The Palm Coast City Council on Wednesday gave final approval to a $358 million budget and a slight reduction in the property tax rate starting Oct. 1. The adopted tax rate is officially an 8.29 percent tax increase under Florida law, but the figure is misleading: most homesteaded taxpayers will not see a change in their city tax bill but for a few dollars up or down, and when all local tax bills are aggregated, the typical homesteaded homeowner is likely to see a slight decrease.
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.
The first 40 minutes were more workmanlike. Mayor David Alfin and Council members Nick Klufas and Theresa Pontieri voted for the budget. Ed Danko voted against, reiterating the opposition to the budget he’s voiced previously. He wanted the tax rate at “rollback,” which would have limited city revenue to the same amount next year as it received this year (excluding tax revenue from new construction). The city adopted the rolled back rate last year.
But that rate is blind to inflation. By adopting rollback, especially in inflationary times–the inflation rate has fallen below 3 percent this year–the city is in effect reducing its purchasing power. Over the past 10 years, the typical Palm Coast homeowner has seen his or her city tax bill remain flat. In fact, that has penalized city revenue as inflation has resulted in a substantial tax cut for homeowners, and a tax shift for the non-homesteaded, like renters and businesses.
The non-homesteaded do not enjoy a 3 percent cap on their maximum taxable value year over year. So they who shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden, subsidizing the homesteaded. Reductions in the tax rate, let alone the rolled back rate, further subsidize the homesteaded even as it may marginally provide relief to the non-homesteaded. Danko said the higher taxes the non-homesteaded will pay will be passed down to consumers, affecting everyone.
The city’s overall budget is $358 million. But most of that has nothing to do with the property tax. Rather, it includes the internal budgets of huge funds such as the utility, stormwater and garbage collection, all of which operate as their own, fee-driven funds, separate from the general fund. They are self-sustaining. The overall budget figure also includes the city’s debt service. The part of the budget that matters directly to property taxpayers is the general fund, which is a relatively paltry $61 million, or 17 percent of the city’s overall budget. The general fund pays for police, fire, park and other quality of life services.
In the budget starting Oct. 1, the fire department will account for the largest share of the general fund, at $14.4 million, followed by street maintenance, at $9.9 million, then policing, at $9 million. The city contracts with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for policing services. The coming year’s budget includes money for nine additional deputies, for a total of 57. The city’s Palm Harbor Golf Club, again in the red, is costing the city $1.9 million, though a substantial portion of that is made up by fees. The city’s health insurance costs alone rose 18.4 percent, or $880,000.
The city is carrying a general fund reserve of $20 million. Danko wanted the city to take $2 million out of that reserve to cover the full rollback tax rate.
“There are places we could cut and we’re not,” he said, without giving examples. He repeatedly invoked the tax burden on seniors and their fixed incomes. Three individuals who addressed the council spoke likewise. “This is real money to real people, and I’m sorry I can’t vote for this budget. And I would urge you all to reconsider this.”
“I take a little offense at the inclination that I don’t think it’s a lot of money, and that we’re not considering seniors,” Pontieri said. “I think we did last year when we did a full-rate rollback, and I think we did again when we actually reduced the tax rate from what it was last year. We asked city manager twice to go back to the budget and find hundreds of thousands of dollars, and to her credit and to staff’s credit, they did that, and that does help our seniors. I have to say, I’m really proud of this budget. I’m proud of our staff, I’m proud of this council. And the reason I’m proud of this budget, and what we’ve been able to accomplish in this budget.” She said the city is not immune from the same inflationary pressures affecting households, yet reduced the tax rate and provided for the city’s priorities, including swale maintenance, repaving, policing and code enforcement.
The reserves were not immune either, she said: the city had to dip into them for $2.5 million to complete funding for fire stations. She said she “vehemently” opposes dipping into reserves to lower tax rates, comparing it to dipping into the country’s petroleum reserve to lower gas prices.
Klufas joined Pontieri, also pointing the open-book nature of the finance department, which has often weathered harsh–and inaccurate and unfair–criticism through uninformed public comments. “You’re such a transparent group of individuals,” Klufas told Helena Alves, the finance director, and Gwen Ragsdale, the budget and procurement manager. “If anything ever has a reason, you’ve always been the first people to have an answer, specifically with numbers. And that’s a hard thing to pin down sometimes.”
