A consultant Palm Coast government hired to analyze its stormwater fee system is recommending that this year’s monthly fee of $22.27 be increased to $45.16 over the next four years, a 102 percent increase.
That translates to what will add up to an annualized increase of $275 by 2024, for a total annual stormwater bill of $542, or more than what some homesteaded residents pay in property taxes. The current annual bill is $267.
Palm Coast City council members are uncomfortable with, but not necessarily opposed to, the increase. They are very supportive of the city’s stormwater system and crews, which have combined to keep the city remarkably free of home-invading floods despite Hurricane Ian’s near-historic drenching and other significant weather events. But they are asking for further analyses of the numbers, and are still exploring less expensive options.
The consultants, Henry Thomas and Murray Hamilton of Raftelis Financial Consultants, also offered up an option that would raise rates to $40.48 a month by 2027 (an annualized increase of $218, for an annual bill of $486), and a lesser option that would raise the monthly rate to $34.73 (an annualized increase of $150, for an annual bill of $417).
Doing nothing is not an option, so a steep raise is ahead anyway. Or rather: steeper rate increases are ahead, because Palm Coast residents have already been paying steeper rates every year since 2018.
In 2012, Palm Coast residents were paying a stormwater fee of $8 a month ($96 a year). That year, the council approved raising that to $11.65. It was not enough to pay for a significant rebuilding of the city’s aging stormwater infrastructure.
Six years later, in 2018, the council approved more than doubling that rate by 2024, to $23.95. It is currently $22.27, but will go to $23.95 later this year.
The steep increases are necessary for a variety of factors, the consultants said, among them inflation–even though starting in 2024, when the current increases were set to end, they were due to be replaced by increases indexed to inflation. The consultants, however, displayed an inaccurate graph showing flat revenue from 2024 on. It was not the only inaccuracy, or dissimulation, in their presentation.
The consultants’ report indicates that revenue in 2022 was $0.7 million “under plan.” What the study does not say, and what the council did not hear, is that the portion of the city’s property tax devoted to the stormwater system has been decreasing steadily since 2018 in such a way as to keep flat whatever revenue is generated from that source (about half a million dollars), with the rising stormnwater fee picking up the slack.
Specifically: “The Stormwater capital millage rate will decrease from 0.0848 to 0.0716,” the current city budget notes. That’s a loss of $101,065 in revenue generated this year through the property tax. It doesn’t seem like much. But had the rate not declined since 2018, it would have generated $842,000 this year alone, more than making up for the dollars “under plan.”
In essence, the city has been creating an illusion of lower property taxes by steadily shifting the burden from the millage rate to the fee, which it doesn’t call a “tax.” The revenue generated from the property tax would not be nearly so sufficient to address the city’s stormwater needs without the fee, or without increases in the fee. But the projected increases would not have been as steep had the city not shifted the funding source.
The new rate study goes on to project that annual maintenance expenses and capital improvements will increase from approximately $5.1 million this year to $8 million a year from 2024 through 2027. During that period, the study projects a need for $55.6 million in maintenance and capital projects, including the increasing cost of additional employees adding up to $3.1 million a year. The fund would take out a loan of $38 million during that period, and pay for $40.7 million in projects.
The driving force behind the steepest proposed increase in the fee is the city’s hope of more aggressively addressing swale maintenance and other types of maintenance. But that added cost would not affect the city’s overall stormwater system: it would not make it better. It would be more of an aesthetic improvement, as Carl Cote, director of the stormwater engineering department, said.
That option, Cote said, “is more about level of service, getting to the work orders quicker, addressing homeowners’ complaints at a much faster response time. But it really doesn’t have a major impact in the function of the stormwater system. It’s more of a level of service aesthetic issue.”
In other words, the highest fee structure would lessen the number of complaints council members deal with.
“The number one complaint I get is swales, and it’s something we need to get caught up on and get ahead of,” Council member Ed Danko said. Some of those complaints reflect a misunderstanding of how swales work: standing water is not a bad thing, as some residents think. The swales are there both to channel excess water and to let some water percolate down to the aquifer.
