Water, Sewer, and Debt: Palm Coast’s Utility Budget Pushes Up Against $85 Million

Part 13 of a series looking at the City of Palm Coast’s adopted Fiscal Year 2026 budget

Palm Coast’s Water and Wastewater Utility is the biggest enterprise operation in city government. In the budget materials posted on the city’s website, it’s split into 13 divisions. Put them all together, and the total comes to $84,778,377 for FY2026, paid entirely out of the Water & Wastewater Utility Fund, meaning it’s supported by what customers pay on their bills, not by taxes.

The full budget with line-by-line expenditures for each department can be found here.

The main reason the budget shifts so much this year is debt. In the Non-Departmental area, the utility’s budget more than doubles because debt-service payments climb sharply to cover large infrastructure projects.

What the Department Does

Service from the Water and Wastewater Utility reaches customers inside Palm Coast and also several nearby areas outside the city limits. The divisions cover the whole chain of work: Utility Administration, which handles administrative support and environmental compliance; Water Distribution & Quality, which covers mains, hydrants, valves, meters, and water quality; Water Supply & Treatment, which includes three water treatment plants and the wells; Wastewater Collection and Pumping, which moves wastewater through the system; and Wastewater Treatment and Reuse, which runs two wastewater plants plus a reclaimed-water irrigation system.

The Divisions, One by One

Utility Construction Management & Engineering: $1,399,284. That’s $334,960 higher than the $1,064,324 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $793,652). Personnel Services climb to $1,199,511, up $305,936. Operating Expenses reach $199,773, up $34,230. Capital Outlay remains $0, though FY2024 actual was $12,258. Transfers to Other Funds drop to $0, down $5,206. Staffing increases from 8.00 to 10.00 positions, up 2.00, with the budget noting that two positions moved over from Stormwater Operations.

Customer Service: $1,838,833. That’s $53,833 below the $1,892,666 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $1,629,807). Personnel Services decrease to $1,500,758, down $49,637. Operating Expenses move the other direction, rising to $338,075, up $40,804. Transfers to Other Funds go to $0, down $45,000. Staffing drops from 17.00 to 15.00 positions, down 2.00.

Utility Administration: $1,934,344. Up $254,324 from the $1,680,020 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $1,397,854). Personnel Services increase to $1,556,209, up $330,192. Operating Expenses decrease to $376,135, down $77,868. Transfers to Other Funds increase to $2,000, up $2,000. Staffing rises from 10.00 to 12.00 positions, up 2.00.

Wastewater Pumping: $2,193,603. Down $130,950 from the $2,324,553 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $1,908,710). Personnel Services rise to $1,113,207, up $20,000. Operating Expenses fall to $1,080,396, down $150,950. Transfers to Other Funds stay at $0, while FY2024 actual showed $78,927. Staffing remains 10.50 positions.

Wastewater Collection: $5,300,121. A decrease of $463,545 from the $5,763,666 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $4,873,357). Personnel Services go up to $2,630,341, up $58,083. Operating Expenses drop to $2,669,780, down $356,631. Capital Outlay is budgeted at $0, down $150,000. Transfers to Other Funds also go to $0, down $14,997. Staffing stays at 27.00 positions, compared with 26.00 in FY2024. The document also logs new PEP tank installations month-by-month: 47, 41, 64, 36, 60, 35, 47, 38, 46, 40, 52, and 22.

Wastewater Treatment Plant 1: $4,084,373. Down $212,194 from the $4,296,567 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $3,160,678). Personnel Services increase to $1,136,512, up $31,596. Operating Expenses decrease to $2,907,861, down $202,856. Capital Outlay rises to $40,000, up $17,000. Transfers to Other Funds fall to $0, down $57,934. Staffing stays at 10.50 positions.

Wastewater Treatment Plant 2: $2,931,808. Up $6,137 from the $2,925,671 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $1,886,668). Personnel Services rise to $1,053,637, up $242,109. Operating Expenses fall to $1,850,331, down $189,878. Capital Outlay increases to $18,500, up $2,500. Transfers to Other Funds decrease to $9,340, down $48,594. Staffing rises from 6.50 to 8.50 positions, up 2.00.

Water Treatment Plant 1: $4,463,256. Up $10,420 from the $4,452,836 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $3,875,994). Personnel Services increase to $1,035,595, up $12,708. Operating Expenses edge down to $3,427,661, down $2,288. Staffing remains 10.25 positions.

Water Treatment Plant 2: $4,379,187. Up $570,693 from the $3,808,494 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $3,205,161). Personnel Services rise to $941,854, up $76,143. Operating Expenses also rise, reaching $3,437,333, up $494,550. Transfers to Other Funds stay at $0 (FY2024 actual: $47,863). Staffing holds at 9.25 positions.

