm City? That is, until they cut all the palms down and then they can just call themselves City, because pretty soon they’re not going to have palms and they’re not going to have a coast if they have that mentality.”
“I walk beside him on that,” Flagler Beach Commissioner Rick Belhumeur said. “To put it on the taxpayers of Flagler Beach is just wrong and it’s certainly something we should’ve talked about before it was brought out. Again, we’re kind of like the stepchild that doesn’t know what’s going on.” Belhumeur would oppose any plan that would more heavily weigh costs on the barrier island, “Not when you look at the data on who’s coming to the beach. It’s not fair. I didn’t realize it’s that upside down, but pretty upside down.”
The county estimates it needs between $7 million and $10 million a year to pay for its “beach-management plan,” a permanent plan to preserve the county’s 18 miles of beach as globally warmed seas rise, intensify storms and erode the shore more rapidly. Even the engineers designing the new Flagler Beach pier to be built next year are accounting for sea rise by raising the pier 10 feet higher than the old one.
For obvious political realities in an anti-tax county where at least a segment of the electorate doesn’t believe in global warming–three quarters of Republicans nationwide don’t think it’s a major threat–the County Commission is willing to stick with $7 million. The money is to pay for ongoing beach rebuilding. It is also to go into a trust account for future beach-rebuilding, which will never cease.
For example, while the $27 million, 3.2-mile renourishment project most local governments (Bunnell was notably absent) celebrated with a groundbreaking this week is paid for, iot is due for a new round of renourishment in 11 years, and every 11 years after that. Even the Corps knows it’ll have to happen much sooner. The cost will have to be split 50-50 between the federal government and Flagler County. Flagler County doesn’t have a dime for that next renourishment. That’s what the county hopes beach-management tax would pay for, assuming it has accumulated enough money: remember, the $7 million a year is to pay for renourishment along all 18 miles of shore.
The county is planning to draw $2 million of that from tourist tax revenue, reducing the needed money to $5 million. But it hasn’t settled on a permanent method. The proposal it discussed at the beginning of the month foresaw a new tax on almost all county residents, broken down into four zones–the barrier island, two zones in Palm Coast, and the west side of the county. The further residents are from the beach, the less they’d pay, with some west-siders exempt altogether.
Flagler Beach and even Palm Coast residents and city council members howled. The county quickly retreated. Its next proposal was to tax the barrier island for $3.5 million, draw $1.5 million from the county’s general revenue, and $2 million from tourist tax revenue. That’s not drawn better reviews from other cities’ officials.
“Everybody needs to pay for it,” Commissioner Jane Mealy said. “If the county can’t come up with the money itself, maybe they should have budgeted for it, knowing that it was coming. But if they need to tax anybody, it shouldn’t be everybody. Because as you know from the statistics it’s mostly Palm Coast people who come to the beach.”
Mealy is opposed to breaking the county down into zones, or even within the zones to make certain people pay more than others: the person in a mobile home would have to pay the same as a person in a million-dollar home.
Commissioner James Sherman had conducted some of his own research before last week’s commission meeting and spoke with County Commissioner Dave Sullivan and heard Palm Coast City Council discussions about the proposals. WHen he heard a city council member speak against the proposed levy, “That really irritated me because even our own TDC, they put ‘Palm Coast and the Flagler Beaches,’” he said, referring to the tourism council’s way of marketing the beach: Palm Coast is always named first.
“Who’s parking their cars on the dunes? It’s the people that are coming over the bridge,” Sherman said. “They’re the ones that are actually putting a lot of wear and tear on the dunes for this beach tax that they’re looking to fund things for the future. If there has to be a tax it needs to be county wide.”
Only Scott Spradley, who chairs the commission and characteristically prefers to study issues before declaring himself on them, was reluctant to address the specifics of Cooley’s and his colleagues’ take. “I feel I don’t have enough information to take a position yet because I want to sit down and crunch the numbers and see what they are. But as of right now, there’s nothing pending. It’s just talk,” he said.
Nevertheless, just as a judge’s or a justice’s questions and comments during oral arguments tip their hand–Spradley is a practicing attorney–Spradley was clearly skeptical of the county’s approach so far.
“People who live and work on the island feel that they already pay increased costs because of certain things that go hand in hand with living on the beach,” Spradley said, starting with higher property costs. “It’s going to be our job as elected officials to first of all understand the basis for whatever is going to be proposed, so that we can then discuss it with residents and see what they say. We have a lot of residents here who are very reasonable in how they view these things. And there’s just a perception that we don’t want to be on the short end of the stick and wind up paying for more than our share, whatever that is, given the fact that most of the beach traffic is from the other side of the bridge.”
