Navigation Judge rejects lawsuit calling for Palm Coast ballot measure on borrowing to be nullified
A judge recently gave the go-ahead to count the votes on a Palm Coast charter amendment that would have given the city greater authority to borrow money, despite a lawsuit calling the measure’s ballot language misleading and urging the vote to be nullified.
On Nov. 4, Judge Christopher France of the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court rejected a challenge to Charter Amendment 1 filed in September by a former City Council candidate, Alan Lowe. Voters in the Flagler County city near Daytona Beach turned down the measure, with 30,684 residents voting “No” and 21,870 supporting it, according to county election results.
The amendment asked voters whether a section of the City Charter should be amended by removing a provision “related to fiscal contracting authority that limits the city’s ability to enter into public private partnerships, have the ability to address growth by having future residents contribute to infrastructure costs, respond to emergencies and use available financial instruments including, but not limited to, bonds.”
