Flagler County presents coastal erosion plan to school board, outlines $120M construction need and local funding options

Flagler County officials told the Flagler County School Board on March 11 that a countywide coastal erosion and beach management plan will require major construction and recurring maintenance funding and that losses in tourism-driven sales tax could reduce school revenue if the coastline is not addressed.

County presenter Katida told the board the full construction needed to rebuild dunes and beach depth along 18.1 miles of coastline is about $120,000,000. She said the county’s share of that construction — after anticipated federal and state contributions — is roughly $42,400,000, though the county has identified $5,000,000 in its fiscal 2025 budget and is pursuing about $15,000,000 in grants, which presenters said would reduce the remaining local need to about $22,400,000 over the next two to three years.

The presentation explained why the county’s Coast remains vulnerable despite a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in South Flagler Beach, which Katida said used about 1,700,000 cubic yards of offshore sand in a roughly $29,000,000 project. "We used about 1,700,000 cubic yards in that area. It was about a $29,000,000 project," she said, and noted that reach is the only area that is currently less vulnerable than it was before Hurricane Matthew.

Why it matters: presenters tied the beach to countywide tax revenues and school funding. Katida said tourists contribute a significant share of local sales tax receipts and that a drop in tourism could hit school funding tied to those revenues. "It's estimated that tourists pay about 30% of our half of our sales tax," she said, and added later that a projected drop in tourism could cost the county government about $8,000,000 and the school board roughly $6,000,000 to $6,400,000 (presenter figures).

Funding options and maintenance: the county presented several local options it is considering to fill gaps, including using portions of the current half‑cent local option sales tax, carving out millage, using tourist development tax (the county currently has 1% of TDT dedicated to the beach and earns roughly $900,000 a year from that 1%), creating an MSBU (municipal service benefit unit) or other special assessment, a local option half‑cent sales tax, and bonding or grants. The county described a potential MSBU that would impose a flat fee (presenters used $160 per parcel on the barrier island as an example) and said the county is discussing sliding‑scale alternatives for lower‑value or fixed‑income properties.

Presenters also outlined long‑term maintenance needs. They said renourishment cycles are becoming more frequent than historically expected; the Army Corps had planned for renourishment roughly every 10–11 years but the county now models a six‑year maintenance interval. Presenters gave two maintenance figures: a six‑year maintenance cycle the county presented as roughly $72,000,000 and an equivalent annual local funding need on the order of $12,000,000.

Technical and permitting constraints: county staff described environmental constraints north of Flagler Beach ("hard bottom" rock exposures and related environmental permitting) that could limit the size or method of future dredge projects in parts of the coastline and said additional feasibility studies, including an Army Corps feasibility effort, would be needed before some of those reaches could be pursued. Katida said reach‑by‑reach project design is influenced by beach makeup, environmental conditions and available funding.

Next steps and intergovernmental coordination: the county told the board the beach management plan was adopted by the county board in October 2023 and that the county planned further outreach to municipalities the following day in a joint city‑county workshop to seek interlocal agreements and commitments on cost share. The presenters said the county board has not yet adopted an implementation funding package and noted decisions on carve‑outs or a new half‑cent option would require county‑level action; the county stated that levying a new local option half cent without referendum requires a supermajority of the five‑member board (4 of 5).

Board questions and local context: school board members asked about observed erosion rates and whether the erosion drivers are changing. Katida said the county is seeing accelerated erosion since Hurricane Matthew (2016) and that the Army Corps is revising its projections; she said the Corps now anticipates higher near‑shore loss and earlier renourishment intervals than in prior studies. Presenters emphasized that some parts of the coast have never been engineered or renourished and therefore lack near‑shore sand bars that attenuate wave energy.

What was not decided: this was a briefing and request for awareness and input. Presenters sought the school board’s input because of the potential countywide revenue implications and asked whether the school district would support interlocal cost‑sharing discussions; the county did not present any formal school‑board actions or binding commitments during the session.

Ending note: presenters asked for local feedback and interlocal cooperation to secure funding and long‑term maintenance. Katida closed by noting the plan’s purpose and urging collaboration: "I think that the beach is probably our biggest asset. So I think it's important that we come up with a plan to protect it."