A seemingly outlandish comparison between the two cities turns out to be much less so–and much more instructive–when comparing the similarities of the two cities’ utility challenges, and the limited ways they can go about addressing them without, in the end, making the rate-payer pay.
palm coast city council
Sniping Over for Now, County and Palm Coast Appear to Move on Matanzas Woods Exchange
Palm Coast has the money to acquire properties affected by the Palm Harbor extension, but the city doesn’t yet have the money to build the extension toward the planned Matanzas Woods Parkway interchange at I-95. That hinges on the county making good on a series of promises.
Palm Coast Pledges to Stick to $158 Red-Light Camera Fines and Tackle Vanished Payments
The Palm Coast City Council will forego adopting steeper fines, of up to $408, for red-light camera tickets, but it has yet to find a solution to a problem particular to the city: the large number of people who pay their tickets but whose payments appear never to register with ATS, the company managing–and profiting from–the system, causing drivers headaches and additional costs.
Palm Coast’s Jim Landon Gets Top Career Award from Statewide Association
It is indicative of the persistent pettiness of the rivalry between Flagler County and Palm Coast that when the county sent out the announcement of its own deputy administrator receiving a state award earlier this week, it left silent the—somewhat more significant—award that went to Jim Landon, the Palm Coast City Manager.
Rediscovering Color, Palm Coast May Relax Restrictions on Homeowners’ Paint Schemes
Palm Coast isn’t about to go Miami Beach, but the City Council approved going ahead with a plan by the Flagler Homebuilders Association and its own administration to broaden allowable colors homeowners may use to paint their own houses, a restriction that has often vexed newcomers unused to a city government controlling private property to that extent.
Dismissing Affordable Housing Prejudices, Palm Coast Approves Brookhaven Apartments
The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday approved 4-1 the 45-acre, 117-unit Brookhaven apartments development in Town Center, which will provide housing to lower income residents and walkability to nearby areas.
Speculative Bust: How Widening Old Kings Road Left Palm Coast on Hook for $6.7 Million
Palm Coast borrowed millions from its own utility fund to complete the Old Kings Road widening on the assumption that the economy would pick up and enable the city to re-finance with bonds. That never happened. Now the city is looking to recoup its money from property owners along the road, who’d agreed to a special taxing district but with optimistic assumptions of their own that never panned out.
Palm Coast Historical Society Moving to Holland Park in Latest of Nomadic Moves
The Palm Coast Historical Society will leave its digs at Matanzas High School for Activity Room B at Holland Park in its latest of many moves. The three-year arrangement, with the Palm Coast City Council’s blessing, will be at no cost to the society.
Sheriff Opens Palm Coast Precinct at City Market Place, Halving Cost, Not Space Needs
On Friday, the Sherif’s Office office opened its newest Palm Coast precinct, at City Market Place, a two-storefront 2,600-square foot space at $2,.000 a month that’ll add new life to the struggling shopping center in the heart of town, and a few doors down from the Palm Coast city offices.
Mayor Netts and Fire Chief Beadle Show Their Coconuts and Bananas (For the Arts)
At the Flagler Auditorium’s Duck Dive, a fund-raiser for arts in education Sunday, Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts and Fire Chief Mike Beadle stole the show with their impersonations of pāʻū-clad Polynesian dancers. Here they are in two uncensored videos.
Forget Rio: Palm Coast Lands Soccer Academy in Planned Expansion of Economic “Niche”
The New Jersey-based Player Development Academy will build up to six fields on 65 acres west of U.S. 1 that will link with the Indian Trail Sp[orts Complex–and with Palm Coast’s sports-niche market, which has turned into an engine of economic development.
Jerry Full, Palm Coast Founder and Exuberant Environmentalist, Is Dead at 86
Jerry Full, one of the founding members of the Palm Coast City Council, thought, spoke and lived at speeds defying limits, and lived lives as if he would never run out of them. Full died on March 28 in Ossining, N.Y. He was 86.