Residents aren’t familiar with the system’s intricacies–with weirs, canal mechanics, culvert pipes or ditches. They’re very familiar with their swale. That’s what they complain about, a lot. Residents are responsible for maintaining their swale, including the pipe beneath the driveway, though the city will help if residents can’t handle that part.
The city has been providing what it describes as an “enhanced level of service” for maintenance of swales, including reconstruction of 30 miles of swales per year, with just two swale crews. There’s a backlog. “But we are not only just keeping up, but we are getting through our backlog,” Donald Schrager, Palm Coast’s deputy director of stormwater engineering, said. The goal is to eliminate the backlog over the next five to 10 years. “We’d like to complete the transition from being reactive operation to being preventative and eventually a predictive based operation.”
Schrager described a “massive” stormwater system of 1,200 miles of swales, 3,000 pipes, 177 miles of ditches, 1,100 residential or commercial work requests per year, and a lot more. All of which “takes a small army of people and equipment to maintain the system and keep it functioning,” Schrager said. The stormwater division has 59 employees.
Some of the city’s ditches “have not been touched in 40 years,” Cote said. Some of the city’s infrastructure is in critical need of repair or replacement, but can’t be addressed with current revenue levels.
The council didn’t question the logic behind the consultants’ numbers. But Danko and Council member Theresa Pontieri (later joined by Cathy Heighter and Nick Flukas) want a breakdown of the cost of adding additional city crews versus contracting them out to provide the additional level of service the costliest option requires. They also want the administration to estimate what fee could be charged owners of Palm Coast’s 10,000-odd vacant lots. The city already bills those owners an annual maintenance fee. Many simply don’t pay, Cote said.
Mayor David Alfin was concerned about the repetitive increases residents have been paying. But when he asked “how much has the average rate changed in the last three years,” the consultants couldn’t answer. Cote eventually provided a breakdown of the annual increases. Simply averaging out the increases since the last rate jump, the monthly rate has increased on average $2 every year since 2018, or $24 a year.
The average annual increase each of the next four years would be $69 if the city were to adopt the steepest recommendation.
Alfin was interested in exploring state grants that will be devoted to cities whose infrastructure is aging out, but the consultants cautioned that those may not be a certainty to base a budget on. They also devoted a segment of their presentation on the additional loan the city’s stormwater fund would have to take out to underwrite coming projects. As of last September, the city owed $17 million in loans to its stormwater fund. The stormwater fund is usually a $15 million a year operation.
Clearly, Alfin was not alone in looking for a way not to go with the steepest option, as when Pontieri asked whether going with the middle option would risk causing “ultimate failure down the road.” It would not, Cote told her.
A leery council made no decision, nor did it give its administration direction beyond those requests for clarifications.
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DP says
So vacant lot owners simpley don’t pay when billed. What does the city do to acquire those missing funds????? Let’s continue to impose more and more fees, and increases on the already strapped citizens, and you’ll see alot of vacant homes as we won’t be able or afford to no longer live here. Palm coast, and the county need to get thier heads out of their butts, and start living within their means.
Daniel says
I agree. Palm Coast government has become as fat and bloated as our federal government and look at what they are doing. Towns are not dictatorships they are very much republics where there people are the real government. Local governments don’t exists without our taxes. We will not be dictated to nor forced from our homes by planned poverty. The current local government would not survive a tax revolt. We are that close.
Tjmelton says
Vacant lot owners are allowed not to pay their swayle maintenance fees? Or don’t have to because they’re let slide? Does this mean that I have to keep paying ridiculous storm water fees to make up for the other group of thieves that don’t? The maintenance “crew” came through here sometime ago, trenched the ditch, ripped my cable out, and it still doesn’t drain. Some one is on drugs. All this indicates to me is irresponsible lack of management & dopes collecting pay checks for doing nothing.
Wtwp says
A proposed art center, now this. Good job Palm Coast Republican leadership. People continue to for these money wasters. Good job.
Cid says
What does republican have to do with it? Look at Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore. Do Republicans run those cities?
