Debate rages over how sales tax money is being spent on Indian River Lagoon cleanup

Brevard County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Isnardi couldn't hold back any longer over her frustration about the condition of the Indian River Lagoon — and the sewage that was contributing to it.

It was the middle of Brevard County's first budget workshop of the year when Isnardi let spill her concerns about last fall's release of more than 22 million gallons of sewage during and following Hurricane Irma, most of it into the lagoon.

Isnardi was listening to Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department Director Virginia Barker updating commissioners on the county's half-cent sales tax targeted for lagoon cleanup, detailing new projects that were being proposed for the coming year and how tax collections were exceeding initial estimates.

Barker said the sales tax was initially projected to raise $340 million over 10 years, or an average of $34 million a year. But, if current trends continue, that figure could reach $430 million, or $43 million a year. 

That's when Isnardi piped in with some pointed comments.

"Now, we're taking brand-new projects because we have more money than we know how to spend it — we can't spend it fast enough," Isnardi said. "When we have existing projects in the county that have to do with sewer and drainage issues, why wouldn't we put the money there? Because this money wasn't anticipated. This money wasn't counted on. This wasn't part of our plan."

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Isnardi wondered about vetting new projects, "versus taking care of the failing infrastructure, sewer, drainage problems we have now that negatively impact the lagoon, because we're dumping sewage into the lagoon."

Isnardi said county commissioners are "the ones that get the emails. We're the ones that get the complaints" about the sewage releases and about the current conditions of the lagoon, including a brown-tide algae bloom.

"It's this commission now that's being questioned: 'Why aren't you fixing it?' " Isnardi said.

Barker, in effect, responded that the lagoon cleanup is more of a marathon than a sprint, and the county needs to stick to its plan to help assure success.

Barker noted the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus removed from the lagoon so far through projects that come under the lagoon sales tax plan, and indicated the amount represents just a small fraction of the target over the 10 years of the plan.

So far, the plan's projects have resulted in the removal from the lagoon or stopping the introduction into the lagoon of 4,302 pounds of nitrogen and 106 pounds of phosphorus. The plan's goal by 2028 is 800,000 pounds of nitrogen and 100,000 pounds of phosphorus.

Barker told county commissioners: "So you see that that progress is very small so far, and that's because this is a 10-year effort, and it's going to take us a long time to turn this around.

"In the meantime, we've got to stick to our plan, and continue to push projects forward to reduce the pollution that leads to these kinds of events," such as the current brown tide, "and remove the decades of pollution that's already stored up in the muck in the lagoon," Barker said.

At a separate governmental meeting around the same time, Duane DeFreese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, told Canaveral Port Authority commissioners that "the hardest thing in my job is kind of talking to public expectation. We're going to be at this for a decade."

DeFreese also alluded to the debate raging over how money is being allocated for lagoon cleanup projects.

DeFreese said he would be concerned if the focus on addressing the sewage releases following Hurricane Irma results in not moving forward with other projects.

He said a focus on the sewage or on removing muck from the lagoon — to the exclusion of other projects — also isn't the silver bullet solution to the problem.

"The way I'm telling everybody is this isn't just about muck," DeFreese said. "We know muck is a problem. But muck removal alone isn't going to do this. We have a plumbing problem, and that plumbing problem starts with wastewater treatment inadequacies."

Septic-to-sewer conversion and stormwater projects also will be big categories of needed improvements, DeFreese said.

DeFreese also said money from the county's lagoon sales tax won't be enough by itself to complete the job in a timely fashion. 

"If you don't have significant investment to do to the work, the work gets done project by project, and not programmatically," DeFreese said. "And without having stable, recurring funding — and Brevard County took a leadership step with that half-cent sales tax — but we need the state and the federal government to be chipping in."

DeFreese said the lagoon needs recurring state funding to cut nutrients from sewage — and all other sources.

"Until we get command, control of that nutrient diet, this is going to be something we expect to see for a while," DeFreese said, referring to the current brown algae bloom.

However, Florida Rep. Randy Fine of Palm Bay — who has been weighing in frequently in recent months on the lagoon issue — said he has concerns about how the things have transpired with the lagoon sales tax.

Fine contends that "local politicians made a bad decision" by asking voters to approve the sales tax without getting the state's assurance beforehand that there would be matching funds from the state.

"They did it without knowing that matching funds were there," Fine said.

A case in point: A bill was introduced by Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Rockledge, in the recently ended 2018 session, to provide $50 million a year "for projects dedicated to the conservation and management of the Indian River Lagoon," with money coming from the state's Land Acquisition Trust Fund.

But neither her legislation, Senate Bill 786, nor the companion House Bill 339 made it out of committee. Fine was a co-sponsor on House Bill 339, and Rep. Rene Plasencia, whose House district includes northern Brevard, was one of two main sponsors. 

The Florida Legislature's failure to pass the bill miffed some Friday at the monthly meeting of ​​​​​​Brevard's Save Our Indian River Lagoon Project Plan Citizen Oversight Committee.

"The fact that it wasn't heard in committee was sad," said Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker, a member of the oversight committee.

Gail Meredith, of the nonprofit Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition, lamented what she contended were broken promises by Gov. Rick Scott and local politicians of matching state funds for lagoon cleanups.

"This promise was completely ignored," Meredith said, referring to this year's legislative session. "We feel very distrustful of the process."

A bill Fine sponsored that did pass the Florida Legislature would allow counties to use revenue from their tourist development taxes to help pay for projects targeted for lagoon restoration.

Fine said he hopes the Brevard County Commission takes advantage of this provision in future decisions on how to spend money from Brevard's 5 percent Tourist Development Tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals.

"It's a huge problem, and the more we spend faster, the better," Fine said. "The lagoon is dying, and we need to take it seriously, and prioritize it."

Fine also is critical of some of the tourism-focused capital projects that the Brevard County Commission has approved in recent months that would be funded by revenue from the tourist tax. These included adding artificial turf to the soccer and lacrosse fields at Viera Regional Park; upgrading the Palm Bay Nature Center and Campground at Palm Bay Regional Park; and developing a sports arena in downtown Titusville. Fine calls them "pork-barrel projects."

"It's very difficult to ask the Legislature for money when local governments are wasting the money they have," Fine said.

FLORIDA TODAY staff writer Jim Waymer contributed to this report.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY. 

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman.

Facebook: /dave.berman.54

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