- March 28, 2024
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At the fourth Economic Development Summit session, 60-plus county officials will present, workshop and cost-analyze five stimulus plans. Upton will return to facilitate at no added cost.
The third Economic Development Summit session, on March 18, was planned to be the county’s last.
Called into session to outline and cost-analyze a plan for local economic stimulus, the three-day, 27-hour assembly played host to more than 60 elected and nonelected representatives from each municipality, brainstorming, presenting and often impatiently debating their ideas.
At the end, five committees were chosen to consider Flagler County’s five focus areas: exceptional customer service; linked, responsive talent delivery systems; maximized regionalism; strong target-industry investments; and attracting/developing talent. No talk of possible cost or funding took place.
On Friday, May 13, the committees will reconvene for the fourth and possibly final time, to share their strategic plans.
County Commission Chairman Alan Peterson, who has been one of the summit’s more vocal participants, said the meeting should yield a general agreement among the cities and county, in relation to goals and methods.
“Every group is supposed to come with a (projected) cost of their particular plan of action and a (projected) return on investment,” said Craig Coffey, county administrator. “After agreements are reached … dollar amounts will be added.”
How funding will be generated to accomplish these goals, however, is another issue.
Don Upton, summit facilitator and president of Fairfield Index Inc., will make a return for the fourth meeting, but will not receive additional compensation for his services.
For Friday’s overflow session, and the 27 hours of mediation already logged, Upton was paid $21,000.
Coffey suggested that the five committee plans — of which he expects target industries to be most expensive — could be funded through several outlets.
Sales taxes is one option. If it is raised by less than half a cent, the commission can approve it by 4-1 vote. If a increase of more than a half cent is desired, the public would have to approve it in a vote.
Another is including the cost in property millage rates, which are determined by the municipalities.
“Sales tax? Millage rate? Should each municipality be on its own or should it be some common entity?” Peterson asked. “I think we’ll clearly get to ideas. Whether we’ll reach any final conclusions is questionable.”
Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts, who is co-chairing the regionalism committee, agreed.
The county has enough “low-hanging fruit,” he said — problems that don’t require massive funding or manpower solutions — that talking dollar amounts isn’t essential.
“Let’s do what we can do without spending a lot of money. And let’s monitor that,” he said. “ … I’m still confident that there are things we can do collectively and individually that will make things better.”
According to Coffey, other counties including St. Johns and Volusia already include economic development funds in their sales tax.
“You’re making a public investment,” Coffey said. “If you can’t invest in yourselves, who (will)?”