Denali says
You have missed the point, as well as the bus. While it is true that the D’s do ‘run’ the cities you mention, the R’s wrote the free-wheeling legislation which led to the collapse of the inner cities, manufacturing and industrial businesses based in those cities. The concept of taking profits to buy back stock, pay huge dividends and line the CEO’s pockets while neglecting the physical properties, the employees and the product itself was all based in Republican legislation. The R’s have done nothing to promote new business development in this country – all they have done is to lower corporate tax rates and drive production off-shore. The D’s are once again trying to clean up the messes left by the R’s.
Pogo says
@Denali
Absolutely, one of the best stated, concise and astute comments ever made on this site.
As usual.
Thank you.
Steve says
And the Fact you don’t live there but live in FPC. I moved 3 years ago. No regrets. Still have a Family member there So I stay somewhat current on Affairs. FOC has more problems than a math book. Fixable but getting close to the point of no return IMO
The dude says
Well… to state the clearly obvious… Flagler county, Flagler Beach, and Palm Coast are all run by Republicans. Hence the reference.
Now, what exactly does Chicago have to with storm water price increases in Palm Coast?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Chicago, is like Palm Coast….We both have idiots for mayors!
David Schaefer says
This is bullshit period…..
Bob says
Time to move,
Greg says
Time to get out of Dodge. Already planning on a Virginia move.
Denali says
“Residents are responsible for maintaining their swale, including the pipe beneath the driveway”
Would someone please provide a copy of the contact I signed with the city to maintain their property? I cannot seem to find my copy – – – Out of the goodness of my heart, I already mow their swale and pick up all the trash (for 5 or 6 houses either way) left in it by our courteous fellow citizens and the Waste Pro folks. For years I have threatened to quit mowing the city property in front of my house just to dare Code Enforcement to write me a ticket. I would relish going to court on that one.
As for the city allowing vacant property owners to slide on paying their maintenance fees, has no one at the city ever heard of filing a lien?
Laurel says
Sorry Denali, but you would lose in court. It is the responsibility of all homeowners to maintain the the right of way area between the property line and the asphalt. Code Enforcement would definitely ticket you, and your fines would increase without payment. Don’t try it. This is anywhere you live in Florida.
Vacant properties are typically assessed, but at a reduced rate as there is no impervious area. This, too, is across the board. It is unreasonable for the city to let nonpayment ride, and highly unusual. Don’t know what they are thinking.
Denali says
Please show us the contract, ordinance or state statute which sets forth the requirements you state. I have not been able to find anything. If such a non-reimbursed governmental mandate exists it should be easy to locate. Thank you.
Then we need a definition for ‘maintain the right-of-way’. Quite a can of worms here . . .
Laurel says
Denali: Streets are usually city, private, state, county and FDOT owned. To research this, find the ownership first. Then go ahead and call the entity that governs it. They should be able to lead you to the information you seek. I would not challenge local enforcement, or head to the courts without being armed with information.
As far as maintaining right of way, when the governing entity needs to do whatever work they deem necessary on this area, they can. Period. We live on the ICW, which has a right of way of 500′. That means it runs up about 15′ in what we call our yard. It goes even further up land on the west side of the ICW. We have a dock and a boathouse, which we got permission to build from the Army Corps of Engineers. If, let’s say the U.S. goes to war, and the Army Corps of Engineers feels the need to widen the river, they can take it all up to our property line. That includes our dock and boathouse removed. There would be nothing we could do about it, even though we maintain the land, and the dock is our property.
Laurel says
Sorry about the redundancy of “state” and “FDOT.” I meant to check with FDOT if it is state owned. If you do research this, I would like to know what you find.
Denali says
Laurel – you started this by saying I must maintain the city right-of-way (which is not a ROW, it is City owned property). I asked you for documentation. Now you come back saying that you have a boat house on COE property and that I should research what you stated was fact and then report back to you. Wow.
1) You say I am responsible to maintain city property. That burden of proof is on you, not me.
