- February 11, 2026
Having spent 25 years in law enforcement, eight as sheriff of Flagler County, I am acutely aware of the importance of properly funding law enforcement efforts. Although the correlation is not perfect, for the most part adequately funded, efficient and well managed law enforcement agencies produce the best results for its citizens.
For the eight years I was sheriff, I had to beg every year for the proper funding of the sheriff’s budget of a wildly expanding population. I am sure the fact that I was a Democrat and the County Commission in every year I was sheriff had a Republican majority had nothing to do with the fiscal straight jacket I was placed under.
Although the population increased by over 30% while I was sheriff, I was limited to a 25% increase. We managed, with Staly as my second in command, to be efficient and tightly control expenditures.
The picture has changed dramatically, and some would say absurdly, under Staly as sheriff in the last 10 years. The population has increased by 30%, but his budget has increased by over 120% ( yes, 120%). The City of Palm Coast sheriff’s budget has increased over 200%. As a comparison, Volusia County’s population increased by 30% and their sheriff’s budget increased by 60%. In St. John’s County, the population increases and sheriff’s budget increases are similar to Volusia County over the same 10 years.
Digging into the statistical comparisons, both Volusia and St.John’s County have student populations five times greater than Flagler. This is important because crime is predominantly committed by school-age persons. Our student population has barely increased over the last 10 years while Volusia and St. John’s has increased by larger margins. Also the average age of Flagler’s population is 53. In Volusia and St. John’s it is almost 10 years younger around 43-44.
This is important because older adults commit much less crime than younger adults. There are no real pockets of poverty or concentration of population in Flagler as there is in the other counties. Crime rates and actual crime have been on the decrease for the past 15 years in the county and the nation as a whole due to better recruitment, better training and the use of technology to reduce crime.
It is astounding with all of these over the top increases that Staly would accept a donation of a helicopter with all of the maintenance and pilot expenses without County Commission approval. Over 10 years, these sheriff’s budget increases have cost taxpayers over 200 million dollars plus the 40 million dollar cost to abandon the new sheriff’s operation and build a newer one.
No, I am not planning on running for sheriff again, but I would like to retire some day without burdensome tax increases forcing me from my home.
Where has all the money gone in the sheriff’s office? There appears to be a dramatic increase in supervisors and what they are paid and the addition of lots of unnecessary, superfluous equipment. In addition, the County Commissioners and City Council have abrogated their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers by approving these record budget increases without proper oversight and inquiries.
The answer from Staly and his supporters will be that I underfunded the agency while I was sheriff. The problem with that argument is that Staly was second in command and charged with budgeting requests to the commission in my second term and every year the Republican County Commission reduced the budget requests that were made.
There is no solution to this dilemma as the county remains solidly Republican and Staly is popular, but illumination of an issue is always important. Perhaps in the future, we will elect more fiscally conservative officials who care more about the taxpaying public who are largely retirees on fixed incomes than the budget demands of the sheriff.
Editor's note: According to data provided from Flagler County, the FCSO's budget has increased 135% from fiscal years 2016 to 2026, from $20.3 million to $48 million.
In Palm Coast, the FCSO budget has increased 313% from fiscal year 2016 and 2026, from $2.7 million to $11.1 million, according to data provided by the city.
