- April 12, 2025
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As Flagler County continues to draft interlocal agreements for a half-cent sales tax to fund a beach management plan, County Commissioners are voicing opposition to the plan, questioning whether now is the right time to raise taxes.
Flagler County Manager Heidi Petito gave the commissioners an update on interlocal agreements at the end of their meeting on Monday, April 7, explaining that the county legal department is implementing guidance given by Palm Coast and Bunnell city staff regarding how the sales tax revenue will be split — rather than keep 50% for their own infrastructure needs, the inland cities are more interested in contributing a set dollar amount.
"They're trying to cap it so that it becomes a steady contribution," Petito said. "... It doesn't change the amount that they're contributing, it's just that it's flat over the entire six-year period."
Then, Commissioner Leann Pennington, who announced she was not in favor of the half-cent sales tax, asked if county staff had a contingency plan in case the board didn't approve it.
Petito said no.
"There was no direction or guidance from this board to staff that you want to look at something different," she said.
County Commission Chair Andy Dance said the "alternative fallback" was do fund a beach plan for the unincorporated area only, which didn't receive a lot of support because it leaves Flagler Beach in a bind.
"We spent all those months doing just the unincorporated to lay the groundwork for how this all was going to work," Dance said. "A set fallback would have to come back to us, but it leaves our other municipal partners without any coverage."
That's the problem, Commissioner Greg Hansen said.
"If we don't do the half-cent, it really, really hurts Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach," Hansen said. "... It just cripples them. So we'd have to come up with something pretty unique and some kind of agreement with Flagler Beach if we don't do the half-cent, because Flagler Beach will not be able to survive."
But, in light of Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announcing he wishes to cut the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, Commissioner Kim Carney said the board should "look at the atmosphere that we're in right now."
"I'll go out there and say that, what looked as something to be an answer, is not looking like an answer on April 7, 2025," Carney said. "I know there's lots of energy going into this being our only option, but I can guarantee you that there's other options."
She hasn't found them yet, she said, but she's working on it.
"I'm not convinced that this county is going to look strong and unified if we put a half-cent as Gov. DeSantis brings us down," Carney said. "I'm not saying that's going to pass — I'm not saying that. But we're not thinking the same way as our governor is thinking."
Commissioner Pam Richardson agreed, saying that it's been a "constant battle," with people in the barrier island advocating for the necessity of funding the beach as those in the country see no need for it. The county would be adding taxes while "everybody else is cutting them," Richardson said.
"The governing is DOGE-ing, and we need to start DOGE-ing too," Richardson said.
Dance countered that DOGE is all about efficiency. This is an investment on beach infrastructure.
Pennington said she didn't feel confident about the county taking on funding the beach as a recession looms.
"This is a huge undertaking, all 18 miles in one gulp for for this little board," Pennington said. "This, to me, is a fiscally constrained county that is trying to create its own social security plan almost for a beach."
She said the county would be more successful if it worked on funding a beach management plan for small stretches of the beach at a time, and suggested using funds from the county's Environmentally Sensitive Lands program, which sunsets in 2028. Perhaps the county could restructure that program and use that millage for the beach management plan, if approved by voters to continue.
"You want to sunset probably the most popular referendum that we've had?" Dance said.
"We are not finding land ... that we can buy," Pennington responded.
Richardson said she was told by people in other counties that ESL funds could be used for beach management. So without a legal opinion, she said she can't make a decision on the half-cent sales tax.
Based on the commissioners' comments, Dance said the funding plan has to go on a future agenda. He directed staff to place it for discussion at the board's first workshop in May.
"We can't have staff continuing to do this," he said. "This is not helpful at all, and we're going to have to put the the beach renourishment on the agenda and continue to either do it or not."
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