How Palm Coast is run
Who runs Palm Coast, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Palm Coast's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Palm Coast
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget and sets the tax rate.
What they are paid
- City pays 17% of base salary into his 401(a) retirement account
- $500 a month car allowance
- City pays full health, dental, vision and life insurance premiums for him and his dependents
- 20 weeks' base salary as severance if fired without cause, plus 12 months of health coverage
- Must live in the city within six months of starting
- Council car and cell phone allowance budget: $6,500 (FY2027)
- Council travel budget: $13,950 (FY2027)
Palm Coast city staff
597 full-time-equivalent positions, including Water and wastewater utility 169, Stormwater 77, Fire 76, Streets 61. FY2025-26. City of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
Florida has no statewide pay database. The budget book lists the pay range for each position, and the city's open-finance site shows gross earnings by department, but we found no list of pay by person. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Palm Coast in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $24M (2025-09-30). The city's own target: Keep adjusted unassigned general fund balance between 10% and 20% of next year's budgeted spending. Amounts over 20% may go to the disaster reserve or capital projects. A separate disaster reserve ($5.0 million at Sept. 30, 2025) is held on top of this. City of Palm Coast · Mar 9, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Property taxes$45.6M · 52%
- Loan (line of credit for land purchase)$11M · 12%
- Charges for services$8.1M · 9%
- From savings (fund balance)$8M · 9%
- Sales tax$4.2M · 5%
- Communications services tax$3.1M · 4%
- Permits, fees and special assessments$2.6M · 3%
- Other (state revenue sharing, other taxes, fines, interest, transfers in)$5.4M · 6%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Non-departmental (mostly the $16.5M land purchase, plus contingency and transfers)$19.6M · 22%
- Fire and EMS$17M · 19%
- Law enforcement (Flagler County Sheriff contract)$12.5M · 14%
- Streets maintenance$10.9M · 12%
- Parks, recreation, golf and aquatics$10.2M · 12%
- Administration (council, manager, clerk, communications, economic development, HR, attorney, finance)$8.5M · 10%
- Planning, code enforcement and business tax$7.9M · 9%
- Construction management and engineering$1.4M · 2%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Of each property-tax dollar a Palm Coast homeowner pays, about 23 cents goes to the city. For FY2026-27 the council set the city rate at 4.1387 mills, equal to the rolled-back rate.
23¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Palm Coast
- Flagler County (operating)7.9945 · 44%
- Flagler County School BoardState-required 3.1010, discretionary 0.7480, capital 1.50005.349 · 29%
- City of Palm Coast4.0893 · 23%
- East Flagler Mosquito Control0.35 · 2%
- Flagler County (voter-approved debt)0.1855 · 1%
- St. Johns River Water Management District0.1793 · <1%
- Florida Inland Navigation District0.027 · <1%
- Total (mills)18.1746
FY2025-26 rates for a home in the city of Palm Coast (Flagler County). City of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
See what a Palm Coast home costs each year, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Palm Coast is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceContractorFlagler County Sheriff's OfficeCity of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
- FireThe cityPalm Coast Fire Department (6 stations)City of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
- EMSThe cityPalm Coast Fire DepartmentCity of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
- Water and sewerThe cityCity of Palm Coast Water and Wastewater UtilityCity of Palm Coast · Oct 1, 2025
- StormwaterThe cityCity of Palm Coast Stormwater ManagementCity of Palm Coast · Mar 9, 2026
- City streetsThe cityCity of Palm Coast Public WorksCity of Palm Coast · Mar 9, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityCity of Palm Coast Parks & RecreationCity of Palm Coast · Mar 9, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | DavieFL | Palm CoastFL | Pompano BeachFL | Miami GardensFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 107,914 | 110,330 | 115,813 | 116,192 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not current (2022) | $225,000 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | $55,000 |
| General fund per resident | $2,188 | $798 | $2,225 | $1,080 |
| Debt per resident | $1,503 | $1,487 | $2,957 | $741 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $379 | $9 | $2,681 | $572 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | — | 5.4 | 7.9 | 6.1 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Palm Coast and Pompano Beach pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Palm Coast publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Audited financial report filed on time Florida Auditor General
- Partly: City manager's contract findable online City of Palm Coast
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineMinutes list each member's vote, e.g. the 4-1 vote on the redevelopment agency's FY2027 budget on Sept. 23, 2026. City of Palm Coast
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public documentThe 2022 ordinance set the amounts and tied raises to staff raises. No current document we found states today's amounts. City of Palm Coast
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Palm Coast
Questions to ask your council
- Law enforcement through the Flagler County Sheriff's contract costs $12.5 million in FY2027. How is the contract's price set each year?
- Council pay rises with staff cost-of-living raises under a 2022 ordinance, but no current document states the amounts. Will the budget list each member's pay?
Help decide what comes next
What do you want to know about Palm Coast next?
One tap, no sign-in. We count answers; we never show who chose what.
Every number here was checked by hand against the linked document. Cities publish on different schedules, so years differ between sections; each figure says which year it describes. Spotted something wrong or out of date?
See something wrong? Report an error
Something wrong or missing? Tell us what and where, with a link to a source if you have one. Reports feed the next verification run.