- April 20, 2024
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The Flagler County Sheriff's Office wants to add 10 more deputy positions to keep up with the county's population growth, and the city of Palm Coast is considering a new impact fee structure to help pay for rising law enforcement expenses.
"I'm very interested to hear more about impact fees, because I think that is a way to smartly manage the growth of our city and not put that added burden on the taxpayers that are already here."
— JOHN FANELLI, Palm Coast city councilman
The city already uses impact fees — one-time fees developers pay to local governments to offset the effects of their new development on infrastructure and government services — to pay for road projects, fire rescue services and parks.
The fees are typically a flat dollar amount assessed on each new housing unit: For instance, the fire impact fee last year was $367 per home.
After Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly told the Palm Coast City Council on June 14 meeting that he's seeking funding to add 10 more deputies — five funded by the city, and five funded by the county — Mayor David Alfin suggested the City Council consider enacting a new impact fee structure.
"I am looking forward to transitioning our historical budget process into a a program that would resemble an impact fee structure for public safety," Alfin said. "That would allow us to keep pace with growth that is very difficult to detail and to be specific about."
Alfin added that he's not the one to determine how many deputies the Sheriff's Office needs.
The Sheriff's Office had 115,000 calls for for service last year, and is on track to have 118,000 this year, Sheriff Rick Staly said. About 73% of the FCSO's workload is in Palm Coast.
"I am not an expert in that area, the sheriff is," Alfin said.
An impact fee would give the FCSO money to use as needed, he said.
Staly said he supported that idea.
"It takes the burden off the taxpayers for the capital needs of growth, and so it makes growth pay for those kinds of things," he said.
Staly added that he believed from his conversations with county commissioners that the county government would be interested in coordinating with the city government on a new funding plan.
Palm Coast doesn't have its own police department, so it contracts with the Sheriff's Office for policing, paying extra to have services above the level of service that the Sheriff's Office offers in unincorporated Flagler County.
The city has increased that funding in recent years, and last year paid for 10 new deputy positions, bringing the city's annual contract with the FCSO to $5,615,712.
Staly told the council that while crime in Flagler County has dropped to an all-time low, traffic crashes and calls for law enforcement service have increased with Flagler County's rising population.
"We still can not drive anywhere in the county, specifically in the city of Palm Coast and certainly on our state road system, which is where most of our fatalities have been occurring," Staly said.
The Sheriff's Office had 115,000 calls for for service last year, and is on track to have 118,000 this year, Staly said. About 73% of the FCSO's workload is in Palm Coast.
Although the FCSO has hired enough deputies to reduce the deficit of law enforcement officers it previously had relative to the city's population, the agency now needs to hire more deputies to keep up with population growth, Staly said.
The agency must also increase deputies' starting pay to keep up with other area law enforcement agencies' salaries, Staly said.
Officially, Flagler deputies this year are starting at $39,570 without overtime, which comes to about $43,000 with built-in overtime.
At that pay, Staly said, "I'm no longer competitive. And I want to continue to be able to attract the type of employee that we want and, and also don't want to be the training ground for other agencies."
So Staly has started chopping the first five steps off of the agency's 25-step pay plan, so that new deputies start at $46,500 rather than $39,500.
"Still behind all these other agencies, but I can't survive at $39,500, so I had to do that," Staly said. "That's not fair to the existing employees, but it's the only way I can be competitive and stay within my current budget."
There are also other rising expenses: For instance, the FCSO had budgeted for fuel at $2.75 per gallon; through the county, it's currently paying $4.30 per gallon.
Without more funding, Staly said, the FCSO won't be able to maintain its current level of service.
"Then, in effect it's defunding the police, because you're lowering the service levels," he said. "And so I ask you to seriously consider five additional deputies."
Other council members also expressed support for in Alfin's proposal to use impact fee money to help fund the FCSO.
"I think that's an excellent way to fund this," Councilman Ed Danko said. "... We give you the money from these impact fees — I like that concept — and you do what you need to do with it."
