Last Updated: 9:49 p.m.
Flagler Beach Mayor Patti King said Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris told her on May 9 several times that “he is all in agreement with the beach management plan as it’s been proposed.” If so, that would represent a significant shift for Norris and a boost for the county’s plan, which has been losing support from its own county commissioners.
But King was quick to add: “I’m a little concerned about the authenticity” of the mayor’s statement, a reflection of Norris’s mercurial, unpredictable behavior in the past few weeks.
The county’s $114 million beach-management plan hinges on cities agreeing to support a half-cent increase in the local sales tax, and to handing over that revenue in part or in full for beach reconstruction and maintenance, in perpetuity. Palm Coast and Bunnell would be required to hand over roughly half the revenue from the new tax. Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach would hand over the full share.
Flagler Beach is fully supportive of the plan, as it is the only means to aid Flagler Beach protect its shore, including future beach-renourishments of the 3-0mile segment the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rebuilt last summer. Only one Palm Coast City Council member–Ty Miller–has spoken explicitly in favor of the plan so far. Norris had been cool (but not opposed) to it when he first discussed it at a meeting in late February, and warmed up to it by March 13, without quite declaring himself for it. What he told King was a more explicit endorsement, if he meant it.
King and Norris met on Monday, as Flagler County’s mayors do every quarter. King was summarizing the meeting to her colleagues at the end of the Flagler Beach City Commission meeting last night. Marineland’s and Bunnell’s mayors were absent, but Beverly Beach’s was there. (Norris has stopped responding to inquiries.)
“Palm Coast mayor said numerous times that he is all in agreement with the beach management plan as it’s been proposed,” King said.
“How do we get that out into the public?” Commissioner Eric Cooley asked her. King was hesitant.
“You think you can maybe just talk to him,” Cooley asked, “and not really issue a statement, but I think it needs said. I think that’s a big deal that the mayor of Palm Coast fully supports the beach management.” But that’s when King said she was concerned about Norris’s authenticity.
“Doesn’t matter. If he said it, it deserves to be published,” Cooley said.
“Exactly. I do have witnesses,” King said.
In a statement released Friday evening, shortly after this article appeared, Norris spoke of supporting the half-cent sales tax increase since it is “slated to receive approximately 50 percent of the estimated revenue from the plan—around $2.7 million annually.”
Norris also incorrectly stated that ““Since the Tourism Development Council (TDC) was established in 2011 along with the 1⁄2-cent sales tax, Palm Coast has received only $1.2 million, despite having the largest number of hotels in the county.” the TDC was created in 1992, a separate half-cent sales tax was renewed in 2012, but not created then, and Palm Coast, by the Mayor’s own flawed reckoning, has benefited from far more than $1.2 million in tourism impact, since the majority of visitors have flocked to Palm Coast-based hotels. The city in 2022 alone got a $739,000 TDC grant for its Southern Recreation center.
Norris’s statements, issued in the context of a release by an aide, also incorrectly stated that the mayor “reaffirmed the city’s position and clarified the rationale behind his stance during recent discussions” on the proposed sales tax increase. Palm Coast has not taken a position on the beach management plan or the sales tax increase. Norris has at times, erroneously, confused his opinions and stances with those of the city council’s.
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