Since last week Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito has been presenting to all local city governments a resolute financial plan that would make county government responsible for rebuilding and maintaining all 18 miles of beaches. Her last stop was to be Beverly Beach this evening.
The $114 million plan would draw on a variety of sources, the bulk of them county revenue. The only additional tax–the heart of the proposal and its most politically volatile part–would be a new half-cent sales tax, with Palm Coast and Bunnell ceding half the new revenue to the county for beach management. Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach would cede all the revenue to the county.
Until this afternoon, the Plan Petito developed with Deputy Administrator Jorge Salinas had not formally been before the County Commission, nor did the public have more than general ideas where commissioners stood on it–or whether they even endorsed it. The commission had directed Petito to come up with a plan, but was using her tour around the cities to test its viability.
Now it’s clear: four county commissioners–Andy Dance, the chair, Greg Hansen, Pam Richardson and Kim Carney–gave the plan their blessing in principle today and gave Petito their consensus that she may now develop a public campaign to win support. Commissioners did so with the understanding that, the sales tax proposal aside–which cannot be tweaked like other portions of the plan–it is still a work in progress. But on the whole, they feel it is a sound, workable plan, and they want the cities to endorse it in turn so it can be enacted in 2027.
Today’s endorsement was not a vote for the plan. That’s ahead, and it’s not certain. That vote depends on Palm Coast’s support. Without Palm Coast, the plan dies. It’s that simple. So far Palm Coast has been unenthused, even though it stands to increase its sales tax revenue by $2.7 million if it signs on.
There was also an exception among commissioners: Leann Pennington. She was absent today. Her husband has been gravely ill and she was with him in hospital. But in a phone interview she said that while she supported parts of the plan, she was not supportive of the sales tax proposal. That’s not fatal to the plan. If her position holds, the commission, based on its comments today, would still have the necessary 4-1 majority to enact the sales tax increase. The last time the commission enacted the existing half-penny sales tax, in 2012, it did so on a 4-1 vote. But it’s one more razor’s edge Petito has to walk.
“There’s a lot of people that are saying, thank you for doing the heavy lifting, this is something that needs to be done, and somebody’s got to do it,” Dance said. “And it’s been a lot of work. Heidi and Jorge have put months and months of work into an analysis of trying to figure out a fair and equitable” plan. He said flexibility was built into it for the municipalities.
Dance spoke about the catch-22 the county faces. It drew an immediate push-back when it first proposed a funding plan last summer, because the impression among the cities was that the county was imposing the plan. Palm Coast rejected the plan, saying the county had to approve the plan first. “But the problem is, when we do it first and we present it to them, it’s looking like we’re forcing it on them,” Dance said. “So you have to balance the feedback versus being too forceful. And the second attempt was asking for feedback instead of being forceful. So eventually this will come to us, but we need to know if we’ve got dancing partners.”
That’s why Petito crafted the current plan and its rollout as she did.
The commission majority’s strong endorsement of the Petito plan removes a vulnerability the cities could have used against it, and did, when they last met with the county at a joint government meeting in February to discuss beach management. At that meeting, Palm Coast and Beverly Beach said they wouldn’t spend a cent of their revenue on the beach, while county officials kept saying they had a plan without producing it. That gap has been filled. The governments meet jointly again on March 12, now presumably fully informed of the plan’s details.
The Flagler Beach City Commission holds a workshop this week to determine how it will respond to the plan, after a relatively warm reception when Petito presented it last Thursday. Palm Coast was less receptive, pushing for a referendum on the sales tax.
The county is not proposing a referendum. “We’re not going to have time for a referendum on this,” Carney said. The County Commission would approve the increase in a supermajority vote (a vote that garners at least four of the five votes). The cities would only have to approve joint agreements by simple majority. The joint agreements–or interlocal agreement: each city would have a separate one with the county–would spell out the parameters of the agreement, the expectations from the cities, such as the share of the new half-cent sales tax revenue they would be expected to turn over to the county.
“The biggest campaign is Palm Coast’s willingness to give up half the half cent sales tax and Bunnell, same thing,” Hansen said.
