- December 16, 2025
County Administrator proposes salary increases.
As an initial push toward staffwide salary increases, County Administrator Craig Coffey included an item on the Flagler County Board of County Commission’s Feb. 6 agenda to designate three additional employees as “senior management,” thereby increasing their retirement benefits.
Although the board ultimately tabled the item, it did so in an effort to address all salary issues simultaneously, in a workshop to take place within 30 days.
“We haven’t given employees a pay raise in three years,” Commissioner Alan Peterson said, citing the 3% that government employees must also now contribute to their pensions. “I think we’re starting to have a problem losing experienced people.”
Most board members felt the same.
“We are starting to see the real potential that we’re going to lose high-quality people who have hung on and stayed with us,” Chairwoman Barbara Revels said.
Nate McLaughlin agreed, noting also the lack of regular cost-of-living raises.
Those concerns, according to Coffey, are the impetus behind his proposal.
“We are struggling,” he said. “I am proposing a pay raise within … the county administration budget.”
Coffey estimates his proposed increase level will be 3%.
The current “senior management” leadership group comprises Coffey, Deputy County Administrator Sally Sherman, County Attorney Al Hadeed, his deputy, and Financial Services Director Kristi Moss. Under state law, 10 positions can hold this designation. To add three positions to the county’s current lineup would likely cost more than $20,000 for a full year.
According to Coffey, though, that increase is more than warranted.
“While I fully understand the tightness of today’s budget,” he wrote in his initial proposal to the board, “I also understand the even greater costs of losing key people … The current individuals have provided leadership to the county, and literally have saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
At an upcoming workshop, the board will analyze its pay scale compared to those of neighboring counties to decide if raises should be factored into its upcoming budget plan.
Although a county like Volusia may be a good deal larger than Flagler, Peterson noted, it remains a “competitor” for our workers, and the board should think of it in that way.
Commissioner George Hanns agreed.
“We see people struggling all the time,” he said. “We have working-poor adults who are getting close to retirement, and who are going to struggle. … We have, over the years, lost dozens and dozens of people to other counties … So this is something I think is long overdue.
“I hate to say it,” he continued, “but I’m very enthusiastic about this upcoming workshop.”
NEW HIRE
Following a unanimous vote Feb. 6, the County Commission approved the re-instatement of a project engineer position previously frozen in 2008.
The total cost of the new employee, should be about $100,000 per year. The salary will be funded through various drainage and capital-project funds.