2) Your description of your relationship with the COE, while interesting is not on topic. You have misused the term ROW. The COE does not have a ROW on your property. Their owned land abuts yours and they have granted you an easement (permit) to use their land for your boat house / dock. You also cut the grass and maintain their property for your enjoyment, not due to some COE requirement. None of this has anything to do with the original premise of me having to maintain City owned property.
Maybe this will help. We own a small farm in the old NW Territory. If you look at a plat map you will note that all the properties abut each other with no allowance for the county roads. Sometime in the 1840’s the landowners agreed to grant the county a 40 foot ROW (easement) along sides of their property at all section lines. The county then built roads in that 80 foot ROW. The county maintains the roads, substructures, mows the ROW and sends out a community service crew to pick up trash a few times each year. It is all a part of the original agreement that has worked for almost 200 years. We pay taxes on the land occupied by the roadway because it is our land and not the counties. The down side to this is that we have lost almost 5 acres of our quarter section.
3) Lastly, I have to ask why, since you live on the east side of the ICW and are a county resident with technically no dog in this fight, are you so interested in the happenings of the City?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Why are we spending all this money on cosulting fees? You mean to tell me we voted for a bunch of idiots!
Willy Boy says
Precisely.
Lance Carroll says
I believe the quoted term is: “Drain The Swamp.” Draining the swamp costs money…..
Jimbo99 says
Wasn’t the growth plan & impact fees supposed to pay for all of this new requirements for infrastructure ?
Doug A says
We have a number of new house built in the Pine Grove section and the swales are not dug as deep as the houses next to them. When it rains the water backs up on the existing houses and doesn’t flow down the street. Where is the city checking the builders to make sure they do the swales right? We have two houses beyond us recently built and the water no longer flows away.
PB says
It is ok. I only need to eat every other day!
Concerned Citizen says
All these fees increasing. But no increase in infra structure? Why?
Who’s pockets are the fee increases lining?
Pissed in PC says
Remember the mayor voted for a huge raise. Remember they cut impact fees. Remember they said they would lower taxes. Remember they are Republicans that think every senior here can do without food, medicine to pay these high water/sewer bills they have implemented on the population here. Vote the mayor, Stanko out! They are no longer useful and never have been but to line their pockets in real estate deals away from their office.
Ken says
If they need more money for storm water they should of used the money they had already from us tax payers instead of the Mayor and City Council giving themselves a big raise not that long ago when all of us palm coast residents are struggling to get by each day. They are making it harder and harder for us to get by when things are already bad. THIS MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL HAS TO GO!!!!!!!!!
thomas mutschler says
My present Palm Coast Utilities bill is higher than my electric bill and our officials seem to want to hide this and rant about keeping taxes low when my annual utility bill is now higher than my taxes ????
Big Neighbor says
Swales we’re great when it was a unincorporated development. But in all this time later, leaders couldn’t see this coming over the long haul? I say do what it takes to modernize sustainment next generation infrastructure now in re-comprehensive planning. Combine underground storm and water with new distributed power for redundancy backup. Plan to spend in being proactive, not shying away and overreacting to tuff decisions. Heck, if home insurance can increase 300 percent over the last 5 years, I say a modest increase to tax is preferred over my utility bill going up 50 percent over the same period. Who’s kidding who?
Jane K says
Great way to make Palm Coast a ghost town in the future!
palmcoaster says
These are the results of fleecing palmcoasters by not charging the proper impact fees to developers that are making themselves rich as is cheap for them to build here while the current residents pay for their needed infrastructure. Also by using the utility fund as cash caw to benefit road and other infrastructure for the TOWN Center so called CRA: https://flaglerlive.com/11291/palm-coast-town-center-cra/ that we been carrying in our taxpayers backs. These are the results of all those elected with the support of the local GOP and the different Chambers of Commerce and other local community organizations around us. Thank you Flaglerlive for telling it like is is in the past and now!
Can't believe this is my retirement plan...... says
When are we going to fire the City Managers the two of them.
Totally incompetent under them we are paying increased taxes, water bill, waste water increased and garbage services increased by 37%.
That have no plan to control cost.
They manage by inexperience and are getting their education at the expense of all of us.