Or, in Belhumeur’s Everyman words: “We ought to be part of the conversation. Gees.”
CPFL says
I would like to see how pinpointed the cell phone data is. Quite possible most of the people working in Flagler businesses are from Palm Coast and that would make the data completely useless. Unless it is targeting the sand on the beach, no way it is correct.
Laurel says
Why wasn’t the Hammock included in their arguments? You commissioners (who don’t live on the barrier island) prove to me that because we live in the Hammock that we use the beach more than others. Show me the stats. Actually, we are sick of paying more just to be here. An area that was forgotten for decades, hardly no one was interested in, until just recently. Now our trees are coming down, our beaches packed with strangers, our food cost higher, vacation rentals everywhere, our water bill higher, and some think it’s a great idea to charge us only, or charge us more for short sighted beach repair (that the cost commissioners would be exempt from).
It amazes me that commissioners can make judgements, involving people, without knowledge of their behavior. The cell phone thing kind of freaked me out, but it did show usage. It cannot, however, produce factual usage of people who live nearby, as the article stated.
The only fair way to tax people is to add an additional tax to vacation rentals, take a bigger hunk out of the bed tax (we have enough tourists) and divide all of the county’s responsibility amongst all businesses and residents. Businesses can be taxed by size, while the residents would be taxed a standard amount.
You commissioners are suppose to represent us, not the out of town, out of county, out of state and out of country investors. Remember, the latter cannot vote for or against you, but we can. Dividing us up, within the county, is also a very bad idea.
Anita Noad says
If you order filet mignon in a restaurant, do you expect the other diners to pay for your choice? What’s to discuss?
Joey says
I’ve lived in Palm Coast for 27 years and have been to Flagler Beach just a hand full of times. It’s not much of a beach especially the sand and most of the restaurants are overpriced and rowdy. It’s time to get rid of the leadership and find people who can actually manage a town. Just line the streets with parking meters and case closed !!!
Chris Conklin says
as I said previously. stay on the west side if bridge. you don’t spend $ at local businesses n leave your garbage behind. if you don’t want to pay stay home
Joe D says
Wow…statics don’t lie: 62% of local beach users from Palm Coast/13% from Flagler Beach/ 8% from Brunnel, 40% of the TOTAL beach users are out of town users ( out of County day trippers and tourists). I knew MOST of those cars parked at the beach, were not from Flagler Beach. That’s why I FORCED myself to buy close enough to the beach, not to have to DRIVE and PARK there.
I’m already paying $6500+ property taxes (and going up $500 each year) for a small 1150 sq ft 2 bedroom/1.5 bathroom townhouse in Flagler beach. There has to be a way of dividing up the expenses more fairly. Other areas charge daily, weekly and annual “beach passes “ for your vehicle ( with local residents getting a discount). Some areas charge a per car trip TOLL over access bridges ( again with local residents getting an annual discount…like the EASYPASS car transponders). Parking lots CHARGE for parking!
The bottom line seems to be EVERYONE wants unlimited access to the beach, but NO ONE wants to pay to maintain it! Flagler already pays for beach cleaning (paid mostly if not entirely by Flagler Beach taxpayers), life guards, majorly paid for by Flagler Beach taxpayers, and extra police services during Summer and special event coverage ( paid at full overtime rates for County Deputies paid for AGAIN by Flagler Beach taxpayers…given NO CREDIT for the fact that Flagler Beach taxpayers are DOUBLE PAYING for County police services… Flagler Beach and Brunnel are paying separately for their own separate police deputies…but not Palm Coast taxpayers).
Nothing is cheap..as you can see from the statistics, 40% of the Flagler Beach users are from outside Flagler County…the short term rental tax, may need to be increased..like more of a HOTEL tax as many beach areas elsewhere have done for years, with the payments going to the local jurisdiction to cover the extra services required to maintain a tourist beach area (police/fire/ambulance/sanitation), and not just to encourage MORE Tourism.
Flagler Beach needs to pay its fair share of costs….but not ALL the costs!
JimboXYZ says
“Who’s parking their cars on the dunes? It’s the people that are coming over the bridge,” Sherman said. “They’re the ones that are actually putting a lot of wear and tear on the dunes for this beach tax that they’re looking to fund things for the future. If there has to be a tax it needs to be county wide.”
The dunes relatively aren’t being eroded by the parked cars. Don’t get me wrong on that, I don’t condone that practice for what damages to the dunes that occurs. The beach rebuild is primarily from the storm & surf action. The one that said this needs to compare how much sand is beach vs the west side of a dune ? Dune renourishment has always been sand that the ocean has eroded, the heavy equipment has always been parked on the dune to rebuild anything dunes.