The plan also calls on barrier island property owners to contribute $160 a year. Hansen says it’s not a large sum, compared to what the barrier island will get in return. “The feedback that I get in my district over there,” Hansen, whose district includes the barrier island, said, “is this plan kind of solves it, because they say $160 bucks a year, come on, that’s not a problem. But I got a problem with Palm Coast not paying a penny, and this plan solves that.”
How Richardson would react had been a mystery until today. “You’ve got the same mindset I’ve been thinking and I’m excited about that, because I think that’s the only saleability we have on resolving this huge issue that has been going on and on,” Richardson said, “and we need to get it to the end. And I think that’s the only way the public is going to be supportive of our efforts.” Carney spoke in similar terms.
But not Pennington. “There are parts of it that I do support. Of course I’m not in favor of the half cent, unfortunately,” she said. Her district is the largest part of unincorporated Flagler. It has significant issues with stormwater flooding, and no solutions yet. “I have to really think about everyone in totality and how we’re going to solve that,” Pennington said. “And the west is not the beach, it’s not going to fall off and continue to take the brunt of mother nature. But the flooding is surreal.” These are regular rain events, not just hurricanes, that cause flooding issues in the western part of the county, so Pennington worries about where the funding will come from to tackle those issues, and what services will suffer from the dedicated property tax revenue the county is pointing to to beach management. “The beach is a problem. These are the things I’m still thinking through.”
Click On: Flagler County's Beach Management and Renourishment
Citizen says
Flagler County is letting Petito drag this county through the mood!!! She should be gone… Andy Dance is only on her side because his wife works for her!!! Flagler County we gotta do better… Right back to the old days!!!
Kamamani says
No new taxes!!!!! City if Palm Coast tryi mg to raise our rates exponentially, property taxes going up to keep the roads drivable, and I read not too long ago that FPL wants to raise our rates, also, now ANOTHER tax?!!! NO THANK YOU!!
Ed Danko, former Vice-Mayor, PC says
Hate saying I told ya so, but I did tell you during the last Campaign that a vote for Pam Richardson was a vote for tax increases. Now she wants a half percent sales tax increase, and you can bet she, along with her RINO friends Hansen, Carney, and Dance, will want more down the road.
Bruce says
At least your height lives up to your behavior. Troll. Flagler hates you. Go away. You’re now working with developers and we all know it.
Jim says
Hopefully Palm Coast’s infrastructure expert, AKA the Mayor will open his eyes and get on board. One would think the additional $2.7 million PC would get annually from the sales tax increase woukd be very helpful in funding the city’s required water system upgrades.
Thomas Hutson says
Well, well Flagler County Voters, what do you think, election not even a year old and Amnesia has set in to our County Commissioners! Can any of you voters remember the candidates NO NEW TAXES pledge? Oh well it’s only one half a cent. Don’t pay attention to how much money that little old half cent will give us to spend! Look forward to our County Manager’s PR campaign to BS you into taking it in the wallet again.
JimboXYZ says
They can have this plan when eggs are $ 1.20/dozen again. When groceries are affordable without sacrificing a balanced diet. When housing is truly affordable. They can have it when they kill off the growth that isn’t paying for itself. Those 8K houses in Bunnell & any westward expansion from US-1 that are the driver’s for a $ 250+ million STF. Biden-Harris are gone, time to truly return to common sense & normalcy of a sustainable plan. We’re already getting bent over for water & sewage, waste pickup is even inflating. Tired of spreadsheets & models that are some fantasy world that all of this can be done without ruining lives. They can have their save the Flagler County Beach plan when they give up their growth & Visions of 2050 raises that are costing tax payers more & more ? Putting the water utilities on a CPI based inflation report, are they going to cherry pick economic segments to raise that ? Because that’s what Biden-Harris did to candy coat the true state of the economy. Just like the BS labor employment stats that were restated to eliminate 810K jobs that were never created nor hired/filled. I just don’t see where this is ever going to end and the better paying jobs aren’t happening, that’s if many of the retirees would ever be hired to have to come out of retirement because the inflationary era of Biden-Harris failed America. DEI&B needed to include the elderly, then again $ 15/hour wasn’t pacing the inflation of Bidenomics, it still isn’t under Trump-Vance.
