Flagler County approves first step in implementing beach management funding tax for unincorporated barrier island residents | Observer Local News

The Flagler County Commission gave unanimous approval for the first step of implementing a beach management tax for residents living on the barrier island in unincorporated Flagler County.

The tax would only apply to residents who live between the southern Marineland border and the northern Beverly Beach border and won't even be implemented until the 2026 fiscal year budget, beginning Oct. 1, 2025. Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito said that the board's approval on Nov. 4 was only for a notice of intent, and nothing was being levied at this point.

"You're not approving any funding at this point," Petito said. "It is not obligating this board to any financial commitment. It is just putting it out there that this is under consideration, the intent to use this tool. It doesn't mean that we even have to move forward with it, but there is a requirement that we need to notify the state."

The plan proposed at the Flagler County Commission meeting only addresses funding the initial reconstruction and then maintenance of the 11-plus miles of shoreline in unincorporated Flagler County area on the barrier island. The maintenance would be on a six-year cycle, after the initial renourishment is completed.

The funding for the 11-mile stretch will be a mix of funding resources: the county's Tourist Development Tax, the small county half-cent sales tax, state and local appropriations and grants, funding dedicated from the county's budget, some dedicated ad valorem taxes and the special tax for residents in the 11-mile stretch of unincorporated Flagler County shoreline.

To complete the initial renourishment on the unincorporated 11-mile stretch will cost an estimated $57.5 million, of which the county will need to cover a $17 million shortfall. After the renourishment, the county will need another $56 million for every six-year maintenance cycle.

That breaks down to $9.4 million annually, with an annual shortfall of $3.2 million.

A dedicated one-tenth of a mill of collected property taxes will cover $1.7 million of the $3.2 million.

The remaining $1.7 million will be accrued from the new tax, which will be a combined assessment of a base rate that all the residents in the unincorporated shoreline area would pay — known as an MSBU — and a rate based on the resident's property value, known as an MSTU.

The MSTU and MSBU will each fund $857,000, or 50% of the remaining $1.7 million shortfall.

The county has a specific timeline it has to stick to in order implement the taxes. The MSBU base rate — which was what the commissioners gave initial approval for on Nov. 4 — must be established before Dec. 31, 2024. The MSTU portion has different requirements which must be approved by July 1, 2025.

The MSBU resolution will return for the next round of approval at the county's Dec. 4 meeting.

Commissioner Donald O'Brien, who is ending his term as a Flagler County Commissioner, said he believes the plan prosed is fair. O'Brien paraphrased a famous economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell, as saying, 'there's really no solutions to any policy problems, there's only a series of trade-offs."

"I think it's a well-reasoned and sustainable plan," O'Brien said. "My hope is that the resolution process keeps moving forward and that the resolution gets approved in December."