Th rest of the county can wait them out. The first storm season that wipes out the dunes, a pier rebuild, a beach rebuild & whatever else, it certainly won’t be the rest of the county that needs to be rescued that day.
Dbhammock says
I totally agree, the entire county must be assessed accordingly, for the beach replenishment project. why do I say this? I am married with no children. For 46 years I have paid property taxes, a huge amount of which have gone to education in the communities I have lived in. Did I think this was unfair, no, I did not and do you know why. Because it isn’t always about you the individual, it’s about betterment of society and the town/county in which you live. A better beach helps all Flagler County residents, not just those who use the beach. It’s reflected in the desirability of the area and therefore the price of your house, it’s reflected in who comes to visit Flagler County and eat in our restaurants. Just a few benefits all residents get from beach replenishment. It is a privilege in Florida we don’t have to pay to use our beaches. I have lived in states where a beach badge for a day costs 10 dollars per person, and parking 20 to 30 dollars, so let’s not go there. We all need to suck it up and accept if we want our beaches back we all need to chip in.
Denali says
“62 percent of beach users are from Palm Coast, while only 13 percent are from Flagler Beach.” Interesting numbers but in fact, they are meaningless. Without knowing the total beach users and the actual numbers of folks from PC or FB you can interpret these percentages to mean anything you want.
For example on any given day say we have 1,000 people on the beach. These percentages tell us that 620 of them are from PC and only 130 from FB. By using population numbers from the World Population Review (107,000 for PC and 5,400 for FB), we find that 0.57% of the PC population was at the beach while 2.4% was from FB. Knowing that, how could we justify charging PC more per capita? What is being suggested is that the 106,380 people who do not visit the beach should be subsidizing it for the benefit of those that do. I agree that all Flagler residents should bear the costs, just like we do for schools, but it must remain equitable.
How to manage the expenses? Look to the north. In St. Augustine there are parking meters, pay-to-park lots and that large parking garage. Resident of St. Johns County can purchase a parking pass and pay greatly reduced rates compared to those outside the county. Last check it was $20 per day for out-of-county users and $3 for county residents with a parking pass. Interesting concept.
5396 107000
Joe D says
For Jimbo:
You are assuming that all Flagler Beach residents would need water rescue during a major storm.
There are SOME Flagler Beach areas ( even those homes built as recently as the 1990’s) which aren’t elevated at all. Large and Expensive properties, built FLAT on the Ground on a Barrier Island between the Ocean and the Intercoastal Waterway. What were you thinking?
Since the mid 1980’s, coastal areas in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, required all new coastal construction to be ELEVATED 8-10 ft off the ground. Florida’s home construction laws as late as 2005 focused on WIND damage and much less on FLOODING.
When I moved here I would only look at properties elevated off the ground. I was fortunate to find a small 1150 sq foot 2 bedroom/1.5 bathroom townhouse. It’s elevated 8ft off the ground, and ground level is 12 ft above sea level. It’s poured concrete, with concrete slab floors and roof, and it has hurricane shutters. It was not “CHEAP.”
The ONLY damage sustained during the last 3 hurricanes by MY property was the loss of the roof top HVAC unit hurricane cover. No other wind damage, no flooding!
Short of a DIRECT HIT by a major hurricane, I’ve done all I can do to both prevent damage and protect my property. I anticipate I will not need to be RESCUED. In fact I anticipate, that as a retired NURSE, I may be volunteering with the recovery efforts.
Mothersworry says
I gotta ask. What happened to the beach re-nourishment south of the water tower? I thought that the county was going to do that part of it. Now silence on that issue.
Ken says
This is not rocket science. Flagler County and it’s little racist beach community is not exempt from mother nature. The municipalities have not worked well together and have incompetent leaders with bad info. Look at best practices and step into the 21st century.
Debralclark@gmail.com says
Well said.
Tony says
Statistics do lie depending on who is compiling them !!
Celia Pugliese says
I totally agree with CPFL…the pinpointing is taking the cell phone data of the Palmcoasters that like ourselves, park off A1A to go to the restaurants all the time other than actually using the beach…and the FB commission forgets that without our sponsorship and dining in those businesses they will be in financial trouble.
