The Palm Coast City Council held its first budget public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, maintaining its property tax rate flat, adding funding for two sheriff’s deputies, and moving forward with plans for an Olympic-sized pool. All five council members were present at the meeting. The final budget public hearing is Sept. 23 at 5:15 p.m.
Public comment
Jeanie Duarte, a resident and Council Candidate, continued to focus on transparency issues, asking questions about a proposed data center connected to a cable landing site, charter changes in the past, disputed appointed council seats, and city water quality. “Transparency must come before development, debt and decisions,” she said.
Another resident asked the council to keep the Frida Zamba pool open on Saturdays and Sundays, “possibly through Halloween,” presenting a petition with approximately 85 signers in its support, including families, working parents and seniors. Two members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board commended the council and urged them to fund the department’s recommendations.
The budget overview
Gwen Ragsdale, budget manager, and Helena Alves, finance director, gave an overview of the budget. The proposed budget for the general fund is 87.7 million, an increase of nearly 30 percent, but almost all of that increase is due to a one-time land purchase. Excluding the land purchase, the general fund budget increases by 4.4 percent. Public safety, which includes fire services and the sheriff’s contract, is the largest component of the budget.
The total budget amount, including the special funds, is just under 533 million, a decline of 23 percent from the current year, due to large capital expenditures that are nearing completion. The proposed budget tax rate, 4.1387 mills, is the “rollback rate,” which will bring in about the same amount of revenue as last year.
YMCA pool
The council continued to discuss 3 million set aside for the Olympic-sized pool proposed for a new YMCA, which requires a matching 3 million in contribution from the Flagler County school district. Vice Mayor Pontieri noted that families are traveling up to two hours to attend swim meets and urged that existing competitive swim leagues be protected in any agreement. Since the pool funds will not be spent by the end of the fiscal year, the council agreed to move the funds to 2027.
John Walsh, a volunteer with the YMCA task force, said that the school district has identified a funding source not based on the sale of land and that current pool users will be “grandfathered” in. He also said the design has changed to call for two pools, an 18 to 20 lane Olympic pool and a community pool, no diving and construction will take 16 to 18 months. “Time kills all deals,” he said. Members of the council said that they would like a firm commitment from the school board before the current council is gone in November.
Paying for the land
The city purchased 17 million worth of Town Center land to resolve a lawsuit. Staff reviewed how to pay for the land, recommending a line of credit (up to 15 million over three years) and reserves. Options presented by staff include maintaining 25 percent reserves, borrowing 14 million and paying 700,000 in annual interest or dropping to 15 percent reserves, borrowing 7.5 million and paying 390,000 in interest.
Council Member Sullivan favored using reserves to avoid large borrowing, saying that “the better of two bad decisions” was made. Pontieri objected to the drop in reserves to just two and a half months of expenses, questioning the outcome of Amendment 3, a state tax amendment. “I have a problem going down to only two and a half months of expenses,” she said. The council also agreed to add 250,000 for an animal shelter and 15,000 for the arts and noted that a 250,000 state match commitment needed to be added to the budget.
Sheriff and deputies
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly explained that the contract with law enforcement is increasing by nearly 1 million or 8.6 percent for the same number of deputies due to a retroactive state pension change of 800,000, health insurance and union costs. A request for nine new deputies had been “paused” pending the results of Amendment 3 and the sheriff said a new 75,000 staff study will be complete by the end of the year.
Vice Mayor Pontieri (who previously had recommended adding four to five new deputies, one for each of seven zones the city has) moved to adopt the tax rate only if the budget added 330,000 to add two deputies at 166,000 each. “Otherwise, I would not be voting for this millage rate,” she said. Council Member Miller seconded her motion.
Members debated where the 330,000 would come from. Mayor Norris said that cuts should come from mid-level parks staff, not moving funds around, saying, “We can’t keep robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Pontieri suggested moving code enforcement to a complaint-based system. The city manager was left to find cuts.
The votes
The council voted 4-1 to adopt the State Road 100 CRA budget (with Pontieri voting no). The council then voted 4-1 to adopt the tentative tax rate of 4.1387 mills with the added deputy funding (with Sullivan voting no). Finally, the council adopted the overall tentative budget (the 533.9 million) and set the final public hearing for Sept. 23.
Closing statements
Council members encouraged the community to attend events for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, including a tower climb at Hammock Beach and a vigil in the evening at Veterans Memorial Park. One member recounted the fire service tradition of the “final alarm,” the tolling of a bell for each of the 403 first responders who were lost that day, which would take five hours. Mayor Norris shared a personal reflection on his experience as a drill sergeant in 2001 and his son’s birthday.
Council Member Gambaro raised a different issue, suggesting that the council should consider how to revive economic development projects Project Magellan and Synergy Sports after a large commercial development application was recently withdrawn. The issue will be addressed again next week.