Follow the lead of Flagler Beach FIRE THE TWO CITY MANAGERS AND HIRE A REAL ONE.
Lawnman says
It wasn’t the City Manager that lowered taxes and increased stormwater fees. It was our elected officials.
oldtimer says
I understand the need for repairs but, has anyone watched the progress on the work? Everytime I go by the royal palms weir or the work on belle terre by the schools I see 2 maybe 3 guys working. The path by the school has been worked on over a year… come on how long does it take? The canal behind my house (in the P section) is down about 6 feet from normal level, the banks are starting to crumble and the fish and wildlife are starting to be impacted by all the silt flowing in the lower water level. Does anyone have an answer when this project will be finished? The city can’t give me a definitive answer so who’s in charge? We used to have a saying for an operation like this in the service, FUBAR
Mischa Gee says
I agree. The redo of the sidewalk and pedestrian bridge by Buddy Taylor School is a bad, sad, and costly joke.
They had a flashing light sign last year, that they put up in August when the “work” actually began that gave a starting date in June – bad joke number one.
Then they destroyed the sidewalk and dismantled a good portion of the bridge. With no temporary alternative to it, you must risk life and limb to cross the heavily trafficked Belle Terre Pkwy along with trying to duck cars turning out of Pritchard. So all students in the Pritchard area are no longer able to walk to school and either have to secure a car ride (more traffic) or find a seat on the school bus.
Next, when new homes have been built in any neighborhood, the seale maintenance crew or code enforcement should be on hand to inspect the swales. In the twenty years that I have lived here, I have personally taken my shovel up and down my street to removed the humps and bumps between property lines so that the swales will flow.
My neighbors have been afraid to do so, but I know from experiencing back up and minor street flooding without doing this, things would only get worse. Since new homes reduce the amount of vegetation that absorbed rainwater, swale inspections where new building is happening should be a routine matter.
I also agree that our mayor and counsel are over paid, as these jobs are generally not full time and these people seem to be powerless in actual city management. They can make suggestions, but on many issues the final decision is not theirs.
Finally, the sneaky way that Republicans have been finding in order to get the money needed to maintain our water, sewer and storm water systems is a device they’ve been using for decades all over this country. That’s adding FEES onto bills for utilities instead of Taxes on property. This gives the unwary a feeling that taxes are low when they’ve simply been transferred to fees, which are much harder to actually fight against. It also gives businesses and high value properties a tax break and passes the loss of tax revenue onto the lower middle and poverty line residents.
Sadly, it seems that people are so burnt out, disillusioned and disgusted by the fact that tno matter how much they protest, at city meetings, making phone calls, writing letters their voices go unheeded.
Apathy is a permanent part of our lives.
I thought I would be able to stay here for the rest of my life, but I am now seriously considering having to move again.
Bartholomew says
Well, we are already building outside of Flagler County, but just so you know my swale on Flemington Ln has NEVER been dry in the last 7 years. I think th problem is that the city wants the water to run up hill. There three or four new houses being buil and they are tearing up the other swales a lot.
Tanks for Nothing says
My swale has held water 2ft deep for 25 years. I have to wear rubber boots and chase the snakes out of it sometimes. My driveway is caving in because of it. I am seriously planning on building a DRAW BRIDGE over my Moat. Contractors and city workers try and park their trucks on my grass area near the moat. They sink 2 ft down in mud. They leave the trenches for me to fill in with top soil and sod. I swear, I have reached my last straw. Things are going to get very dangerously serious soon you BASTARDS !!!!
Denali says
Why are you doing the repairs and maintenance on City property? Take a few pictures and complain to the City. You and I pay for them to do the repairs / maintenance; let them do it.
Pissed in PC says
Well I’ve been taking pictures since early 2020 and Mayor Melissa was working on funding to fix my swale and easement. Forward to Mayor Alfin and more photos and complaints. He comes and meets with me and my neighbor over the fact that the swale won’t drain, the easement was worthless since the 2 new houses built 10” higher than our existing property and all our dirt has washed. He promised immediate repair and that was May 2022. We’re still waiting and now we’ve been told our maintenance to the swale and easement has been put on a schedule list. We have another year to wait and in the meantime our yards flood so bad you can see water spots in the concrete to our garage and my neighbor’s carpet is damp. My back porch floods with every rain. The mayor and stormwater department are an effing joke and they should all be replaced.