Budget matters done, Danko brought up the email City Attorney Marcus Duffy sent council members earlier this week, urging them not to openly discuss the lawsuit challenging the referendum until he called for a closed-door meeting. State law requires any such discussions of setting up closed meetings to take place in open session–not by email, out of public view. Duffy’s email skirted that line, since he was not explicitly calling for that closed meeting, but was nevertheless discussing it in an email to all five council members. “That is not my interpretation and I do not agree with that assessment,” Duffy said.
“From looking at the state law, it looks to me like your proposal to put that into the shade should have been done here in the sunshine, and that’s very concerning,” Danko told Duffy. (Putting a meeting “in the shade” is usually how governments describe closed-door meetings: in the shade from sunshine.) “Quite honestly, I don’t know why you’d want to put this in the shade. It’s not like we’re suing contractors or developers or builders about dollars. It’s not like we’re negotiating a contract with our firemen’s union. This is something that has been in the sunshine, that this council has been split on the language of that charter amendment, and the reaction from the public has not been very good. And yet, here we are taking something and you wanting to move it to the shade.”
State law allows local governments to hold closed-door meetings to discuss pending litigation as long as the discussion is limited to settlement strategy and financial costs, though no decision may be made in the shade. Those decisions must be held in an open meeting. The shade meeting must stick to the given subject, it must be recorded, and the transcript must be made available soon after the matter is resolved.
Danko, who again used unseemly language characterizing the council or its counsel, said if the referendum moves ahead, it will fail and taint the next council’s efforts to craft more appropriate referendum language. When he asked Klufas or Alfin to rescind their vote on the referendum–only they could do so, since they were in the majority that approved placing it on the ballot–Klufas shot back: “You could also ask your best friend to remove the lawsuit that he gave to the city, if you wanted to,” a reference to Jay Livingston, the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Alan Lowe. (The lawsuit bears Lowe’s name but Danko’s fingerprints.) “I don’t want to respond beyond any of that, but that’s just crazy talk.”
As Danko challenged him, Duffy–signaling that he won;t be cowed–advised to end the discussion, prompting another retort from Danko against the attorney.
If the referendum passes, Pontieri said she intends to seek a resolution “to put limits on what we can borrow in for how long,” and that may only surpassed by a supermajority vote of the council (of at least four votes out of the five). “So I understand your concerns, but I am making a commitment to protect our fiscal health with that resolution in the future,” Pontieri said.
KMedley says
While I admire and respect Council Member Pontieri’s efforts to not only re-word and/or remove the proposed Charter Amendment from the ballot, I question her ability to, should the amendment pass, essentially unilaterally amend it by adding guardrails with a promised resolution. Her commitment presumes too many factors not yet known. For example, should certain candidates for city council, currently bankrolled by developers and PAC money, ascend to the dais, there is not any guarantee either Miller or Werner would back such a resolution.
If No Show Danko is correct, and landowners, like Rayonier, along with developers and their favorite law firm, headed by MC III, back this amendment, then they will not favor any guardrails that undercut their blank check courtesy of three council members.
Jim says
I agree with your comment regarding the city council members promising to vote to add guardrails to this effort. If there were to be guardrails, it ought to be included in the amendment we’re being asked to vote for. I have no faith in well-meaning statements that may or may not be followed through after the vote. Let’s just vote against allowing borrowing of money and be done with it.
As for Danko, he’s trying to go out with a bang instead of a whimper and I’m glad to see him do that. It shows his true colors and – at least for me – makes me even happier that I voted against him in the primary. He’s a very small man and doesn’t need to be “doing the people’s business”. Anyone calling for tax cuts and saying there is room in the budget for cuts should either point out where those cuts should come from or just shut up. What Danko clearly doesn’t understand is that he is in a Leadership position. As a “leader”, he must take responsibility for directing where cuts can and should be made. Of course, he and his kind don’t do that so that if/when cuts are made and those cuts have bad effects on the community, they can stand back and say “I didn’t say to make that cut”. I always saw leadership like that as cowardice and I still do. Danko is just too small for the job he has, much less moving on to the county job. Join your buddy Mullins in the history books. Good bye and good riddance!!
