New Tax Collector's Office branch location to open in St. Joe Plaza

Palm Coast Observer
News

The Flagler County Tax Collector's Office has shuttered its branch location in the Staples shopping center on Old Kings Road, but is preparing to open a new, larger one in St. Joe Plaza, on Palm Coast Parkway.

At 3,000 square feet, the new location — at 213 St. Joe Plaza, between a Coldwell Banker real estate center and the Brown Dog Pub — is more than twice the size of the 1,200-foot former one near Staples, which shut down for COVID-19 because it was too small to allow for social distancing, Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston said at a Flagler County Commission meeting March 1.

The new branch office was on the commission meeting's agenda so that the commission could, in a step required under Florida law, formally designate the new location as a county office. Most of what the Tax Collector's Office does concerns state business — drivers licenses, property taxes, hunting and fishing licenses — but it also handles business tax receipts and tourist tax receipts for the county.

There are also other benefits to designating it a county office, Johnston said.

"Say we have a disaster, and you need a place for FEMA," she said. "It's designed so that we can vacate one side of the office, and you could have FEMA people there to help. ... It opens it up to a lot of different things that we really can do."

Town hall meetings and other county-related meetings could also be held there, she said, and equipment for other county offices could be stored there.

The renovation process was delayed because of the difficulty of getting construction materials due to COVID-19, Johnston said. For cost savings, she looked for used furnishings, when possible: A Hungry Howie's in Deland that's replacing its furniture donated benches for the branch office's break room, while other furniture came from the former Sheriff's Operations Center.

"We really try to do things as economically as we possibly can," Johnston said.

The final inspection for the branch location is expected to occur within a week, and Johnston hopes to hold a grand opening celebration that will include the other businesses in the complex, she said.