On September 6th, 2022, at 6pm, the City of Palm Coast kicked off their Special Budget Meeting at City Hall. This meeting started off with a proclamation on behalf of the School Board, by renewing the half cent tax that helps provide funding for our schools.
City Staff, then presented the winners of our city’s annual Photography Contest. The winners were as follows: Nature category, was Les Goldberg; Recreation category was Mara Rush; Residents category winner was Alexander Lexington; Pets category winner was Jennifer Bellrive; and Events category winner was Eduardo Hernandez.
It was after this happy and joyous moment that public comment was opened, and a line of residents formed to have their voices heard. Public comments were kicked off with Council Candidate Alan Lowe who stood up and stated that the city staff had done a good job with the budget, and he also recognized the citizens and residents who came to this meeting to have their voices heard. He told the council how their job was a difficult one of balance, and how they were mediators who need to balance the wants of the residents with the needs of the city. He urges the Council to slow down on the millage rate increase and go back to revising the budget. Alan Lowe ended his comment applause from the residents sitting behind him. Public comment continued in mass. There were many commenters who had strong opinions about the millage rate increases, and there was a myriad of sad and tearful residents who urged the council to rethink the millage increase because many of these residents would be unable to afford the increase in their taxes. There were tearful please from residents to revisit the budget and trim off things the city doesn’t need. Many residents asked with the town growing why is the infrastructure not growing with it, especially with a tax increase on the horizon.
Council man Eddie Branquinho stated how he originally opposed the tax increase. He had his own strong emotions regarding the opinions of residents and offered to cut cops, fireman, and other key essentials we needed. He made it a point to state that fixing our roads next year would cost well over 7 million dollars alone for just road repairs. He brought up the citizen desires to have the canals dredged and how that was going to cost money. His point was that he did not enjoy having to make the hard decision to raise taxes, but it was his job to balance the needs of the city, quality of work conditions for the city employees, and the quality of life for all residents of Palm Coast. He then brought up the 20 million dollars for a building for the public works employees, and how they have been working under terrible conditions and how that was not acceptable. He then continued stating that it is crazy how the price of houses has gone through the roof, and that the cost increase of these houses is what is really driving the taxes up.
Councilman Danko stated we need the cops, the fire department, and the other essentials; he also pointed out that we could hold off on some things for one year. He blamed the economy and how it is hurting people with the near record inflation levels. He asked that we roll the millage rate increase back just one year. He stated that the individual departments can and do live within the budgets the council sets for them, and we could keep their budget the same for just one more year. He stated we could start with a hiring freeze for city employees, we could be handling Holland Park fiasco differently, and that ultimately the millage rate increase can wait.
Councilman Fanelli said he hears us and noted how trying the times are. He said he is a very conservative spender both personally and in his role as councilman. He stated that the raising costs are affecting the city the same way the are affecting the residents. He stated that there was no fat to trim on the budget and that he himself went over its line, by line. He states there is no where they can trim the fat off this budget.
Councilman Klufas stated that he is currently going through the budget and that he feels the canal dredging can wait along with a few other areas. He said there was what, 25 boats that could not make it through the canals during low tide, should we get a small violin for them?
Councilman Branquinho then stated again that we could cut back essentials like fireman retirement, police funds, hiring freeze for the fire department, and we could cut the council salaries back to their original amounts. He challenged Danko to cut the salaries back and some yelling ensued between Danko and Branquinho. Danko then after yelling back and forth told Branquinho to “get on a plane and go back to Portugal.”
Mayor alfin, after breaking up the yelling between councilmen, then told all the councilmen to review the budget line by line and make notes on what could be cut, and to talk with the city manage before Thursday.
Branquinho made a motion to reduce council salaries back to original amounts but there was no one who was willing to second the motion. Mayor alfin announced the first budget hearing was Thursday September 8th.
The council moved on through the meeting to discuss quite a few issues, including the Community Development District, for a new development in Grand Landings, volunteer firefighter pension program changes, a partnership program between Flagler County Parks and Rec and the City of Palm Coast Parks and Rec, and Firehouse 22’s request to obtain land to build a new firehouse as they have outgrown the historic building, they are currently in.
The council also heard updates about the ever-challenging Holland Park issue. The issue is currently being prepared for mediation between the city, the original designer, and the original builder. The council stated the goal is to recoup all the money we have put into the project, the legal fees, and the new costs to repair the pad, along with potentially a loss of use as well. Council Danko and Mayor Alfin had a very beneficial debate with a lot of valid and good questions about whether it was a cost effective and smart decision to pay $92,000 dollars for a design for the repair/construction work to make Holland Splash Pad usable again. After debating on the necessity of this design, the council decided in a 5-0 vote that it was the correct decision to move forward with the design process as it would help them in mediation, by providing a very detailed cost analysis of what exactly will need to be done, and if mediation fails, the courts will likely require this design to be done. So overall the council decided it was best to have all their ducks in a row for mediation and possible litigation in the future.
