- July 11, 2025
Five days after saying she would support a half-cent sales tax, Flagler County Commissioner Kim Carney has changed her stance again, now asking county staff to bring forth a new beach management funding plan for the county's 18 miles of coastline — and a plan that doesn't include a half-cent sales tax at all.
Carney asked the board for consensus at its meeting on Monday, June 2, to have staff put together a workshop dedicated to the beach, with an educational component presented by "subject matter experts," including the county's consultant on the issue.
"To force me into a bad decision on a half-cent sales tax with no other options provided to me is not going to work," Carney said.
The proposed funding plan for the beach involving the sales tax was put together with a prior commission, she said, "who then spent their money on everything else except the beach." She said she would not support any plan that doesn't include the entire 18 miles of each, because it would put the county's federal funding at risk for ongoing beach restoration efforts.
"We want more discussion, more options, more funding alternatives, and that is what's being kicked down the road," Carney said. "Not a decision."
At the board's workshop on May 28, Carney reluctantly said she would support a half-cent sales tax if that was the only way to proceed with the Reach II project, the second phase of beach restoration from North Seventh Street to Varn Park in Flagler Beach.
The commission was given three options to fund the beach by County Administrator Heidi Petito: A $114 million beach management plan for its entire coastline which included a half-cent sales tax, a plan for just the unincorporated (the northern 10 miles) and doing nothing.
To maintain all 18 miles, the county will need $12 million in recurring funds a year.
A plan for the unincorporated would still require additional revenue, but county staff proposed that come in the form of a Municipal Services Benefit Unit, or a special assessment, for parcels in the northern 10 miles. This could cost homeowners in that section between $300 to $2,000.
Additionally, an unincorporated plan would need a large share of the county's existing half-cent sales tax, which would reduce funding for roads, stormwater and other capital improvements.
At the board's meeting on Monday, Commissioner Greg Hansen said that, if they're asking staff to come up with funding options, then they as policy makers have to give them guidance.
"For instance, we have to tell her to cut personnel and cut jobs, if that's gets us to the number," Hansen said. "... She (Petito) can't do anything unless we as a group give her some policies that she can use to make reductions. She can't arbitrarily cut programs."
Cutting programs and personnel is what the county will need to do to find $12 million in recurring costs to maintain the beach, he said.
Options for revenue, debt and bonds to fund the beach should be included in what is presented to the board, Carney said.
Commissioner Pam Richardson suggested the county also take dollar from other programs and county funds for the beach, but Hansen, who was not in favor of pausing the half-cent sales tax effort, reminded her that is not allowed by law.
"All right, so Greg, do you see the confusion?" Carney interjected. "Are you willing to work with us on helping us understand what our limits are?"
"I am," Hansen said.
"If its illegal, then we educate them," replied Commission Chair Andy Dance.
However, Dance said he took offense that Richardson assumed past commissions have not been good stewards of the county's funds.
"There's a chasm that education can fill here," he said, after some back and forth with Richardson on what her comments implied. "I don't have any problem with that at all. If this is a pause, and it takes us some time to do that."
