Indian River Lagoon cleanup tax passes in landslide

The 1/2-cent sales tax for Indian River Lagoon cleanup cruised to an easy victory, Tuesday night.

The measure passed 190,404 to 115,010, or by 62.3 percent.

The tax is to pay for a $302 million, 10-year plan to clean up the lagoon.

Sean and Sarah Rutherford’s votes cancelled each other’s out. She voted yes, he voted no.

“It’s been so bad out there,” she said of their recent boat excursions in the lagoon. “What I like about it is that they had measurable checks and balances.”

Election 2016 results: Florida statewide races

Her husband disagreed.

“The government should balance (its budget) before they start asking for more money,” Sean Rutherford said, shortly after voting at the Suntree United Methodist Church.

Brevard’s lagoon plan focuses mainly on removing nitrogen and phosphorus from the lagoon. The two nutrients feed algae blooms that can kill marine life. The lagoon has been plagued in the past five years with severe algae blooms and dieoffs of seagrass, manatees, dolphins, pelicans and other marine life.

About two-thirds of the money for the plan would go toward muck dredging, including:

•$16 million to remove 460,000 cubic yards of muck near Haulover Canal in Mosquito Lagoon;

•$89.25 million to dredge 2.5 million cubic yards of muck from northern lagoon waters in Rockledge, the Eau Gallie area of Melbourne, Cocoa and Titusville;

Brevard County election results 2016

•$71.7 million to dredge 2 million cubic yards out of six locations in the Banana River: near Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Newfound Harbor, Pineda Causeway, Mathers Bridge, and the Venetian Collector canals and channels;

•$21 million on four projects in the central lagoon that will dredge 600,000 cubic yards from areas near Melbourne Causeway, Goat Creek, Trout Creek and Mullet Creek.

The plan includes $10.8 million in stormwater projects throughout the lagoon watershed.

Septic system removal accounts for $41.7 million of the plan. It also spends $9.4 million on sewer plant upgrades for reclaimed water.

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter@JWayEnviro and at facebook.com/jim.waymer

For: 190,404 | 62.34%

Against: 115,010 | 37.66%

170/170 Precincts reporting