Growls Again Over Palm Coast’s Dog Park As the City Pleads Money and Other Woes
For the third time in six years, Palm Coast users of the dog park at Holland Park are complaining to the city council of dusty, dirty, grass-less and unhealthy conditions at the park, only to hear that improvements may be on the way–but not just yet.
As Local Governments Tackle Candy-Flavored Tobacco, Teen Trends Contradict Alarm
Palm Coast, Bunnell and Flagler Beach have each passed a resolution asking merchants not to sell flavored tobacco products, which are especially appealing to youths, but teen use of tobacco products (including smokeless tobacco) has been on the decline since the mid-1990s.
Booze Up: Palm Coast Government Is Your New Special-Events Bartender
After some reservations two weeks ago, the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday agreed to have the city acquire a liquor license and itself sell booze at the city’s special events, generating more cash the city says it will reinvest at those events.
Proposed Law Would Curtail Palm Coast’s Ability to Convict Red-Light Camera Violators
The proposed law, by Sen. Joseph Abruzzo, would shift the burden of proof of a red-light violation to the government imposing the fine, it would eliminate citations for right-turns on red, and it would require a live, government representative at hearings to prove that a violation took place.
Tipsy on Daytona Beach’s Example, Palm Coast Considers Getting Its Own Liquor License
The Palm Coast City Council is now considering applying for its own liquor license and, in an even more remarkable move, designating Central Park as a civic center where vendors could sell booze at special events under the city’s umbrella.
Palm Coast Approves 17.6% Water-Rate Hike, Pleasing Bond-Holders More Than Residents
Palm Coast residents will see their water bills jump 8 percent in April, 4 percent in October and another 4 percent in October 2014 as the city grapples with a combination of debt and capital obligations for its utility.
Bipartisan Bill to Repeal Red-Light Cameras Advances in Florida Legislature
A bi-partisan proposal would repeal the three-year-old Florida law allowing cities to install spy-and-snap cameras. The repeal, if enacted, would again crimp the revenue of local governments such as Palm Coast, which use the cameras’ ticker revenue to supplement their general fund.
Readying for Showdown With Residents, Palm Coast Nudges Slightly on Water Rates
Rather than impose a 22 percent water-rate increase over the next three years, the Palm Coast City Council might scale that back to 16 percent, but only by shifting increases to later years. The council is scheduled to approve a plan on Feb. 19 as public opposition builds.
Palm Coast Council Heavily Criticized Over Planned 22% Water Rate Hike
The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday evening weathered a verbal barrage of questions and criticism from 15 people upset at the city’s plan to finance $78 million in water and sewer charges over the next five years, in part by raising water rates 22 percent in the next three years. But little change is expected.
Dennis Cross, Dauntless Palm Coast City Council Candidate in 2011, Is Dead at 78
Dennis Cross made his name as he fought his disqualification by redistricting and won that battle to be a candidate for the Palm Coast City Council in 2011, only to lose to Jason DeLorenzo by 36 votes, the narrowest margin in any Palm Coast election.
Red-Light Cameras on Palm Coast Parkway Used to Arrest Hit-and-Run Suspect
The arrest is the latest indication of the sheriff’s office stepped-up use of Palm Coast’s traffic cameras, which are increasing from 10 to more than 50, and blanketing all the city’s major and medium intersections.
Only Mild Opposition as Palm Coast Council Prepares to Raise Utility Rates 22% in 3 Years
To avert a crisis with its creditors, Palm Coast will raise water and sewer rates 22 percent over the next three years, beginning with an 8 percent increase this March. Residents’ rates are increasing to ensure that the city’s debts can be paid.
Bill Filed in Florida to Repeal Red-Light Cameras as State Report Points to Fewer Crashes
A South Florida lawmaker filed legislation Friday to repeal the law allowing the use of red light cameras, following a report earlier this week that says intersections where they’re used have seen drops in crashes in most places.