JustBeNice says
What is going on here? Do we have to wait for the next election cycle to get these clowns out? Is there anything in the city charter? I received an email from Florida Power and Light that our bills are going up 10% and now this??? R or D, regardless, they are out for themselves. I think I’ll change to an I.
Kabel says
What swale maintenance? They havent been on my end of the street for 8 years. And due to their negligence and supposed backlog I had to spend $9k on a new driveway and bought the city a new culvert pipe. If I didnt replace it in 30 days the code enforcement dept. was going to fine me. My driveway collapsed. They denied any responsibility. I’m still boiling mad about it.
Laurel says
Developers are currently heading for the last areas in the state to develop. There is a reason for this. The best areas are already developed, and now towering up. What’s left is low land, with a high water table like Palm Coast, or the sink hole susceptible areas of the center of the state. Guess what, folks, you bought into the former. This area will always be a problem with drainage, no matter how many consultants they bring in.
Your mayor, commissioners, realtors and Chamber of Commerce, will continue to tell you how wonderful growth is. “Westward Ho!” and all that. Meanwhile, more and more impervious areas will be built, like those ridiculous storage units, and clear cut subdivisions. More and more runoff to deal with, more and more assessments and fees. More and more matchstick homes. Less and less areas for the runoff to drain to. Less and less wildlife. Less and less Live Oaks to protect you from the increasing storms.
I’ve seen absolutely nothing in Palm Coast, or Flagler County, that separates debris from stormwater runoff before it hits the Intra-Coastal Waterway. All the runoff that does not percolate into the ground, goes off into the ICW. People need to clean their swales. They need to not place plant debris, soaps and oils in their swales, or near stormwater inlets. Rain runoff only. They need to not blow leaves, grass cuttings or other debris into the ICW. This debris decays and becomes muck that, not only looks ugly, but clogs the gills of fish and sea life.
Face it, folks, you are where you are, and it’s gonna cost you. If you plan to stay, then you need to participate in keeping our waterway clean. The next time it rains a good rain, the beautiful green water will turn dark brown with tannin, and fill with nasty debris.
That’s how it is. Vote these growth happy people out, and take charge of your city and your county, or these people will run you over and severely reduce the quality of life here. It has already begun.
John H Rydell says
Moved here from orlando two years ago and have never seen a small river on each side of my street every time it sprinkles.then figured how much each resident pays for stormwater drainage every month.but they write me code violations for a jet ski in my backyard that you cant even see btw,well i will need this to get out if a real storm comes through.maybe ill wind up at the same marina with whoever owns the yacth they bought with all the stormwater fees they scam from every resident in palm coast
Take Care Of My Swales says
Backlog, huh? I’ve lived on my street for 13 years. The top half has had their swales dug up and replaced with new sod twice. The back half where I live, never. Never seen a maintenance truck and when it rains, it doesn’t just sit to feed the aquifer, it’s a lake and it sits there for days. It unacceptable and the city doesn’t seem to care.
Tjmelton says
The ultimate answer is: A. Vote themselves another raise. B. Give the garbage guys another raise. C. Get another $700 k engineer study on rain water run off. D. Raise property taxes again because they just can. E. Tell the taxpaying public we are full of poop.
The dude says
Can’t ask the developers to pay reasonable impact fees, nor can we ask those same developers to pony up the fees when ground is broken.
But we can and do ask the existing residents to constantly endure rate hikes and huge tax increases.
Welcome to Flagler folks… MAGA in action.
Gus says
So let me get this right, I do not have a swale at my house but I pay for everyone else’s. I do have a canal but everyone who has a swale wants me to pay for it to be dredge. Well if you use the logic of those homeowners you should pay for your own swale.
