Part 9 of a series looking at the City of Palm Coast’s adopted Fiscal Year 2026 budget
Palm Coast is set to spend $11,181,587 on law enforcement in Fiscal Year 2026, based on the budget documents posted on the city’s website. That’s $2,185,098 more than the $8,996,489 approved for Fiscal Year 2025 — one of the biggest single-dollar bumps anywhere in the city’s budget. For context, actual spending in FY2024 came in at $7,363,929.
The full budget with line-by-line expenditures for each department can be found here.
How Policing Works in Palm Coast
The city doesn’t operate its own police department. Instead, it pays for policing through a contract with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. The budget describes the agreement as something the city reviews each year, and says it provides full-time law enforcement service to Palm Coast.
The document also flags two points that shape how to read the totals. First, the figures shown are only the portion funded through the City of Palm Coast. Second, the day-to-day work is performed by the Sheriff’s Office under the terms of that contract.
The Numbers
All of the law enforcement spending is housed in the General Fund, the city’s primary pot for routine services. In the budget, it shows up as a single entry, “Personnel Services,” totaling $11,181,587 for FY2026. There aren’t any additional line items here — the personnel number is the full total.
Looking back, the same category reflects $7,363,929 in actual FY2024 spending and $8,996,489 in the adopted FY2025 plan. From FY2025 to FY2026, the net change is an increase of $2,185,098.
| Actual FY2024 | Adopted FY2025 | Adopted FY2026 | Change FY25–FY26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel Services (Total) | $7,363,929 | $8,996,489 | $11,181,587 | $2,185,098 |
Staffing tied to the contract, meaning the positions the city funds through that agreement, rises from 48.00 in FY2024 to 57.00 in FY2025 and then to 66.00 in FY2026. That’s 9.00 more positions than the prior year, and an 18-position increase over two years.
| Fiscal Year | Positions Funded |
|---|---|
| FY2024 | 48.00 |
| FY2025 | 57.00 |
| FY2026 | 66.00 |
Up Next: The Fire Department
The same budget materials shift next to the Palm Coast Fire Department, which, unlike law enforcement, is operated directly by the city. The department has handled fire suppression, fire prevention, and emergency medical services since 1973, and it responds to more than 17,000 calls each year. Staffing is listed at 76 full-time-equivalent positions, plus 17 volunteers. The department runs 9 pumpers, 2 aerial units, 2 wildland attack trucks, along with other support vehicles, out of 6 fire stations. It also carries an ISO rating of 2, a measure of fire-protection capability where lower scores indicate stronger protection.
Earlier budget coverage in this series put the Fire Department’s FY2026 budget at $16,002,655, along with a separate Fire Impact Fee Fund at $12,326,600. A later installment will dig further into what the city is spending on fire and emergency services.
Disclaimer: Everything cited here is public record pulled from budget documents the City of Palm Coast has published on its website. More detailed budget information would need to be requested through a FOIA (public records) request.
Another budget series for Palm Coast will be published when the budget hearings have been completed, outlining the budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027.
The post Policing by Contract: Palm Coast’s Law Enforcement Cost Jumps to $11.2 Million first appeared on Flagler County Buzz.
