Palm Coast’s Policing Budget Set to Increase 24%, with 9 New Deputies; Sheriff Proposes Strict E-Bike Ordinance

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly submitted a policing budget for Palm Coast that would increase the number of deputies patrolling the city from 57 to 66 and increase the city’s policing budget 24 percent, from $9 million to $11.18 million. In 2022, the budget was $5.74 million. 

Also, responding to what he says is increasing complaints from pedestrians and people on regular bikes and others who’ve had close calls with electric bikes, Staly is proposing an ordinance to regulate e-bikes in Palm Coast.

“To maintain our crime reduction and the service level, we really have to grow as a community grows and implement the plan that was agreed upon,” Staly told the City Council this morning. He was referring to an ongoing three-year plan to add at least nine deputies a year to the city’s contractual ranks, countering 13 years in which the council added no deputies in the city. 

There were no objections from the council. “We are paying for the sins of the past as far as the 37 deputies over three years,” Mayor Mike Norris said. There were 28 deputies patrolling the city in 2020. 

The sheriff says $800,000 of the $2.2 million increase is just to maintain current service levels. The reason: a 2 percent cost-of-living raise, contractual raises built into the collective bargaining agreement, a 15 percent increase in health insurance costs, an increase in retirement costs, and full funding for four of the deputies added last year, but were only partially funded at the time. The nine additional deputies will cost an additional $1 million. 

There is no desire on the council to create an independent police department. “You all do an awesome job, obviously, and we, I think the whole community greatly appreciates what your office does,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and your department is certainly not broke.” (She singled out Chief Daniel Engert, who oversees the jail, for praise.) 

The sheriff summed up the past year’s policing profile countywide (generally Palm Coast accounts for about 80 percent of those numbers)–3,203 arrests, 112,000 calls for service, 21,566 traffic stops, 3,225 crashes reported, 6,021 traffic stops, 27 boating citations. The 911 center answered 144,000 calls. The sheriff had 367 full-time employees, 251 of them sworn deputies.

The crime index countywide is below 1,000. The new federal reporting system does not breakout county numbers by cities. “So even though a crime is down more than 50 percent the last eight years, the perception might not be because we tell you what’s going on in our community. And so that’s a double-edged sword of doing that,” he said. 

There were 15 traffic fatalities in 2024, down from 25 the previous year. There have been 10 so far this year. 

“What we are seeing is aggressive driving, driver impatience as traffic gets more congested within our main arteries,” the sheriff said. “In fact, I pulled over a car yesterday.” The driver had become impatient and decided to pass on a double yellow-line. “I didn’t like being behind the dump truck I was behind, either. But he didn’t realize my car is an unmarked car. But he soon found that out. That’s all because the driver’s impatience.” 

Pontieri was more concerned about traffic numbers indicating more traffic crashes but “less traffic stops and less warnings.” Staly made sure that Chief John Walker, who oversees the traffic unit, was taking note of the council member’s comments. But he added: “I’m not going to take discretion away from a deputy sheriff, and it’s illegal in Florida to have quotas, and so we’re not going to going to do that.” He described his own philosophy, which percolates through the agency, to not be heavy-handed with tickets, preferring warnings when the opportunity allows.  

The sheriff’s proposed ordinance on e-bikes drew quick support from the council, though he said the details were “not ready for prime time.” The proposal in its current form is with the city attorney. It would require riders to wear helmets and would somehow be strict on “reckless” riding, though it’s not clear how that “reckless” would be defined, “and if you’re riding recklessly, we can impound the bike, and you’ll have to pay a bunch of fees to get the bike back,” the sheriff said in a comment aired in a recent Spectrum News clip, which he showed the council. 

The ordinance could also set speed limits for ebikes, he said. 

“I’m not trying to kill the fun of an E-bike,” Staly said. “I have an e-bike in our fleet, if you will, for a deputy that patrols Town Center. So there are reasons for that, not just for fun.” He blamed Florida law for loosening e-bike regulations, causing e-bike riding to get out of control by some. 

He is aware that there may soon be hundreds of e-bike ordinances across the state, “which is not good for anybody,” he said. He is hoping the legislature will write a uniform law. Meanwhile, the city could have its own–as has been the case in many counties and cities across the state and the country. 

State law requires ebikes to have “limiters” on their speeds. Some riders modify their bikes, removing the limiters, Council member Ty Miller said. “How do we, how do we combat that?” he asked the sheriff. 

“If they are over that delimiter, depending on how the ordinance is written, we could seize the bike,” Staly said. “That would be my recommendation, because that’s the only way you can write them a ticket, and they’re not right back out there.”

Jay Wagner, a resident who addressed the council, urged the sheriff and the council to be “very careful” in how they address e-bike regulations. “My concern is that you create a perception in the community, which then leads to all e-bikes are dangerous,” Wagner said. “So the law has to be very carefully crafted, what the sheriff is considering. I’m 81 years old. There are many people close by in my category that use e-bikes for recreation. We use them for shopping. We use them for light errands. They’ve made a tremendous difference in the life of a lot of people. There are people in this community who cannot afford a second car. They cannot even afford a first car. You pull up at Publix, and you’ll see e-bikes parked at the bike racks and people coming out and doing their shopping. So it’s very important in considering this.”

“I hope, sir, when I’m 81 that I look as good as you,” Staly told the man, reiterating his focus on reckless riders, “not to be the killer of e-bikes.”

Saly was much cooler to the idea of lowering speed limits across the city, an option recently discussed on the council. “We’ll enforce whatever you want,” the sheriff said. “But when you lower it, the expectation is 20 miles an hour, you’re not going to get that. That’s the bottom line.”

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