- December 4, 2025
Residents of Flagler County's Hammock flooded the Flagler County Commission's budget hearing on Sept. 11 after a confusing notice was sent to their doors.
The room was overfilled with people, to the extent that Commission Chair Andy Dance had to ask at least 30 people to leave the room to watch the meeting outside the commission chambers, just to comply with fire safety requirements. The unincorporated area of Flagler County's barrier island is facing a special assessment tax to help fund beach management.
The MSBU was formed in December 2024, but no money was levied for the MSBU for the 2026 budget, County Administrator Heidi Petito said. The notice sent to residents was to comply with state statute requirements when a special assessment is instituted.
By state statute, in order to keep the special assessment active, the county had to formally adopt an amount for the MSBU – $0.00, in this case.
Petito said the county is currently working on a formal analysis to determine how to apportion the MSBU, which will decide how much each property owner will pay.
“It’s not ever going to be an open-ended checkbook,” Petito said. For the 2026 budget, she said: “It is zero, it's not going to change a month from now, it's not going to change anytime before our next budget next year.”
Multiple residents said they were concerned the MSBU would be used as a "blank check" to fund the majority of the beach management program.
“I’m willing to pay my share,” Hammock resident Barbara Patel said. "I'm okay with a special assessment, as long as it's reasonable, equitable and taxed. To make it equitable, I strongly encourage you to pass the half-cent sale tax, because, as it's been said before, everybody in Flagler County benefits from the high quality of our beaches."
The beach maintenance program was always intended to be funded through a mix of funding sources, including an MSBU, grants, sales tax, the county’s tourism bed tax and dedicated millage.
Originally, Petito said, the county considered levying a special assessment for the whole county to help fund the beach management program. But the county legally cannot levy in the cities without the support and approval of those municipalities.
In turn, though, the MSBU in The Hammock area will only fund renourishment for the beaches in the unincorporated area that pays for it. When the county's study is finalized and an apportionment is determined, the MSBU will include funding for nourishment, signage, dune fencing and programs like dune monitoring.
The MSBU also is not permanent, Dance said, it must be renewed annually.
But despite this information, residents wanted to know: Why hasn't the county looked at other options, like more federal or state funding, or grants? And what about using the half-cent sales tax?
The fact is, the county has looked at its options over the last several years.
"We're maximizing every available funding formula we can get from the state, from the federal government," Dance said.
But Carney, Pennington and Commissioner Pam Richardson have said in the past they have concerns about the half-cent sales tax, which is why the item has not come to a vote on the commission. To levy a half-cent tax would need a supermajority – or four out of five – vote to pass.
Instead of a board vote, at a recent joint meeting with other municipalities, the Flagler Commission floated the idea of holding a referendum vote for a half-cent sales tax.
Pennington said her concern was primarily in how future boards would use the funding. According to law, the current board could dedicate the funding to beach management, but future boards are not obligated to follow that.
"You can't assume that the half-cent would be used just for the beach," Pennington said.
But, Dance pointed out, based on the show of force tonight from the public that likely, “future boards are going to listen to the same people that are here and would abide probably by those same plans.”
The Hammock residents in attendance all had the same thing to say: everyone in the county should pay their share to support the beach.
“Everybody has access to it," resident Don Albertson said, supporting a half-cent sales tax, "and I think the only fair way is to tax everybody.”
Commissioner Greg Hansen – who has been a driving force behind funding the beach renourishment program – said the half-cent is the “fair and elegant” solution to the funding problem.
“Further down the road, commissions that come after us are going to feel the same way,” Hansen said. “It's our duty as county commissioners to protect that beach. That's our duty.”