City Thuggery: Florida Supreme Court Should Ban Red-Light Spy-and-Snap Traffic Cameras
Florida’s new law legalizing red-light cameras ensures that state coffers are on the take. But it does not address the fundamental problems with spy-and-snap cameras. There are innumerable reasons to ban them. There’s only one reason to keep them, and it’s a slimy one: money.
Palm Coast Approves Surtax Tool as It Looks To Recoup Old Kings Road Widening Costs
The Palm Coast City Council, still looking to repay the $6.2 million it cost to widen Old Kings Road, laid out plans to create a special taxing district next year that would levy a property surtax on property owners long the southern portion of Old Kings.
Palm Coast Approves 46% Stormwater Fee Increase, But Permanent Solution Still Elusive
The Palm Coast City Council is looking for ways to pay for a $7.5 million a year stormwater infrastructure. Residents’ stormwater fee will go up from $8 to $11.65 a month, while the council has until February to find a permanent solution that may push some fees even higher.
Palm Coast’s Plan to Install Red-Light Spy Cameras on SR100 Faces New Obstacle
Flagler County runs the lights’ infrastructure, and must give its permission to Palm Coast to plug in its spy-camera system. The county, which opposes cameras on SR100, won’t grant permission.
Palm Coast City Council’s Bill Lewis: Two Minutes, Six Errors, Countless Sneers
When Palm Coast City Councilman Bill Lewis took to the floor of a council meeting to correct a fact in a FlaglerLive column, which had already been corrected, he committed more than six errors of his own, including about his own personal history. Lewis’s errors bear correcting as publicly as he committed them.
In a Day of Inaugurals, 3 Governments Swear In New Members and 2 Elect New Chairmen
The Flagler County Commission, the school board and the Palm Coast City Council all either welcomed new members or shuffled their chairmanships in an annual ritual with a mixture of ceremony and consequences.
Gus Ajram, Embattled Bulldog Drive Business Owner, Collapses in Outburst Before Council
Ajram and City Manager Jim Landon have battled over Ajram’s property on Bulldog Drive for several years, in what became a personal showdown. Rather than acquire the property, the city is now diverting Bulldog Drive, at a cost significantly greater than the difference it was unwilling to pay Ajram in negotiations.
The Palm Coast City Council’s Arrogance Problem
The secret, undemocratic way the Palm Coast City Council went about picking its latest unelected member is the latest disturbing example of a council’s contempt for the public, and of the maneuverings of a manager with a Donald Trump complex.
Awarding Just $20,000 in Arts Grants Again, Palm Coast Agrees to Rethink Its Stinginess
Palm Coast is willing to subsidize its money-losing tennis center to the tune of $240,000 in the last two years, but is awarding just $20,000 to support just nine arts and culture organizations. Some council members (calling the small amount “a joke”) want to change that.
David Ferguson, a Conservative Business Consultant, is Appointed to Palm Coast Council
David Ferguson, a 60-year-old business consultant, will fill out the two years remaining in Frank Meeker’s term, ensuring that the panel will remain an all-male fraternity until at least 2014, when the seat is one of two up for election. That of Bill Lewis, also an appointee, is the other.
16 Applicants for Palm Coast Council Short-Listed to 4; Closed-Door Interviews Next
The Palm Coast City Council will appoint one of four remaining applicants to fill out Frank Meeker’s term, which ends in 2014. The appointment will follow council members’ closed-door interviews with each candidate next Tuesday, then a vote. Meeker won an election to the county commission.
Palm Coast Water and Sewer Rates Set to Rise Up to 22% Over the Next Three Years
The Palm Coast City Council prides itself on keeping property taxes low, but its array of fees continue to increase steeply, as will utility rates if the council approves a debt refinancing plan that would let the city borrow another $15 million for utility improvements, even though growth in the city has slowed to a drip.
In Startling Confrontations, DeLorenzo Takes On Palm Coast’s Jim Landon–and Impact Fees
Palm Coast City Council member Jason DeLorenzo on Tuesday questioned the veracity of City Manager Jim Landon’s numbers and his “backroom” style while making the case for a two-year moratorium for impact fees on new construction in the city in a rare, direct and sustained public challenge to the assuming city manager.
