The City meeting this morning centered around the budget for fiscal year 2024. This meeting was, essentially a summary of the budget before next month’s business meeting.
The presentation covered the enter budget, including increases and decreases amongst the different departments. The budget summary covered not only all the departments, but all facets of the City Budget including the General Fund, the Proprietary Fund, Capital Fund, Internal Service Funds, and other funds.
In the middle of this presentation, the Palm Coast Fire Chief came to update the City Council on the incoming storm. The Fire Chief stated that while we may not experience intense hurricane strength winds, we will still likely feel tropical storm force sustained winds during the day tomorrow. Councilperson Pontieri asked the Fire Chief to elaborate on when the fire department would no longer be on the road to assist residents due to staff safety. The Fire Chief reiterated that once the winds reach a sustained winds over 50 mph.
The budget summary presentation continued on after the Fire Chief finished his update. Among the discussion was Holland Parks Splash Pad. The discussion included whether the city should move forward with the estimate they received previously to repair the splash pad. Mayor Alfin urged all councilmembers to reach out to the City Attorney to answer questions and discuss the best avenue on how to move forward.
The budget presentation moved on, discussing the remaining funds such as the Disaster Reserve Fund, the Police Education Fund, the Special Events Fund, the Health Insurance Fund, to name a few. To view the entire budget presentation along with all the necessary details, numbers and relevant information, you can view that here.
The discussion turned to the percentage of tax dollars that Palm Coast gets vs the County. Currently Flagler County receives 44 cents on the dollar while Palm Coast receives 24 cents on the dollar. The discussion was centered around the council members wanting to look over the intercommunity agreements and contracts, to ensure that money is being spent properly and wisely.
The last part of the meeting was public comment, where a resident spoke in agreement of the fact that Palm Coast is not receiving its fair share of the Ad Valorem tax revenue. She also went on to talk about issues with Florida Park Drive, as well as needing certain roads repaved.
Councilwoman thanked staff, fire, and other emergency responders in advance of the storm for their dedication to serving the community. Pontieri again stated that she wanted to sit down and look into how much we are paying to county partners and other agencies to ensure that we are knowledgeable about the finances.
Councilwoman Heighter thanked staff in advance of the incoming inclement weather. She also wanted to thank local small businesses and included a brief mention of the new Serendipity location that houses 50 local vendors right here in Palm Coast on Utility Drive.
