Florida's 68th County — Honoring the First President to Call Florida Home
The barrier island's governance problem: one continuous coastline split across three separate county governments, each managing its piece independently.
Northeast Florida's barrier island stretches from Anastasia Island in St. Johns County to Ponce Inlet in Volusia County, passing through Flagler County in between. Three separate county governments make decisions about this single, continuous coastline — each with its own budget, its own priorities, and its own approach. Sand that washes from one county's beach ends up on another's. Army Corps resources that serve one section aren't coordinated with the next. And barrier island residents in all three counties compete against mainland development priorities for attention and funding.
St. Johns and Volusia Counties each have active coastal management programs and Army Corps partnerships — they're doing real work. But they're doing it in isolation, managing their segments of a continuous barrier island as if the county lines drawn on a map actually stop the ocean. A unified approach would allow all three to pool resources, negotiate with federal agencies as one jurisdiction, coordinate sand management across the full 60-mile system, and give barrier island residents a dedicated government that prioritizes their needs every day — not just when it competes successfully against mainland priorities.
This isn't about blaming any one county. St. Johns and Volusia are doing real work on their coastlines. But managing one continuous barrier island through three separate governments means duplicated overhead, uncoordinated sand management, and 60,000 coastal residents who are never anyone's top priority. There's a better way.
"President Trump inspired millions of Americans to question the status quo and hold government accountable. Draining the swamp starts at home."
— Jennifer Herold, Chairwoman, Establish Trump County Initiative
A dedicated county for the barrier island — named after the first president to call Florida home.
We are asking the Florida Legislature to establish an exploratory committee to study the creation of Florida's 68th county from the barrier island communities currently divided among Flagler, St. Johns, and Volusia Counties.
The proposed county would be named Trump County in honor of President Donald J. Trump — the first sitting or former president to establish primary residency in Florida. President Trump's legacy of challenging the status quo and demanding better from government is exactly what this initiative represents.
The proposed geography encompasses the entirety of the coastal barrier islands, commencing at the northern point of Anastasia Island and extending to the southern end of Ponce Inlet. The county would be naturally separated from the mainland by the Matanzas River and Halifax River — a clear, logical boundary.
We're not asking for a new county overnight. We're asking for a serious study: would 60,000 coastal residents be better served by a government designed specifically for their needs?
This area features world-class attractions: Hammock Beach Resort's Jack Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course, Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, the historic charm of Flagler Beach and St. Augustine Beach, and — of course — the World's Most Famous Beach. With a $10.2 billion tourism economy, this is an area befitting a county named after one of America's greatest dealmakers.
The last county created in the continental United States. Broomfield was a city that had grown across parts of four counties — Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, and Weld — forcing residents to deal with four separate court systems, four tax bases, and four county seats. In 1998, voters approved a constitutional amendment creating a consolidated city-county, which took effect in 2001. The driving reason: a single community split across multiple jurisdictions deserved unified governance. The parallel to Florida's barrier island — one coastline, three counties — is direct. The Florida Constitution, Article VIII, Section 1, explicitly authorizes the creation of new counties by the Legislature.
It hasn't happened in Florida in 100 years. Here's the legal pathway.
Accountability Scorecard
Where do your elected officials stand on fiscal transparency and beach protection? Every official and 2026 candidate, on the record publicly.
View the Scorecard →The budget analysis that made the governance problem impossible to ignore.
In February 2026, an independent analysis of Flagler County's budget revealed that the county collected approximately $180 million more in property tax revenue over the past decade than population growth and inflation justified. The county's property tax revenue grew 161% while the combined effect of population growth (35%) and inflation (28%) justified only 73%.
Meanwhile, Flagler County remains the only coastal county in Florida without a funded beach management plan. The county proposed new taxes on barrier island residents despite sitting on $97.9 million in reserves — nearly three times the national recommended standard.
$180 million in excess. No beach plan. No barrier island representation on the commission. And they want to raise YOUR taxes. This is the case study that proves why barrier island governance needs a serious rethink.
The Trump County initiative and the budget analysis are part of the same campaign: Protect Flagler's Beaches. The immediate goal is to force Flagler County to fund beach management from existing revenue and submit to an independent state audit. The long-term goal is to study whether a unified coastal county could serve all 60,000 barrier island residents better than the current fragmented structure — amplifying the good work St. Johns and Volusia are already doing while fixing what Flagler isn't.
A problem. An idea. A movement.
It started with a Flagler County Commission meeting. Commissioners voted to impose a new tax on barrier island residents for beach management — despite overwhelming public opposition. The vote made something clear: the people who live on the barrier island have no voice in the decisions that affect them most. No commissioner lives on the barrier island. The coastline's needs are divided between two districts and three counties.
Jennifer Herold — a Hammock resident, homeschool educator, and early President Trump endorsee — asked a simple question: if the current structure doesn't work, what would work better? The answer was a county designed specifically for the barrier island. A county that manages the coastline as a unified whole. A county named after a president whose legacy is challenging broken systems.
What started as a conversation among neighbors became a news story covered by Yahoo News, WFTV, News4Jax, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Palm Coast Observer, and others. And when Jen dug into the budget data to understand WHY Flagler County couldn't fund the beach, she found $180 million in excess property tax collections — launching the Protect Flagler's Beaches campaign and making the case for a unified coastal county stronger than ever.
Government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. If the current structure doesn't serve coastal residents well, we have the right — and the responsibility — to study whether a better structure exists.
Get updates on the Trump County initiative, the budget analysis, and the campaign for barrier island accountability.
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