After Ridiculing County’s Sales Tax Revenue Compromise, Palm Coast Now Wants to Deal
In a turn-around stunning for its audacity, the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday agreed to ask the county commission to revive a compromise the commission had proposed on sharing sales tax revenue–a proposal Palm Coast rejected derisively over the summer.
In Palm Coast, the End of a 90% Building Permit Discount Will Affect Thousands
The 90 percent discount on all permits–from replacing AC units to replacing roofs or water heaters to installing pools and fences–began in 2009, because the city was collecting too much money. The discount ends Oct. 31, resulting in much steeper fees for more than 5,000 such permits a year.
How a Stumble Saddled Palm Coast Water Rate Payers With $500,000 in Additional Costs
Overeager to get going on a $2.6 million wellfield project during the boom years, Palm Coast never secured an agreement between a land company and FPL to power the wells. When talks broke down between the companies, Palm Coast decided to pay an extra $500,000 to power the wells with a different contractor, a cost it will pass down to rate-payers, even though the need for the water is non-existent.
As Expected, Flagler County Suspends $1,707-a-Home Building Tax for 2 Years
The county’s moratorium is relatively small, but Flagler’s chamber of commerce and its home builders association hope to get the school board to approve a moratorium next, then move to Palm Coast, where impact fees add up to $15,270.
As Flagler Governments Consider Impact Fee Cut, Evidence of Economic Benefit Is Slim
Builders and developers want the Flagler school board and Flagler County to cut impact fees–the one-time tax on construction–saying it’ll help the economy grow. But plenty of evidence says it won’t, while Flagler residents still reel from low values and empty houses that more new houses won’t help.
Impact Fees: What They Are, Who Pays Them, How Much They Pay
Whether you call them impact fees, taxes or hidden taxes, they’re a Florida and Flagler County reality. An explanation and definition of impact fees with a local rate schedule by city and county.
The Palm Coast City Council’s Disturbing Synthetic Marijuana High
On synthetic pot, the Palm Coast City Council and other local governments are being had, as governments trample due process to enforce a legal shortcut against a ghost epidemic–the latest hysteria in the derelict war on drugs.
How Two Council Members, Out of View, Got WNZF to Back-Pedal on Synthetic Marijuana
What was behind what sounded like a retraction on synthetic marijuana by WNZF’s David Ayres on his Free For All Friday show last week? Private discussions between Palm Coast Council member Bill McGuire with Mayor Jon Netts, and a letter Netts wrote Ayres, that the council never discussed openly–even as the council has yet to vote finally on the matter.
Using Straw Man, Palm Coast Ridicules County’s Opposition to Red-Light Cameras
Rather than address questions raised by County Commission Chairman Barbara Revels, the Palm Coast Council invented a claim that the county wanted to enable law-breaking, unsafe drivers, and dismissed Revels’s request to reconsider installing spy cameras on State Road 100.
Palm Coast Mayor Netts Says Amendment 4 Takes Taxes From “Screwy” to “Screwier”
Other Flagler government leaders joined Jon Netts in criticism of of proposed Constitutional Amendment 4, which would limit the tax liability of commercial, rental and vacant properties while lowering the tax liability of first-time home-buyers, but at the expense of local government revenue, which has been battered since 2007.
County Sends Protest Letter to Palm Coast Over Red-Light Spy Cameras on SR100
The Flagler County Commission is asking the Palm Coast City Council to reconsider installing some of its 52 spy-and-snap traffic cameras on SR100 because the county claims it will inhibit shopping and tourism, and leave a bad taste in visitors’ mouths just as the county is advertising itself as a welcoming beachside destination.
Former Palm Coast Councilman William Venne Is Hurt Along With Flagler Deputy in a Crash
William Venne, 80, a member of the Palm Coast City Council from 2000 to 2007, crashed into a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy’s cruiser driven by Darrell Butler, 26, at Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre Parkway Thursday evening.