Charter panel reopens debate over $15 million / 36‑month contracting limit; some members urge a percentage-based formula

Committee members and members of the public extensively discussed provision 3E, the charter clause that now forbids the city from entering unfunded multi‑year contracts extending beyond 36 months or exceeding $15 million unless approved by referendum.

Some speakers argued the $15 million figure, written when the city's budget was much smaller, no longer provides adequate flexibility for modern infrastructure and argued for indexing or switching to a percentage-of-budget formula. Others urged caution; several speakers warned that successive small contracts can be used to sidestep the referendum requirement, and one commenter said the limit has already been abused in small chunks.

Jeannie Dwarte told the committee, "They have already abused it in my opinion," referring to past uses of smaller contract increments to avoid referendum review. Other members suggested tying the threshold to the general‑fund budget or an indexed amount, rather than a flat dollar limit.

Committee members asked the city manager to return with options showing how a percentage or indexed approach would have changed past decisions and what an adjusted dollar threshold might look like for Palm Coast's current budget. The committee placed this item in the 'bucket' for additional analysis and asked staff to model alternatives.

What happens next: staff will request a memo from the city manager quantifying the effect of alternative thresholds and present options at a future meeting; the committee signaled this is a priority item for further modeling.