Laurel says
Gus: It doesn’t work that way. Most stormwater fees or assessments are calculated by square footage of impervious area for businesses, and given a single fee, or assessment, to homes. Vacant land is usually assessed by square footage or acreage, taking into account there is no impervious area. I would have to look up Palm Coast’s formula for assessing stormwater fees, which you may want to do, but I can tell you that Palm Coast is low land that has very poor percolation. That’s why this continuous growth here is such a bad idea.
Homeowners and businesses are responsible for maintaining the swales in front of their buildings. Parking on a swale, placing plant debris or concrete on it ruins its ability to percolate water. I imagine that the city maintains the freshwater canals, but only to the point of restoring flow. Homeowners should not allow plant debris or grass clippings be blown or placed in these canals. Also, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers should not be put on lawns before a rain event, that would wash into a canal or to the ICW.
Again, folks, that’s the area here. You cannot get around it; it will always be an issue.
Mischa Gee says
Gus says he doesn’t have a swale, which in a very few areas is true. Instead, he has an underground storm water drainage system, which I guess he doesn’t realize is still a way of removing storm water during a storm. Just because he doesn’t see it run into a canal, doesn’t mean it does not eventually wind up in one. It’s all part of the storm water sewer/drainage system.
So yes Gus, you must also pay for storm water drainage system maintenance. And, based upon your haughty remarks, you likely can well afford it, more than people who don’t live where there are closed storm sewers.
jeffery c. seib says
It’s kind of sad to see this city that, perhaps once could have been great, begin not to advance but to deteriorate. The mayor and city council need to forget their grand designs for the future and focus only on the present and the needs of the Palm Coast that is here now. Things lately have, unfortunately, been taking a turn for the worst. Now we see the stormwater management fees going through the roof. Looking at the city’s stormwater ‘fee’ increase presentation it is a wonder this hadn’t happened already. The place of stormwater management in with the water bill is questionable anyway. If I use more water in the house, I pay for it but stormwaters the same for everyone. Put it in the general fund and then it’s a tax not a fee. Stormwater management looks a little bloated and top heavy, too many bosses. Slim it down, one top honcho running the entire combined operation. Other savings are available, but it might mean stepping on some of the city’s sacred cows’ toes. This council won’t do it, it’s easier to stick it on us.
Concerned Citizen says
How much time is spent ranting on this report?
Instead of showing up at meetings? And making changes at the polls? The same things keep happening over and over. Because you re-elect the same over and over.
Remember the definition of insanity. And that change begins with us.
Mischa Gee says
I don’t disagree in principal.However, most of us who have gone to town meetings and have participated in vocalizing an oppositional point of view, and who have contacted our council members and mayor the years have come to realize the what we think or want will go unheaded because we are not putting any payola in the hands of our government. They just don’t care about the little guy.
Michael Garner says
so I think a $542 handling and processing fee back to the city of palm coast for maintenance of the swale and culvert and the filtering of the rain water across my yard would be just as reasonable to off set my cost of maintaining said culvert and swale.
Silvia Garner says
we moved here in 2019 reported the swale backed up and put in a work request with the city, 3 years later our driveway is undermined the culvert is trashed, the city workers sucked out the plug in the culvert that was caused by the swale being out of grade the only thing done was to force an 6 or 8 inch pvc pipe through the culvert and have not fixed the grading of the swale. if this is what they want to raise our
fee for they need to do a better job than they are doing now.
John H Rydell says
Swale??what a joke.its a lake that dosent seem to bother anyone near me.how can you live when part of your driveway is under water every time it rains.i have lived here only 2 yeasr but havenot seen any type of maintenance at all to alleviate this problem.this is the most ridiculous thing ive ever seen after all you pay for it,but not one thing is done.they actually sent 2 guys out when i complained (it had just rained for about an hour )and they were rambling on and on whike i was standing in knee deep water in my backyard(that is totallyuseless btw)as i cant park a boat jet ski trailer or anything else in.their final word was in 2 or 3 years they might get to our area to dredge out the swale .seems to me thats fraud clear as day the city billing every resident for drainage and never doing anything at all.this city needs someone to get things done and every oerson who pays these fees every month to stand up or nothing will change and btw theres a huge increase on the way for these fees