Elections Office seeks 50% budget hike Fisher Lifting celebrates first year

The local gym is owned by Palm Coast firefighter and Father Lopez head girls weightlifting coach Leroy Fisher.

Alexis Miller Contributing Writer

Leroy Fisher is a firefighter, coach, and — for over a year now — an Ormond Beach small business owner.

Fisher, a Palm Coast Fire Department firefighter for 14 years, celebrated the first anniversary of his gym, Fisher Lifting, on Saturday, June 3.

Fisher has been training in weightlifting for over 10 years.

In 2015, he started a girls weightlifting team at Father Lopez High School.

Many of the athletes he’s trained on the Father Lopez girls weightlifting team have received state metals and championships, and the team has a state finalist as well as a district and regional champion or runner-up almost every year. The team is going into its ninth season this upcoming school year.

It was during his coaching that Fisher met Connie Garzon, who works for the University of Central Florida Business Incubator Program in Volusia County.

Fisher had trained her daughter, Sophia Bernal, at Father Lopez from her sophomore to her senior year.

Fisher and Garzon began to talk during practices and competitions about the possibility of Fisher opening a gym one day.

“I saw Leroy, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, he has so much potential,’ and what he has done for my daughter is amazing,” Garzon said. The UCF Business Incubator Program has been around for 23 years with the goal of helping local entrepreneurs start companies that provide jobs the county needs, Garzon said.

Fisher started planning for his gym during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was coaching remotely and working on program design online.

When the pandemic’s impacts faded, he decided it was the perfect time to open the gym.

He took the required UCF incubation course, and, once he finished, opened Fisher Lifting at 100 Business Center Drive, Suite 5, in Ormond Beach on June 3, 2022.

“I put in my welcome message, ‘Welcome to the Fisher lifting family,’ because I know that it’s a gym, but you’re a part of my family, and I am going to check in on you,” Fisher said. “I care about my members and staff.”

Fisher specializes in Olympic lifting, but also works as a personal trainer and creates how-to videos for an online program library that is updated every week.

The gym has 24-hour access for members, along with a free 30-minute mental health session every month.

Fisher’s motto?

“I am going to make you strong and mobile, no matter your age,” Fisher said.

The purpose of the anniversary event, Fisher said, was not only to draw attention to his business, but to also promote other small businesses that he works with. These include the YES program, Be Healthy Chiropractic Wellness Center, Monkey Bubbles soap and Aloha Hair and Color Studio.

“I’m happy with where we are at,” Fisher said. “I’ve collaborated with a lot of local businesses — again that family feel. I’ve built new members that are staying and sustaining. The biggest thing for any new business is having reoccurring members or customers.”

Flagler County’s Supervisor of Elections Office has asked the County Commission for a 52.4% budget increase for the next fiscal year. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is seeking a 14% budget hike.

The Flagler County Commission heard budget proposals from constitutional officers, including the sheriff and the elections supervisor, on June 12.

All of them asked for an increase. The proposed increases in part reflect a 5.3% cost-of-living adjustment and rising county health insurance costs.

Supervisor Of Elections Office

Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart told the commission that the budget increase would help fund the two elections in 2024: the presidential preference primary in March and the primary election in August.

The office’s overall proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 is $2.7 million. For the 2022-2023 year, the accepted budget was $1.8 million, not including a one-time enhancement from the county to cover additional costs.

With the enhancement, the previous budget was $2.1 million — still 29.6% less than the new proposed budget.

“People are registering to vote in record numbers in our county,” Lenhart said.

The county has added more than 5,000 registered vot - ers since the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget was submitted in May 2022, according to commission meeting documents. There were 98,252 registered voters in the county as of June 2023.

“We are looking at having over 100,000 voters coming up soon,” Lenhart said.

Lenhart said her office hopes to add one full-time position, and there are also costs associated with forms and equipment required by new election-related laws recently passed in the state and federal legislatures. Lenhart said the office should have a firmer idea of costs associated with the new laws in July.

“[The state is] still in the process of rulemaking,” she said. “So, for us, we’re inbetween; we’re stuck in the middle.”

FLAGLER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is asking for a 14.4% budget increase to keep its salaries competitive with other counties.

The FCSO’s proposed budget is $41.9 million, up from $36.6 million. The increase would raise the starting pay for deputies to $52,000, Sheriff Rick Staly said.

“We made a great step last year,” Staly said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been trumped by the other counties significantly.”

Personnel services accounts for $4.1 million of the increase, including the 5.3% COLA increase. Another $713,000 would cover the cost of adding five additional corrections deputies.

Flagler County is one of the fastest growing in the country, Staly said, and needs more deputies to support that growth. The jail is averaging 300 inmates a night, he said.

“Three hundred inmates

By The Numbers

$2.7

Million

The proposed Supervisor of Elections Office budget, a 52.4% increase from the 20222023 budget of $1.8 million

$3

Million

The proposed Clerk of Courts Office budget, a 24.3% increase from the 2022-2023 budget of $2.4 million

$3.1

Million

The proposed Property Appraiser’s Office budget, a 2.4% increase from the 2022-2023 budget of $3 million

$3.9

Million

The proposed Tax Collector’s Office budget, a 5.7% increase from the 2022-2023 budget of $3.7 million

$41.9

Million

The proposed Flagler County Sheriff’s Office budget, a 14.4% increase from the 2022-2023 budget of $36.6 million a night is really stressing the abilities of the current employees,” Staly said. Staly said the budget includes the cost of technical contracts the county previously paid for but that now would come directly from the FCSO, totaling $1.1 million. The budget also includes revenue the Sheriff’s Office receives from grants and its contracts with the city of Palm Coast, the School Board and Imagine School at Town Center.

PALM