- May 20, 2024
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Special assessment fees in Daytona North may more than double, rising from 58 cents per foot of property fronting the road to $1.16 per foot of property fronting the road.
The Flagler County Commission on July 10 voted 4-1, with Commissioner Leann Pennington dissenting, to tentatively increase the Daytona North Service District special assessment fee.
Pennington, whose district includes Daytona North, said the county should increase the fee incrementally rather than more than double it.
“To me, the economy is the wrong economy to rip the Band-Aid off right now,” Pennington said.
The Daytona North special assessment fee pays for the maintenance and paving of roadways in the Daytona North area, also known as the Mondex.
County Administrator Heidi Petito said Flagler County doesn’t have dedicated funding for its roads, so it relies on support from the Florida Department of Transportation.
“Not just Daytona North specifically, but anywhere Flagler County,” she said.
The Daytona North Service District was created in 1983 because a judge ruled that the county was not required to maintain or create roadways in the subdivision.
The county updated the assessment rate once in the 1990s, Petito said, but for 30-odd years, it has remained at $0.58 per frontage foot.
In 2023, Petito said, $0.58 per front foot doesn’t come close to covering the cost of service, which is subsidized with money from other funds.
Pennington suggested that the items the fee encompasses are outdated, having also not been reviewed in 30 years.
The fee covers the cost of labor and materials, but also the use of trucks. Pennington said Mondex residents even pay to have roadkill removed.
Because of the previous court ruling, the commission has jurisdiction over what the county charges, county attorney Al Hadeed said.
The tentative millage rate for the upcoming 2023-2024 fiscal year is 8.3343 mills, or $8.3343 per $1,000 in taxable value — a reduction of 0.0119 mills from the 2022-2023 fiscal year rate of 8.34.
County Administrator Heidi Petito said the commission could reduce the millage rate and fees further if needed, but can not go higher than the maximum rates it approved last month.
This is the third year in a row that the County Commission has either maintained or reduced the millage rate.
Because of increasing property values, the 8.3343 rate will actually generate more revenue — 14% more, for an extra $114.5 million — than this year’s rate of 8.34.
During the workshop preceding the special meeting, Commissioner Donald O’Brien said it’s important that residents know that the vote is not a final decision on the millage or special assessment fee rates, but instead sets a maximum for what those rates could be.
“There’s several more opportunities to change them or have a discussion,” O’Brien said. “We’re not deciding anything that’s final today.”
A site plan for a new subdivision in the Hunter’s Ridge development earned the Flagler County Commission’s approval at a meeting the morning of July 10.
The commission voted 5-0 to approve the site plan for the new subdivision, called Amberwoods.
The Hunter’s Ridge development is located at the south end of the county and, in some places, crosses into Volusia County.
Amberwoods is south of Airport Road and west of Hunter’s Ridge Boulevard on just under 15 acres.
It will be a low-density, single-family residential development with a maximum of 40 lots.
