- December 15, 2025
This week, the Palm Coast City Council delayed implementing a 6% electric franchise fee. It was the latest example of how an assembly of vocal residents has seemingly influenced votes.
The Palm Coast Community Center was standing-room-only Tuesday night as the City Council heard complaint after complaint, threat after threat, in regard to the proposed 6% electric franchise fee that would appear on residents’ Florida Power & Light bills.
The 6% fee was supposed to take the place of the $8 stormwater fee which pays for the city’s stormwater system.
But with more than 100 residents pounding the lectern, pointing at elected officials and threatening to vote them out of office, the City Council withdrew the fee from the agenda. It was the latest example of how a full house has impacted a vote.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for City Manager Jim Landon and staff.
The stormwater fee funds the $7.5 million stormwater budget, which includes bridges, weirs, culverts, swales and other infrastructure.
The system is deteriorating, according to the city.
In April, Landon referred to the $8 stormwater fee as a “bureaucratic mess.” The fee meets the legal criteria, he said, but it’s very complicated to administer, and the results can be unfair.
With the current setup, most of the burden is on the residents, while many commercial lots qualify for exemptions and pay little to no fees at all.
And as Palm Coast faces a $2.6 million budget shortfall for this year’s stormwater budget, the 6% franchise fee would have cost the average homeowners $6.36 per month, or $76.32 annually. Those figures are based on the average Florida Power & Light bill of 1,200 kilowatt hours of usage.
With little opposition on first reading, the City Council unanimously approved the fee on May 15.
Residents, however, say the average usage isn’t accurate. The fee — or tax — isn’t fair, they said.
Comments made Tuesday night were in direct opposition of the fee. In fact, only one resident of the approximately 20 who spoke during public comment was in support of the franchise fee.
Bob Kuiper, a Palm Coast resident, said there are failures in the stormwater system because the city didn’t take care of what it was supposed to.
“You let it fail,” he told the council Tuesday night. “And you’re trying to shove it down our throats and tell us what we have to pay — like it or leave it. Well you know what? A lot of us are going to leave.”
Kuiper continued, saying he’s a powerful person, adding: “Who votes yes for this utility tax, I will go out of my way that you’ll never sit on this council again.”
Dennis McDonald, a Palm Coast resident and County Commission District 2 candidate (running against City Councilman Frank Meeker), said improving the stormwater system should be a 15-year plan. It should be paid for by ad valorem taxes, McDonald said, so that all property owners pay.
“You want to rush to judgment and pass this piggyback tax against the wishes of all the electors in this room and thousands of other electors in this city,” McDonald said.
Although the City Council unanimously agreed to withdraw the fee later in the meeting, McDonald already had a plan in place.
If the fee was approved, McDonald said a referendum with less than 13,000 votes could change the makeup of the council.
“What we will do is collapse the ceremonial mayor’s position and the city manager’s position into one position that’s elected — hopefully every two years — into a working mayor for the city of Palm Coast,” he said.
City staff will now look at ways to adjust or change the current stormwater fee ordinance. City Councilman Frank Meeker said he wants staff to research other stormwater utility fees around the state and would prefer a base charge approach. That way everyone will share fees for stormwater, Meeker said. City Councilman Bill McGuire also wants the city to review the formula or consider ad valorem (property) taxes if necessary.
This isn’t the only time residents have packed the City Council chambers and voiced their frustrations to effect change.
Over the past 18 months, the City Council has seen it before.
In a June 2011 workshop, Landon and Luanne Santangelo, parks and recreation director for the city, proposed a park fee structure that would force athletics organizations, such as Palm Coast Little League and Phantom Flag Football, to pay money to the city for lighting and field usage.
Initially, the City Council agreed to the fee structure. But at the Oct. 4, 2011, regular meeting, representatives from the youth organizations spoke out. Ultimately, the City Council canceled the idea and it hasn’t come up in a public meeting since.
About a year ago, the residents of the R-section called for a fence to be built around Ralph Carter Park to combat crime and mischief.
The Sheriff’s Office said a fence wouldn’t work, and city officials wrestled with the concept of funding the fence from a cash-strapped capital improvements fund.
But relentless efforts by a select group of residents won the battle. A fence was OK’d by the council June 7, 2011.
Earlier this year, the city reached an agreement with ICI for a 37-acre development in Cypress Knoll. Residents were against the development and cited decreased property values.
The City Council initially agreed to a deal at a workshop but delayed the agreement when residents showed up to the regular meeting.
A similar process took place when the city was working out an agreement to extend its waste-hauling contract with Waste Pro. At an August 2011 workshop, city staff recommended the City Council negotiate with Waste Pro on a five-year extension. The other option was to take the services out to bid. The consensus among council members was to negotiate with Waste Pro.
But, facing outcries during public comments at a meeting, the City Council unanimously agreed to remove the item from the agenda at its Aug. 16 regular meeting and instead took the contract out to bid.
But Tom Lawrence, Tea Party member who often rallies residents to attend public meetings, said Wednesday that it is all part of the process.
“I think what you have going on is the elected representatives heard a broader presentation (from the city manager),” Lawrence said. “When (the City Council) looked at the full picture, what the manager was saying and what the residents were saying — they wanted to side with the residents.”
Lawrence said what happened during Tuesday night’s meeting wasn’t a bad thing.
“I don’t think it’s the vocal minority,” he said. “I think it’s the people ... who want to voice their opinion.”
Landon reflected on the process in a follow-up interview Wednesday: “The public has the opportunity to come to it, listen to it and voice their opinion. That’s how the process works.”
Elected officials are responsible for making decisions about funding, he said.
“And during the budget process, they will have to continue to address both expenditures and the revenues side of it and this is only one piece of a very large, complicated budget process,” he said.
VOICES AT THE LECTERN, JUNE 5
“Gentleman, you have to understand — we don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. ... The solution you’ve come up with — a tax on a utility that is going to rise — is going to take us under. You’re going to end up from a community of a few vacant homes now to all of us leaving. And I don’t think any of us want that.”
— Linda Hansen, Palm Coast
“You let it fail, and you’re trying to shove it down our throats and tell us what we have to pay — like it or leave it. Well you know what? A lot of us are going to leave. ... Who votes yes for this utility tax, I will go out of my way that you’ll never sit on this council again.”
— Bob Kuiper, Palm Coast
“You want to rush to judgment and pass this piggyback tax against the wishes of all the electors in this room and thousands of others electors in this city.”
— Dennis McDonald, Palm Coast
“Tonight, I have to tell you, I heard nothing but doom and gloom from up here. ... I’ve heard the word tax so many times tonight I’m about ready to catch a bus out of town because they’re already in my pockets for enough.”
— Richard Adams, Palm Coast