I also do not believe anyone should be further taxed over beach maintenance…To start with they should max out from 5% to 6% the TDC bed tax and they would collect another million as in 2023 at 5% collected 4.6 millions. Most of that should be going for beach maintenance as if no beach tourist do not come. Now FB approved a hotel in the park meaning they know is a tourism market for it. Then do not keep on pinpointing Palmcoasters cell phones that park in A1A to just use the businesses (eateries) there. None of us including the barrier island should be further taxes. Tell county and use the magnifying to cut their fat and will be plenty saved for what we already pay to them. This is why we need, Carney, Richardson and Melendez elected in the county seats!
BLINDSPOTTING says
Bottom line SNEAKY UNDERHANDED COMMISDIONERS, like Cooley said
they had been seeking a plan and asking for years now all of a sudden
rush rush into a solution, just like Dance and Petito sends a letter to
the Superintendent of schools to do away with the legacy funding for the
SRO”s in the schools without Pennington even seeing the letter! Just like
Petito and Sullivan sent a letter to the cities in an attempt to get support
for a tax increase based on their fake half cent tax info from the tourist board.
Stop voting for incumbents or you will get the SOS, FIRE Hadeed and
Petito. FIX THIS AT ELECTION TIME!
jake says
You must live in Little Aliki, a unique building.
Sherry says
@ anita. . . the reality is that there are many, many strangers nibbling at my steak. . . LOL! I’m guessing you do not live in Flagler Beach.
As I’ve been suggesting for over 2 years now, put a toll on the bridge with technology that allows Flagler Beach residents free access to their own homes.
Sherry says
@ Joe D. . . very well said! As usual, you are right on!
CPFL says
Summer and special event coverage ( paid at full overtime rates for County Deputies paid for AGAIN by Flagler Beach taxpayers…given NO CREDIT for the fact that Flagler Beach taxpayers are DOUBLE PAYING for County police services… Flagler Beach and Brunnel are paying separately for their own separate police deputies…but not Palm Coast taxpayers).
You make a baseless statement considering the fact of how much of the Sheriff budget is paid by Palm Coast in comparison to Flagler Beach and Bunnell. If additional coverage is needed at peak times, that means during those times Flagler Beach is more than likely bringing in more money from the influx of people visiting. Maybe you can make a push for more local police and push the Sheriff Deputies out, then you get to pay for under utilized police officers for a majority of the year.
All I can see from the statistics is data that is lacking the solidity to give real numbers because location unless directly on the sand of the beach tells you nothing of why a person is in the Flagler Beach area. Saying 40% are from out of county is another assumption, these too could be people working in the area, never changed the address on their bill, and other assumptions.
Charging for parking is probably the best way to raise some money, but who is going to remove and reinstall the meter systems when storms come in. Who is going to monitor north and south of the pier for parking? I pay out of county beach access for St. John’s County beaches every year to drive on and park on the beach. Rarely do I go to Flagler Beach, usually St. Augustine, Jungle Hut, Varn, or Marineland.
Ray W. says
Statistics “can” lie, not “do” lie, depending on who is compiling them. Some who compile statistics do so to further a partial truth, as opposed to the furtherance of an outright lie. I do not disagree with your point, but a careful adjustment to your thinking can do much to enhance for the better your credibility.
For example, those who claim that Biden’s actions (Bidenflation) in signing into law some $3.0 trillion in stimulus money comprise the sole reason for today’s inflation are not lying, per se, because that sum of unfunded stimulus money did contribute to a significant part of today’s level of inflation. Perhaps the best way to characterize such an argument is to classify it as a poor argument. Valid, but indefensible when challenged.
But people who make such claims are being less than completely truthful, too, because Trump signed into law some $2.9 trillion in unfunded stimulus money. That amount, too, contributed in significant part to today’s level of inflation. Hence, it appears more honest to argue that Trudenflation is the primary cause of today’s inflation. Perhaps the best way to characterize this argument is to call it a good argument. Valid and defensible, if challenged.
Taking it one step further, perhaps the best argument appears to be that the pandemic is almost wholly responsible for today’s level of inflation, because without the worldwide economic collapse that followed the onset of the pandemic, neither president would likely have signed into law any of the total of $5.9 trillion in unfunded stimulus money packages. In a world based on reason, this argument should win every time.
I concede that there might be a better, or more complete, or more economically accurate argument out there. I hope someone adds that argument to the FlaglerLive commentary.
Celia Pugliese says
Chris C. since when you own the beach? What will all the beach front business will do if we all stay west of the bridge, bankrupt? By the way we do not litter but we pick up litter! What about a little kindness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX7NNMKBPsw
Celia Pugliese says
At this time and age I have to agree with you Joey, is time that they have paid parking to generate beach maintenance funds along A1A/
JimboXYZ says
Tend to agree with your post. Up to this point, Flagler Beach for hurricane damage (2016-present) has really only needed tide lines to A1A. Kind of curious, what Volusia County is doing as a model ? They (NSB Ormond by the Sea) easily sustained more damages than either the 2016 & 2017 Hurricanes that hit Flagler Beach for A1A rebuilds.
