- December 4, 2025
Is there still a chance the Flagler County Commission could approve a half-cent sales tax to fund the beach?
At the commission's workshop on Wednesday, May 28, the initiative took a step forward to becoming reality when one commissioner — formerly a hard no on the sales tax — reluctantly switched her stance. Without a half-cent sales tax, the county cannot move forward with a beach management plan for its entire 18 miles of coastline, and moving toward an unincorporated plan could risk federal funding for Reach II, the second phase of beach restoration from North Seventh Street to Varn Park in Flagler Beach.
Commissioner Kim Carney, a former Flagler Beach City Commissioner, said she could not OK a plan for only the unincorporated areas of the beach "knowing that it is the absolute wrong decision."
"It is an 18-mile project or nothing," Carney said. "So I am going to switch and ... I want everybody to understand this is mostly for Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach."
If the half-cent sales tax is the only way to fund a beach management plan, and continue moving forward with the Reach II project, then Carney said she would support it, though philosophically, she didn't agree with it.
However, the commission still needs one more vote to reach a supermajority on the sales tax. With support from Chair Andy Dance and Commissioner Greg Hansen, and now Carney, the decision will fall to the two remaining commissioners: Pam Richardson, who remains steady on her "no new taxes" stance, and Leann Pennington, who was absent from the workshop.
The commission has three options to fund the beach: A $114 million beach management plan for its entire coastline, a plan for just the unincorporated (the northern 10 miles) and doing nothing.
To maintain all 18 miles, the county would need $12 million in recurring funds a year. That's why the county proposed a half-cent sales tax, which would require interlocal agreements with all the cities in Flagler County. The sales tax generated in the coastal cities would all go toward the beach, but Bunnell and Palm Coast will only contribute 50%, keeping the rest to fund their own infrastructure needs.
"We cannot simply cut $12 million from a budget, because you'd be taking roughly about 20% of the budget," County Administrator Heidi Petito said.
A plan for the unincorporated would still require additional revenue, but the county proposes that come in the form of a Municipal Services Benefit Unit, or a special assessment, for parcels in the northern 10 miles.
And while funding the entire beach would also include an MSBU, it would be for all of the barrier island — about $160 per parcel. An MSBU just on the northern section would increase the cost per parcel.
"I think when we looked at it over a year ago, it was somewhere between, starting out on the low end, maybe 300 upwards of $2,000, depending on the property," Petito said.
An unincorporated plan would also need a large portion of the county's existing half-cent sales tax, which would reduce funding for roads, stormwater and other capital improvements, Petito added.
On funding the beach, Dance asked: If not now, when? And if not this commission, which one?
"I think we're losing the opportunity to make a generational impact, to preserve the beach, the beach community and the characteristic of what makes Flagler County, Flagler County," Dance said.
Is the commission going to "punt" beach management, he asked, to the next one in two years?
"We have to think about the timeline that's been presented to us," Dance said. "There's so many, many important components tied to the decision to fund the beach maintenance plan ... The point's been made — we haven't spent hardly anything to maintain the beach up to this point, to get the nourishment done. That is not a sustainable plan."
Prior to switching her position, Carney said the board knew months ago that there was opposition to the sales tax. She wanted alternatives, and every idea she brought to staff has been turned down.
Commissioner Pam Richardson then called to "just end it."
"I'm tired of being the 'no' person," she said, adding that the county continues with construction in other projects while stating that the beach is a priority.
The county needs to cut down on spending instead, she said.
"DOGE is coming," Richardson said. "I believe that you've got the paperwork from them now, so we're going to see cuts like you've never seen before."
Moving away from a beach plan that includes Flagler Beach would void the county's existing contract with the Army Corps of Engineers and the current nourishment project, Hansen said.
"I think it's so short-sighted to just flat say no to the half-cent sales tax when we're talking about $14 a year for a family of four," Hansen said.
If the county doesn't want to do a half-cent sales tax, Hansen suggested they raise the ad valorem tax rate to fund the beach plan.
The tax raise, Carney countered, would have to come after cutting increases in every county department.
But when it came to other budgetary decisions included in the presentation — $1.9 million in staffing — cutting proved to be more complicated.
Petito was seeking direction on adding 16 positions to Flagler County Fire Rescue, totaling $1.5 million. Nine of those positions are needed to staff Fire Rescue Stations 25 and 6, as the county is spending over $980,000 on mandatory overtime. The remaining positions would help create a better work/life/family balance for existing firefighters.
The county was also looking for direction on adding a new IT Radio/CAD position, a $92,000 expense, and adding six positions to the new library in Bunnell.
But since the county needs to find $12 million a year in recurring expenses, cutting these positions wouldn't help the beach.
"You'd have to make cuts into your programs and your personnel, so you'd have to look at laying off positions that are not public safety, reducing hours of operation, or picking what it is that we do that you don't want to do anymore, because it has to be recurring," Petito said.
Flagler County is the only small county in the state of Florida that does not have a beach management plan.
This isn't her plan, Petito said. The plan to fund the beach is something that was put together with a consultant, with public input and with guidance from the commission.
"You might not like the plan that we currently have, but it's the plan that we've developed over the last several years," Petito said. "It will work. It's just whether or not there's direction from the board to move forward, or are we scrapping it and going back and looking at something completely different? I just need to know how to build a budget."
She doesn't have the authority to cut programs — those are policy decisions of the board.
If the county only focuses on the unincorporated area, it will have "severe ramifications" for Beverly Beach, said Ansley Wren-Key, county coastal engineering administrator. It would likely do away with their nourishment project, she said.
In the past nine years since Hurricane Matthew, the county has done "band-aid" emergency projects. Flagler County has received federal and state dollars to fund beach nourishment.
"If we don't follow through and come to the table with something, some dedication to the beaches in our community, they will not be granting us any more money," Wren-Key said. "That is my professional opinion."
After Carney switched her position, Dance said that's why the county has kept the beach funding discussions ongoing.
"This is such a big project and very complex with layers upon layers that it made no sense to just stop discussion until the point where Heidi needed to finish the budget," Dance said.
Will the commission take another step forward and submit an interlocal agreement to Palm Coast for review?
That's to be determined, as Carney asked for more time to review it. Dance said he would bring it up during his closing comments at the next board meeting, which will be held on Monday, June 2.
In the meantime, Petito said she would also work on a beach management plan for the unincorporated area for the board to review.
