- October 17, 2024
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To draw more businesses to Palm Coast, the City Council is exploring creating economic incentives.
At a June 27 City Council meeting, Economic Development Manager Barbara Fiedor and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo listed the types of incentives the council could implement.
Incentives fall into different categories: direct incentives, in which a company receives or saves money through grants, bonuses or tax abatements; nonfinancial incentives, in which a city expedites permitting, waives project fees or completes infrastructure improvements or site prep work for a business; and special incentives which target specific industries — for instance, creating entrepreneurial hubs, innovation hubs or commercial districts.
Some of those incentives would require that the council add an incentive fund to the Finance Department’s budget.
DeLorenzo said incentive funds would be required for things the city has obligations to pay, like water and sewer fees. But the city would not have to create an incentive fund to waive some project fees or create certain tax incentives.
We're open to anything, but at the end of the day, this is all up to you, council, to decide what you want to do in terms of any kinds of incentives. — Barbara Fiedor, Economic Development Manager
Fiedor said the city doesn’t have an incentive fund now, but the department could add one to its budget this year.
“We’re open to anything, but at the end of the day, this is all up to you, council, to decide what you want to do in terms of any kinds of incentives,” she said.
Fiedor said 99% of all communities already offer tax abatements or tax exemptions as direct incentives for businesses. Palm Coast also needs pad-ready buildings, she said.
“We don’t have commercial space right now to help businesses that are growing that need additional space,” she said.
Fiedor said the city has had to pass on proposals looking for existing building spaces between 20,000 – 200,000 square feet.
The council directed staff to return at a future meeting with more details and examples of which incentives bring which kinds of businesses.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is asking for an almost $750,000 increase to its contract with Palm Coast.
Sheriff Rick Staly presented the FCSO’s proposed contract at the June 27 meeting.
It totals $7.2 million, funding 48 law enforcement positions for Palm Coast.
Most of the increase comes from a 5.3% cost-of-living adjustment, a 9.78% insurance premium increase and increased retirement rates.
The Palm Coast contract covers only 15% of the FCSO’s law enforcement budget.
Despite that, Staly said, 72% of the agency’s calls for service come from Palm Coast.
“The calls for service are increasing with the population,” he said.
The FCSO received 117,931 calls for service in Palm Coast in 2022, up from 115,091 in 2021.
Staly said the Cypress Knolls area in Palm Coast generated almost 12,000 calls for service in 2022.
Compared to the rest of the county, the Marineland area generated the next-highest number of calls, with a little over 10,000 calls in 2022.
Despite the population increase, Staly said crime is down 55%.
There were 877 victims of crime in 2022, down from 1,867 in 2016.
“Our goal in the Sheriff’s Office is to reduce crime,” he said. “We will probably never get it to zero, but that’s ... what we are working on.”
In fact, Staly said, Palm Coast is the second-safest city in Florida, falling right behind The Villages on a “15 Safest Cities in Florida” list.
The 2021 National Community Survey also found that 92% of Palm Coast residents felt safe in the city.
Our goal in the Sheriff's Office is to reduce crime."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
Mayor David Alfin asked Staly put together a plan that the city and the Sheriff’s Office can implement together to reduce bad driving and raise awareness of littering offenses.
The city’s pristine appearance is an integral community amenity, he said.
“While our residents consider public safety their priority, the preservation of our quality of life is equally important,” Alfin said.
