Palm Coast Mayor Drafts AI-Generated Budget Cut Framework

Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris this week emailed key administrative staff with a proposal to enact sweeping budget cuts as the city prepares to lose out on a major revenue source. This month the Florida legislature passed a joint resolution which would greatly diminish property taxes, a major source of revenue for cities and counties across the state. Pending at least one lawsuit, this initiative would appear before Florida voters on the 2026 ballot as an amendment to the state constitution. The concept Norris drew up was generated by artificial intelligence, by Norris’s own admission. He sent the proposal, which he deemed “a shell for the resolution” to City Manager Mike McGlothlin and City Attorney Marcus Duffy on Monday, June 8. The text appears to function as a framework for a more refined and detailed resolution which could be voted on by the City Council. In its present form the proposal has some incompatibilities with Palm Coast’s current tax and fee structure. “AI doesn’t know we have a stormwater fee and there may be a few other things that aren’t applicable to the city,” Norris writes. Starting out the proposal is an outline of what services are ‘core’ and thus should have their funding prioritized the highest. The first of these is police; Palm Coast contracts law enforcement services from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. After that is fire and EMS, water and sewer operations, road safety maintenance, and solid waste collection. Anything not covered in those five categories is deemed ‘secondary’. The next tenet of the plan concerns administrative expenses. This includes an ‘immediate freeze on all non-public safety positions’, with vacancies being filled only if the city is required to do so. The Parks & Recreation and Public Works departments would be merged, as would the Finance and Procurement departments. As it happens, the latter pair is already within the same department. Also included in this portion is a proposal to revert to a four-day work week, with ten-hour shifts each day Monday through Thursday with the exception of emergency and certain operational staff. While this wouldn’t theoretically make a difference in the compensation budget, some analysts have suggested four-day work weeks can save on overhead and increase revenue for businesses. Infrastructure would be handled on a ‘worst-first + preservation’ basis. This would halt any funding for new road expansions, with available funding instead going to sealing cracks and resurfacing instead of fully rebuilding infrastructure. Landscaping would be conducted less often, local homeowners associations would theoretically assume part of the management of the city’s public parks, and no new vehicle purchases would be conducted for 24 months outside of public safety. The AI’s proposal of establishing a dedicated stormwater utility fee to fund drainage is moot, as Palm Coast already has such a fee. The same can be said for moving solid waste collection outside the general fund; it already is. In the realm of outside contracting, Mike McGlothlin would be instructed to hold new bids for solid waste collection, IT, and insurance within 90 days of this resolution being passed. All software being paid for by the city that is ‘not directly tied to core services’ would be cancelled. The Public Works Director would then present on where the city could save money in-house instead of contracts. The two final sections are both only one sentence each. For debt and growth: “No new general obligation debt or revenue bonds for buildings, expansion, or amenities until existing DRIs are built out and impact fees are collected.” For reporting: “City Manager shall present a line-item ‘Austerity Budget’ to Council within 45 days showing $ savings per section above, and a separate list of any proposed new taxes/fees with justification.” Mike Norris’ Proposal: Full Text Marcus, Here’s a shell for the resolution, as I mentioned AI doesn’t know we have a stormwater fee and there may be a few other things that aren’t applicable to the city. Like merging parks and rec with public works. That may or may not be an option, that will be for the CM and staff to determine. This resolution, if adopted will let the residents know that we are taking action.  RESOLUTION NO. 2026-XX   A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PALM COAST, FLORIDA, ADOPTING AN AUSTERITY BUDGET PLAN IN RESPONSE TO THE ELIMINATION OF PROPERTY TAX REVENUE WHEREAS, the State of Florida is expected to eliminate or drastically reduce municipal property tax authority, which funds approximately 60-70% of the City of Palm Coast General Fund; and   WHEREAS, the City Council has a fiduciary duty to maintain core services while eliminating non-essential spending before asking taxpayers for new fees or taxes; and   WHEREAS, “Cut First. Tax Last.” must be the governing principle of this budget. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of Palm Coast, Florida: Section 1. Core Service Priority   The City shall fund only core services in this order: 1) Police 2) Fire/EMS 3) Water/Sewer operations 4) Road safety maintenance 5) Solid waste collection. All other spending is secondary. Section 2. Administrative Austerity Measures – Effective FY2027   Hiring Freeze: Immediate freeze on all non-public safety positions. Vacancies filled only if public safety or regulatory compliance requires. Attrition only. Department Consolidation: Merge Parks & Recreation administration with Public Works. Merge Finance with Procurement. Reduce director-level positions by minimum 2 FTE. 4-Day Administrative Week: City Hall administrative offices closed Fridays, 10-hour shifts Mon-Thu. Excludes police, fire, water plant, and 24/7 operations.  Eliminate Non-Mandated Programs: Suspend all new festivals, arts grants, economic development travel, and consultant studies until property tax replacement revenue is secured. Section 3. Infrastructure & Operations Austerity   Roads: Adopt “worst-first + preservation” policy. No new road expansions. Shift budget to crack sealing and resurfacing vs full rebuilds. Streetlights: Reduce residential streetlight hours 11:00pm-5:00am where FDOT safety standards allow. Accelerate LED conversion. Parks: Reduce mowing frequency. Convert low-use turf to native landscape. Close low-use amenities weekdays. Offer HOA park takeover program. Fleet: No new non-safety vehicle purchases for 24 months. Extend replacement cycles minimum 2 years. Auction surplus vehicles. Section 4. User-Fee Shift   Stormwater: Establish dedicated stormwater utility fee to replace lost property tax funding for drainage. Solid Waste: Move to full cost-recovery pricing. End general fund subsidy of trash service. Recreation: Charge full cost recovery for programs, rentals, classes. Maintain fee waivers for qualified low-income residents only. Development: Increase impact fees and permit fees to 100% cost recovery for plan review, inspection, and infrastructure impact. Section 5. Contracts & Procurement   Contract Audit: City Manager shall renegotiate or competitively bid garbage hauling, landscaping, IT, and insurance contracts within 90 days. Software Audit: Cancel all SaaS/software licenses not directly tied to core services. In-source vs Outsource: Public Works Director shall report which services are cheaper in-house vs contracted within 60 days. Section 6. Debt & Growth   No new general obligation debt or revenue bonds for buildings, expansion, or amenities until existing DRIs are built out and impact fees are collected. Section 7. Reporting   City Manager shall present a line-item “Austerity Budget” to Council within 45 days showing $ savings per section above, and a separate list of any proposed new taxes/fees with justification. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Council will not consider any new taxes, assessments, or fees until Sections 2-5 above are fully implemented and documented. PASSED this _ day of ____, 2026. Mayor: ___   City Clerk: ___ — How to use it at the podium:  Lead with Section 1: “Core services first.”  Hit Section 2: “We cut admin before we cut cops.”  Close with Section 7: “No new taxes until we show you the cuts.” Want me to add estimated dollar savings next to each line item using Palm Coast’s current budget numbers? I can pull the last adopted budget and plug real figures in.