The City’s Money Managers: Palm Coast Sets Aside $3.1 Million to Account for Every Dollar

Part 6 of a series looking at the City of Palm Coast’s adopted Fiscal Year 2026 budget

Keeping tabs on Palm Coast’s money isn’t housed in a single pot. Based on the budget materials posted on the city’s website, the Financial Services operation is spread across two funds: part of it is paid through the General Fund, the city’s primary account, and the rest runs through the Utility Fund, which supports water, sewer, and stormwater services. Put together, those two pieces add up to $3,103,028 for Fiscal Year 2026.

What the Department Does

At the center of the city’s financial machinery sits Financial Services. It covers core accounting, payroll, and the flow of bills in and out — accounts payable and accounts receivable. The same group also handles local business tax receipts, utility billing, procurement for city purchases, and the work of assembling the annual budget. Alongside the day-to-day, it coordinates the yearly independent audit and gives city leadership guidance on investments and revenue issues.

A big chunk of its public-facing work comes through local business tax receipts, issuing business tax receipts and the permits required for door-to-door solicitation. Budget prep is another major responsibility, built around a formal process that includes multiple presentations to the City Council as well as opportunities for the public to follow along.

The documents also flag a change in outside auditors. The contract with James Moore has ended, and Mauldin Jenkins has been awarded a new five-year agreement for the annual financial audit. That work begins with the FY2025 audit, which is already in progress.

The General Fund Side: $2,267,599

The largest portion of the department’s budget sits in the General Fund. For FY2026, that side totals $2,267,599, up $103,256 from the $2,164,343 adopted for FY2025. For context, actual spending in FY2024 came in at $1,813,498.

Inside that General Fund budget are two main categories. Personnel Services — salaries and benefits — climb to $1,900,486 in FY2026, an increase of $54,516 over the $1,845,970 adopted for FY2025. Actual personnel costs in FY2024 were $1,547,018. Operating Expenditures rise as well, to $367,113, up $48,740 from the $318,373 adopted for FY2025. The comparable actual figure in FY2024 was $266,480.

On staffing, nothing changes on this side of the ledger. The General Fund portion holds at 15.00 full-time equivalent positions in FY2026, the same level as FY2025 and FY2024.

The Utility Fund Side: $835,429

Separate from that is a Utility Finance budget supported through the Utility Fund. Because it is an enterprise fund, it is backed by user fees rather than taxes. The total for FY2026 is $835,429, a drop of $96,820 from the $932,249 adopted for FY2025. Actual spending in FY2024 was $657,725.

Personnel Services on the utility side move in the opposite direction from the General Fund numbers. They fall to $590,945 for FY2026, down $114,449 from the $705,394 adopted for FY2025. Actual personnel costs in FY2024 were $462,236. Meanwhile, Operating Expenses go up to $244,484, an increase of $17,629 over the $226,855 adopted for FY2025, compared with $195,489 in actual spending for FY2024.

Staffing shifts here, too. Utility-side positions drop from 7.00 in FY2025 to 6.00 in FY2026, a reduction of 1.00. The utility staffing level had been 6.00 in FY2024.

The budget document also spells out what an enterprise fund is meant to be: essentially a stand-alone business within the government that provides services to the public, charges fees intended to support operations, can receive transfers from the General Fund, might use debt tied to those fees (including revenue bonds), and carries any surplus forward for future needs.

Combined Total

Once both funds are added together, Palm Coast plans to spend $3,103,028 on Financial Services in FY2026. The work is carried out across 21 positions in total — 15 in the General Fund and 6 in the Utility Fund.

Performance Measures

To gauge how it is doing, the department tracks two headline indicators: how close actual revenues and spending came to what was budgeted.

On the revenue side, the target was $162.4 million and the actual collected amount was $158.1 million. The document describes that gap as still within acceptable standard levels. The categories are broken out: government revenue includes taxes, fees, grants, and interest; enterprise revenue is built from stormwater, wastewater, and water fees; and General Fund revenue includes property (ad valorem) taxes, state revenue sharing, and the half-cent sales tax.

For expenditures, the target was $126 million and actual spending totaled $109 million. By fund, the General Fund spent 94 percent of its budget, the Water/Wastewater Fund spent 84 percent, and the Stormwater Fund spent 80 percent.

The department also reports that total spending tracked closely overall. By the end of the fourth quarter, total expenditures stood at 88 percent of budget, with personnel services at 88 percent and operating expenditures at 76 percent.

Paying the Bills on Time

Another operational benchmark is invoice processing. The city’s aim is to pay vendor invoices within 45 days of receipt at least 96 percent of the time. The budget document presents a month-by-month snapshot across the year, listing total invoices, the share that ran past 45 days, and the share paid in under 45 days:

July was the strongest month, with 97.3 percent paid inside 45 days. August was the weakest at 89.8 percent, and it was the only month that dipped below 90 percent.

Awards and Projects

Palm Coast’s finance operation continues to pull national recognition, at least according to the document. The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has granted the city a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for every Annual Comprehensive Financial Report since FY2003. The city has also received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for each annual budget since FY2003. GFOA has also labeled Palm Coast a Triple Crown Winner, tying together the reporting certificate, popular annual financial reporting, and the distinguished budget award.

On the project side, the department rolled out several efforts over the year. It launched a “Your Tax Breakdown” feature on the city’s website to show residents how city tax dollars are allocated. It worked with Utility, Stormwater Engineering, and rate consultant Raftelis on a GAP Utility Rate Study finished in the second quarter. It pushed forward a Banking Payment Manager project intended to remove check-cutting from city operations, with a go-live goal in the second quarter of FY2026. It introduced a contracts module in the city’s ERP system in the fourth quarter of FY2025. It began the rollout of a Grants Manager project inside MUNIS, with full start-up expected in the second quarter of FY2026, and it revised the city’s Grants Policy. The department also continued coordinating with FEMA over reimbursement for eligible Hurricane Milton expenses, staying in weekly contact while waiting on review.

Up Next: Community Development

The budget document also tees up the Community Development Department. It is made up of four divisions — Planning, Code Enforcement, Building Permits, and Economic Development — and it is tasked with guiding growth while regulating development to protect natural resources and maintain public health, safety, and welfare. Later parts of the series will take a closer look at those divisions and the dollars attached to each.

Disclaimer: All information in this article is public record and comes from budget documents posted on the City of Palm Coast’s website. More detailed budget information would need to be requested through a FOIA (public records) request.

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