I lived in Country Walk, FL from 2013-2016, that residential was ground zero for Hurricane Andrew. So much that the condo I lived in was a pre-Andrew build that had to be rebuilt from 1992-1994. My neighbor, his condo unit survived, he showed me photos of the unit I bought pre & post Andrew in 1992. The only thing that was remaining of the 4-plex unit above the foundation left standing was the toilet of that 2/1. At the end of the day, when something like Andrew or stronger hits Flagler Beach I wouldn’t expect it to fare much better than Mexico Beach or Ft Meyers ? Prior to Country Walk, I lived in North Miami Beach area in an apartment. That place was a storm bunker for all the hurricanes that passed thru 1997-2013. But I wouldn’t fool myself into believing it was hurricane proof, just never got hit by the real deal when I lived there. And that was Rita & Katrina level hurricane storms for era.
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=mexico+beach+hurricane+&iax=images&ia=images
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Country+walk+hirricane+andrew&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ft+meyers+hurricane&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
Celia Pugliese says
I totally agree with CPFL…the pinpointing is taking the cell phone data of the Palmcoasters that like ourselves, park off A1A to go to the restaurants all the time other than actually using the beach…and the FB commission forgets that without our sponsorship and dining in those businesses they will be in financial trouble.
I also do not believe anyone should be further taxed over beach maintenance…To start with they should max out from 5% to 6% the TDC bed tax and they would collect another million as in 2023 at 5% collected 4.6 millions. Most of that should be going for beach maintenance as if no beach tourist do not come. Now FB approved a hotel in the park meaning they know is a tourism market for it. Then do not keep on pinpointing Palmcoasters cell phones that park in A1A to just use the businesses (eateries) there. None of us including the barrier island should be further taxes. Tell county and use the magnifying to cut their fat and will be plenty saved for what we already pay to them. This is why we need, Carney, Richardson and Melendez elected in the county seats!
Endless dark money says
Just more privatized profits and socialized losses. Glad the commission want everyone to support the millionaires property on the beach.
palmcoaster says
CPFL in this statement about Palm Coast not paying for the sheriff you are incorrect. Besides splitting with the county yearly our Ad Valorem Tax (house tax) unfairly county 45% and city only 23 %, we, the taxpayers of Palm Coast pay the sheriff 10 millions additional a year in a lump sum. So please correct your assumption. The county other than lobbying for 5 millions of an airport terminal that we the community can’t use as we can’t get a tkt to fly anywhere, the county should have lobbied instead for 5 millions beach renourishment instead. Other than 2,5 millions for a round about to benefit a developer in OKR should have been for beach renourishment and so all the hundreds of thousands spent in legal fees to defend the un defensible over their goof ups always trying to benefit the few in our depleted pockets!
CPFL says
Where did I say that Palm Coast does not pay for the Sheriff?
DIANE says
We have lived 25 years in Flagler County, both within Flagler Beach City Limits and in the unincorporated part of the County, both places on the barrier island off of A1A. We live on the West side and we DO NOT HAVE BEACH ACCESS. If we use the beach, which we haven’t in years due to our age, we would have to go to a public access like Varn Park. It costs a fortune for us living here, it’s another whole set of expenses on the Island, inconvenience on the island when there’s a storm and being stuck on the island when there’s holiday traffic. We can’t even use the local restraunts because they’re always packed with people, mostly out of town. The biggest issue now is almost every house around us is owned by out of state and out of town people buying them up and making them short term rentals! Now we have noise all night, a messes left behind, our services over loaded and we’ve lost the peaceful enjoyment of our residential properties. That doesn’t increase our values, it decreases them! Now WE have to pay for the beach? We are on fixed incomes, we don’t use the beach, we have no access to the beach, we can’t eeven access our own property when the bridges decide to close down. Long-term resident that already pay a HIGH COST FOR LIVING HERE, have to be considered in this plan, I BELIEVE THE PEOPLE MAKING PROFIT ON BUYING UP PROPERTIES HERE AND RENTING THEM OUT SHOULD PAY FOR THE BEACH RENOURISHMENT, AFTER ALL THEIR INCOME IS BASED ON PEOPLE COMING HERE AND RENTING THEIR HOUSES FOR THE BEACH. THEY ARE MAKING PROFIT FOR OWNING PROPERTIES AT THE BEACH, THEY SHOULD MAINTAIN THE BEACH.