- December 16, 2025
Officials: Renewal of the tax is essential to maintain infrastructure.
The School Board, in a special meeting April 24, agreed to include a renewal of the half-cent sales tax referendum on the primary elections ballot, Aug. 14.
“(This way), it won’t get caught up with a lot of different state issues that are going before the citizenship (in November),” School Board Attorney Kristy Gavin said.
“The majority of the issues that are going before the citizens in the August primary are local,” she added. “So we wanted to keep the ballot as simple as possible.”
A half-penny contribution to the school district was initially approved by voters in 2002, but according to District Risk Manager Mike Judd, renewal is more important now than ever.
Annually, the tax brings about $4 million in revenue to the district. In 2006, when the total capital budget (minus debt service) was just over $80 million, the extra $4 million wasn’t as noticeable. But this year, when the capital account is projected under $9 million, Judd said, “Yeah, that’s a big chunk.”
“Because of the recession,” he said, “the state has reallocated money from the capital to the general budget. So the capital budget has just continued to deteriorate, along with the property values continuing to drop.”
“One of the things … we really need to be seriously looking at is that we have to maintain our schools in good condition,” Gavin said, adding that all Flagler schools also serve as category-5 hurricane shelters. “They are the area of protection should we have a hurricane. … We need to maintain them as a safe haven.”
Judd cited the 100 Building at Flagler Palm Coast High School, along with the adjoining Flagler Auditorium complex — both of which need to be completely re-roofed, for a total cost of about $2 million. He also named the air-conditioning system at Indian Trails Middle School, which is not working as efficiently as it could be. That’s another $2 million project, currently scheduled for 2015.
And although the capital budget usually only covers projects and maintenance, budgets have recently begun to bleed into one another, he said. Technology workers’ salaries, for example — about $1.2 million — currently come from the capital budget, as do maintenance workers’ — another $1.2 million.
If the capital budget continues to shrink, he said, those salaries would have to be moved back into the general fund.
“Teachers are paid out of the general fund, but if we have to end up transferring those salaries … it’s going to be additional pressure there,” he said.
And more pressure to the general fund means fewer services the district can continue to offer. Necessary maintenance would have to be delayed. Technology in the classroom would need to be scaled back.
“Cuts have to come somewhere, and we’ve been cutting so many years that the easy stuff has already been cut, and some hard stuff has been cut,” he said. “This is really more about just trying to survive than trying to improve. … We’ve got beautiful buildings; now we just have to take care of them.”
— Email Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