As the chatter is eliminating property taxes, how exactly is the City & County Council going to handle that ? Because there won’t be property taxes to pay for infrastructure, not that property taxes ever were paying for the infrastructure anyway. See all this save the beach nonsense goes out the window when FL Property taxes are abolished ? The spreadsheets & models will be all wrong for that and we’ll be back to trying to raise even more taxes & inflation that day.
The dude says
Poor Jimbo.
Can’t even blame on President Biden. Though he’ll try.
All that is happening locally, and I do mean ALL of it, is the direct result of decades of embracing MAGA.
Every new fee, tax, or bill you get was created by MAGA.
Yet you old fools still love that MAGA.
MAGA is coming for your SS and Medicare next. Guaranteed.
To put in a way you olds can understand it:
“Book it Dano”
Dennis C Rathsam says
Here in P/C we are getting the eyes rip out of our heads! I’ve moved here 15 years ago, I never stept foot on that rocky 1/2 ass beach.Between our taxes going up, the water bill, almost as high as my electric bill, sometimes higher! Our gas is more expensive, & now you want to get into my wallet for everyday grocery,s! You folks have a lot of balls!!! The traffic here sucks, mid day you cant move on P/C parkway. No more taxes period! How do you fools sleep at night? Appx 40% of our CITEZENS are retired, living on a fixed income…..Your killing us, you know it, & you don’t give a rats ass. I urge all my neighbors to vote no. Stop stealing our money.
Denali says
And please tell us why you moved here. If the beach is so bad, the taxes are so high, the gasoline is so expensive and the traffic so congested I see no reason for you to be here unless you inwardly enjoy such torture.
JimboXYZ says
On a side note, bike weeks have started, made the effort to observe it 1st hand on Flagler & Volusia counties, ISB to SR-100 on either side fro A1A to US-1, talk about an overall dead event for any of the hot spots where bike has been set up for the typical party Regardless of Main Street to Seabreeze Blvd, Tomoka Estates to Destination Daytona, traffic flowed, fewer pedestrians for foot traffic for the event(s). Maybe that was just a Monday night, maybe other hot spots throughout the counties are doing better ? Economically, this event is collapsing & failing as just an eye test ? Why it’s pertinent, it’s part of the taxation plan to fund life in these counties for townships & cities. As you have been here 15 years, I’m at the partial year of a 1/3 mark of that for my relocation. What was once an affordable rural community has now become an unaffordable mess for a Vision of 2050 that hasn’t made it to 2025. I don’t want to imagine the next 25 years of mismanaged poverty & growth here. Houses are flipped, quite often sitting on the market for months to be removed & relisted. I’ve never seen so many houses on John Anderson Drive in the Ormond Beach riverside area listed for sale, beachside too. I get it though, a lot of that is the flooding from storms of the last 4 years, but a lot of it is homeowner’s insurance increase (if anyone can get an insurer to underwrite a policy), local taxation increases. FL Exit is happening and the government types are finding creative ways to increase the cost of living. The problem is, we all worked & saved for a retirement based upon the last 30+ years of an economic model that had no plan for the inflation. Glut of over priced properties, glut of overpaid types, and the solution was to make eggs go from $ 1.20/dozen to 6/dozen. If one thinks it’s bad here, there are other more expensive places in America charging $ 9+/dozen for those sanctuary communities. Doesn’t matter who endorses this plan, the endorsers are the wealthiest in the community or the one’s that are most able to change the price of anything and it doesn’t really affect them like it does for the lower tiers of socioeconomic classes. Sad day when the barometer of where to retire in America is based upon the price of eggs. I just recall the Bush era, the employment barometer was whether McDonald’s was hiring or not. I called that the Bush era McJobs economy.
Larry says
Groceries and Medicine are exempt from the proposed 1/2 cent sales tax, just like they are exempt from sales tax today. 0% sales tax on groceries and meds and it will stay that way.
Citizen says
Petito should be gone, commissioner P is trying!!!! Andy Dance is looking out for his wife who just so happens to work for petito!!!! Time for change, let’s make Flagler County great for the first time!!! Not again!!!!