Water Treatment Plant 3: $2,363,901. Up $88,927 from the $2,274,974 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $1,636,965). Personnel Services increase to $970,226, up $58,338. Operating Expenses rise to $1,393,675, up $30,589. Staffing stays at 8.25 positions.

Water Quality: $1,238,427. Up $157,189 from the $1,081,238 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $931,699). Personnel Services increase to $843,159, up $71,337. Operating Expenses rise to $395,268, up $85,852. Staffing remains 8.25 positions, down from 9.25 in FY2024.

Water Distribution: $7,853,146. Down $742,272 from the $8,595,418 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $7,827,242). Personnel Services rise to $3,242,341, up $81,971. Operating Expenses decrease to $2,177,367, down $258,790. Capital Outlay drops to $2,433,438, down $466,562. Transfers to Other Funds fall to $0, down $98,891. Staffing stays at 33.50 positions, compared with 32.50 in FY2024. The budget tracks water-meter installations by month across three years, including a 2025 sequence of 160, 151, 225, 162, 151, 169, 259, 159, 128, 116, 108, and 135.

Utility Non-Departmental: $48,797,892. This is the largest single component of the utility budget, and it’s where the biggest jump shows up. It increases by $18,559,784 over the $30,238,108 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $26,730,008). Operating Expenses drop to $2,051,535, down $1,166,420. Debt Service, covering loan and bond payments tied to major utility projects, rises to $28,233,047, up $15,238,637 from the $12,994,410 adopted for FY2025 (FY2024 actual: $12,032,725). Grants stay at $10,000 across all three years. Transfers to Other Funds increase to $18,503,310, up $4,487,567. No staffing is assigned to this division.

The Full Utility, Combined

Across all 13 divisions, the FY2026 total is $84,778,377. The largest shares come from Utility Non-Departmental ($48,797,892), Water Distribution ($7,853,146), Wastewater Collection ($5,300,121), Water Treatment Plant 1 ($4,463,256), Water Treatment Plant 2 ($4,379,187), and Wastewater Treatment Plant 1 ($4,084,373). Staffing across the operating divisions adds up to about 199 positions.

The month-by-month install sequences the budget logs for two of the divisions:

Performance Measures

Two customer-service measures are tracked.

For reducing customer service calls, the target was a 10 percent per-capita drop over 12 months by steering residents toward the Palm Coast Connect portal and the website. The result came in at a 9.29 percent reduction, with annual calls dropping to 113,376, while portal cases increased 3.16 percent to 41,171.

For speed of dispatch, the goal was to initially dispatch 90 percent of Palm Coast Connect cases within one business day. The utility landed exactly at 90 percent. The year ended with 50,318 cases total, and 4,687 were counted as late. A new text-message option allowed residents to submit cases without waiting on hold, which the department ties to lower call-center congestion. The budget also reports an average call wait time of 12 minutes and 38 seconds and a Q2 call volume of 113,376, compared with 123,425 in 2023 and 126,388 in 2024.

A Year of Infrastructure Work

The FY2025 progress report lists several large items. The utility completed and certified its Risk and Resilience Assessment for water operations under the federal America’s Water Infrastructure Act, filed that certification with the EPA, and certified its Emergency Response Plan on September 30. Two pilot studies ran at Water Treatment Plant 1, one comparing ceramic filters to sand filtration and one testing ozone paired with granular activated carbon. Four wells were rehabilitated: SW-31, SW-24, SW-35, and SW-106.

A finished Groundwater Modeling project looked at pumping impacts, simulating an added 3 million gallons per day (MGD) above the current permitted 15.525 MGD. The Water Supply Facilities Work Plan, updated in August 2025, extends projections out to 2050 and points to a possible potable-water shortfall of about 2.0 MGD between 2025 and 2030, before brackish-water supplies are brought online.

On day-to-day operations, crews cleared a major blockage along Florida Park Drive. In the fourth quarter, 18 sanitary sewer overflows were recorded, tied to extreme rainfall — 10 inches across August and September — plus inflow and infiltration. Work continues on expanding Wastewater Treatment Plant 1 from 6.83 MGD to 10.83 MGD. As of September 15, 2025, design plans were 60 percent complete, with 90 percent plans expected in February 2026. Construction will follow a Construction Management at Risk model, starting with a new generator and electrical and control upgrades in November 2025, and the schedule targets completion in December 2028.

Outreach efforts included the Palm Coast Expo, tours of Water Plant 3 and Wastewater Plant 2 that averaged about 30 residents each, and the Children Helping in Resource Planning (CHIRP) program for second graders at Belle Terre Elementary. The utility also hosted tours and presentations for officials, including U.S. Congressman Randy Fine and State Representative Sam Greco.

Disclaimer: Everything presented here comes from public records, specifically the budget documents published on the City of Palm Coast’s website. Any deeper budget detail would need to be obtained 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.

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