- March 14, 2025
Alan Peterson
AGE: 73
FAMILY: Single, no children
QUIRKY FACT: Traveled to South Africa during the Apartheid
BIO: Alan Peterson is a graduate of Harvard Business School with a masters in finance. He had a successful career in banking and retired as the CEO of a $500 million credit union. He has a long history of helping businesses get started and grow with his financing and budgetary help. He has a proven 25-year history of executive experience in solving specialized municipal budgetary and financial problems, including three years on the Palm Coast City Council and four years as a Flagler County commissioner. Alan voted to successfully lower cumulative taxes by more than $15 million over the past three years.
How can Flagler County work more effectively with the city of Palm Coast and other regional entities?
We need to sit down and make sure that the communication that we communicate to each other be (about) the needs of each municipality in the county, and perhaps regional interests as well.
As to the most effective and efficient way of spending tax revenue … it’s all about our communication. Each entity needs to explain why they need tax funds, why it’s important, and then they need to come to some type of an agreement as to whose needs benefit the greatest number of people in the county or that regional area.
What should the commission do to make Flagler County a better place to do business?
We need to coordinate with the Tourist Development Council and the new economic development council, that I voted for, to be able to advertise and emphasize to all interested parties that Flagler County is a good place to locate to, a good place to work in and, above all, a good place to live in.
We’ve reorganized the economic development commission — people (now) live in the county, with extensive managerial business experience. And we have a Tourist Development Council that has worked hard to promote, and (it) appears to be effective, in that numbers of tax receipts have increased. We put together a good group of residents and … we’ve hired a new economic development leader employee (who has) extensive experience in the Northeast. And combining her experience with Enterprise Florida and the North East Regional Council,
I’m hoping that we will be able to attract businesses to the area. It’s not an easy task. It’s a very difficult task. And you can lead a horse to water, but it’s hard to make them drink.
We’ve more than doubled the amount of money the county is prepared to spend on economic development. We ought to be effective (because), in my opinion, we put the pieces together. … It will promote economic growth. … If we can expand business and economic development in the business center then hopefully we reduce unemployment; we will reduce the number of vacant homes, the number of people who are struggling and the spiral of (it all).
Democracy is a spiral. We have spiraled down. Hopefully now we will start to spiral up in the economic issues. We’re all included, and the county and region will be better off.
What is your approach to the county budget?
In the last three years, I voted to reduce a cumulative budget expense of $15 million. I think that we are at the point where everything that can be done to reduce county taxes for residents pretty much has been done.
There have been limited service cuts, (and) now the decision before the commission will be as to whether additional cuts can be made without serious reduction in services. And what we’re clearly, clearly working on is what additional, if anything, can be reduced in a material way without adversely effecting a large number of residents.
Again, over the last three years I have voted to reduce it. Now I think we’re really at the bottom of reductions in tax cuts that we can make. So now it’s going to be very hard (assessing) what remains of existing services, and making sure that we don’t cut services where the tax savings outweigh the benefit of the service to the general public.
What is your vision for Flagler County in the next four years?
A reduction of the unemployment rate, increase in attracting businesses such that the taxable burden on the homeowner is reduced, that the businesses that locate here provide job opportunities that will be above average, and that the communication and coordination and cooperation between all municipal governments provides the most effective and efficient utilization of tax revenue that is generated from the residents of Flagler County.