Michael says
As a Flagler County property tax payer living in Flagler Beach, I appreciate any politicians efforts to keep my taxes at a reasonable level. I had thought that’s why we have “homesteading”? Oh wait, more corporate homes and second homes being rented so they pay less tax and can put more in the CEO’s pocket. Would they financially back a politician for influence ? SCOTUS ruled that’s okay consider it a gratuity. ☮️
Celia Pugliese says
Michael. Second homes or rentals do not pay less taxes. They pay up to 3 times the taxes homesteaded pay…just to make the record clear otherwise ask our Flagler PA Jay Gardner. So is not that bad business for Florida to have vacation homes like my Canadian friends own ,only using our infrastructure 180 days a year max (allowed by immigrations laws) while paying yearly taxes, insurance, utilities base services and creating jobs for year around maintenance. We should be very appreciative to our Canadian vacation homeowners and also American vacation home owners in Palm Coast . Also blessed for landlords as are not homesteaded and pay 3 times the taxes we pay as long as they keep the properties abiding our city ordinances and generate quarterly sales tax and TDC (Tourist Development County bed tax) when short term rental (STR’S). So lets be very aware why is that Tallahassee oversteps the home rule in Florida a tourism funded state. Not that I agree with it all but is the way it works now. The problem we have now is that while when ITT founded Palm Coast paid for the whole infrastructure sewer, water, storm water, roads and even our sports and aquatic centers Frieda Zamba (honoring retired champion surfer) now don’t know why renamed Palm Coast Aquatic Center and Belle Terre Swim and Racket Club which now denied by the 3 in the school board majority that inherited the club from ITT. Now these developers want us to pay for that infrastructure (when ITT pay then) into the hundreds of millions to benefit their parcel developments.” I am not sure if we are not already forced paying” for a 10 millions 13 acres lake in the center of an incoming 104 units development were was the original Matanzas Golf Course adjacent to the London Waterway canal…in the L section. Excuse, to drain the L section flooding lately after they plugged with development the original Matanzas Golf Course. land sold to a bargain $700,000 for 279 acres to a developer. I had to request the London water way project records as not able to find in city web site on line.
JimboXYZ says
Seems like Danko is the only one that realizes the era of BS is over, the others that wouldn’t rescind their position on the debt referendum are short timers. Danko a short timer himself at least has the decency to realize that this caving to inflationary gouging has got to end. The rest of them are hell bent to stand their ground on it.
Thursday AM got a good look at Town Center Parkway/Royal Palms Parkway, the land that was cleared of trees, the piles of dirt to fill that to higher ground to build on. And they cleared more acreage across the street from BJ’s. The Alfin era legacy of growth will be forever a mis-governed era of 3.5 years that can’t be erased. There’s a reason that Alfin & Klufus were voted out, Danko actually was the only one of the 3 that had a legitimate shot at winning an elected position. Hate on Danko all you want, but he’s the only one of those 3 that were voted out that has any shot at ever being elected ever again to hold a position in Flagler County. Here they had an opportunity to rescind their votes on the debt referendum and Danko has been & was the only one of the bunch willing to avert litigation in a lawsuit, even to this point of the ballot. That says that Danko hears the voters, works for the voters, the other 2 have no clue, but maye they’ll figure it out, why they lost by enough margin. Can only hold out hope that the next governing electeds break this cycle of tax, overpopulate/overgrow & overspend in the Biden-Harris era of inflationary gouging to spin those lies of American prosperity & saving Democracy for 4 years.
Jim says
If Danko and his posturing is your kind of government, then I can’t think of a single reason to listen to anything else you say. Danko is a blowhard with no plans to reduce costs yet thinks all of us are stupid enough to get excited when he puts on a show. Well, obviously you buy his BS but the reason he got beat in the primary is because he’s just another laud mouth.
I think most candidates for office in the future would like to run against Danko. They’ll have the advantage from day one.
I guess you think that now that Alfin is history, expansion will stop? The only thing that’ll stop expansion is a housing crash like 2007/08. Otherwise, the building will continue.
Heather says
Homestead is great, however if you recently got the homestead you really don’t get any tax advantage until years down the line. My taxes last year was $7600 (not homesteaded) and this year $8000 (homesteaded). The counsel needs to really work hard on getting more business in to get more revenue in. Until that happens, further housing development should be decreased otherwise homeowners will continually be asked to foot the majority of the tax bill
Randy Bentwick says
It sure will be nice when danko is gone. It would be nice to see a council meeting conducted by adults.